Oregon Humanities board members advise and support the organization's work in a number of ways. Board members serve renewable three-year terms and attend three general meetings per year that are held in various locations around the state. The Oregon Humanities board has financial oversight of the organization, takes an active role in fundraising, sets policy, approves new program initiatives, and promotes awareness of the organization.
Chair
Kerani Mitchell is passionate about connecting across differences to foster thriving and innovative communities. With a background in nonprofits, education, and philanthropy, she has been a member of the Oregon Humanities Board since 2019.
Vice Chair
Jackie retired from her insurance career as Vice President of Disability and Life Benefits in the Employee Benefits Division at Standard Insurance Company. She now enjoys working part-time as a freelance consultant and the opportunity that provides to pursue many interests. Raised in California, she is a graduate of Willamette University in Salem. Jackie’s most recent board experience was with Literary Arts in Portland; she completed her service with a two-year term as Board Chair and continues as a volunteer. She enjoys utilizing her career experience in new ways, both as a consultant and a volunteer, particularly in the areas of strategic planning, leadership development, engaging problem-solving teams and performing project work. She is energized by participating in her community in various ways, and especially enjoys travel, being a student as Portland State, reading, cooking, and spending time with family and friends. She lives in Portland with her husband, Bill, a historian and writer.
Secretary
As Managing Partner at Tonkon Torp, Anna is responsible for the firm’s strategy and direction, and oversees the operations, delivery of legal services, and business management of the firm. Prior to her election as Managing Partner, Anna served on the firm’s Managing Board and as co-chair of its Litigation Department. In addition to her law practice, Anna currently serves on the board of directors of Portland Metro Chamber. She previously sat on the boards of Emerge Oregon, Northwest Professional Dance Project, and Photolucida. She also served as a Commissioner on the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. Anna was elected to the board in 2021. She lives in Southeast Portland with her husband and two young children.
Treasurer
Kate Fitzpatrick is the Executive Director of the Deschutes River Conservancy, a nonprofit organization founded by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and environmental and irrigation interests, with a mission to restore streamflow and improve water quality in the Deschutes Basin in Central Oregon. She believes that innovative solutions are found through bringing diverse perspectives together and that storytelling elevates our common humanity. She lives in Bend with her teenage sons and enjoys exploring all forms of water.
Nathan Bay is a physician anesthesiologist with over two decades of clinical experience in Salem. He was born in the suburbs of Chicago, the youngest of seven children in a family that emphasized service to community. He served two years as Chief of Anesthesia at Salem Hospital and is currently working at Northwest Permanente. He has worked for over a decade with Capitol City Medical Teams, both as a board member and as a physician providing anesthesia for pediatric orthopedic surgery in mission trips to Peru and Ecuador on thirteen separate occasions. He has been part of the surgical team for hundreds of surgeries to help kids start walking and using their limbs again. Locally, he volunteers frequently at the Gilbert House Children’s Museum, where he has taught at Adult Science Night but usually does general set-up work, clean-up, building and repairs, and truck-drivind. He has sponsored and led three bicycling teams for the American Lung Association’s Reach the Beach bike ride fundraiser. He currently teaches Sunday school for his local church congregation. He is married to Alicia Eyestone Bay, and enjoys cooking, woodworking, biking, reading, and aggressive but bloodless games of Scrabble with his wife and his two daughters: Gabby, a sophomore at Smith College, and Emerson, a senior at South Salem High School. Callum, their five-year-old Australian labradoodle, does not play, but usually looks on longingly.
Christina deVillier is a parent, a writer, a podcast host, and a systems thinker innovating at the confluence of storytelling, regenerative land stewardship, and climate adaptation. Born, raised, and rooted in rural Northeast Oregon, Christina flexes her broad skillset cultivating abundance for all her neighbors: the human ones and the wild ones. Christina believes that the polycrisis currently unfolding reflects the breakdown of social-ecological relationships, and that reconnection is a labor of love that can begin at any time and joyfully, with hands in the soil and sustained attention. She delights in complexity. She pays attention to the pollinators in her garden and brings delicious food to multigenerational potlucks. Lately, she's trying to be more like a wetland.
Paul currently practices mediation and arbitration of civil actions, and has been a trial lawyer for more than forty years. He is an active member of the Oregon State Bar Association and Oregon Mediation Association. Paul is a founder of the Oregon Law Related Education Project and for twenty years has been a trustee of the Gordon Foundation, which awards grants to children. He was appointed to the board in November 2009 and lives in Portland.
CM Hall (she/they pronouns) is a proud lifelong Oregonian and serves on the Newport City Council. Professionally, CM’s extensive experience includes teaching, political strategy, and advocacy work. She is currently executive director of Emerge Oregon. Linguistic access, equity, and inclusion are CM's passions, and she works to inform progressive organizations on the importance of diverse and representative engagement. CM hosts and produces the Her Own Wings podcast featuring Oregon women in leadership with the goal to encourage more women who might pursue elected or staff positions in government. CM joined the Oregon Humanities board in 2021.
Darci Hanning is the public library consultant and continuing education coordinator at the State Library of Oregon, where she has worked for over fifteen years. Her first initiative at the State Library was to transition a web-hosting pilot project to a full blown service for small and rural public libraries throughout Oregon. Since that initial project, her focus has moved to providing general consulting for public libraries and sharing learning resources for Oregon library workers. She has been the recipient of a number of awards and acknowledgements, including Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers award (2008) and the Oregon Library Association's President's Accomplice Award (2024). Darci is a founding member of the Racial Equity Insight online community. She lives in Forest Grove and was elected to the board in 2023.
Georgia Lee Hussey is the Founder and CEO of Modernist Financial, a B Corp wealth management firm dedicated to helping progressive people structure their wealth around their values. Her mission is to build a world where smart, creative people feel permission to enjoy today while providing a stable financial base for our common future. Before launching Modernist, Georgia worked for national and local financial firms as a CFP. Prior to working in finance, she was a sculptor and writer. She was elected to the board in 2024.
Kumu Hula Leialoha Ka'ula is an inspiring educator, motivating facilitator, and respected community leader who embodies the values of haʻahaʻa (humility), ʻohana (family), and aloha (love). These core values were instilled in her from a young age and continue to guide her in her life’s work. A proud graduate of Ke Kula ‘O Nawahiokalani’opu’u, Leialoha honors the legacy of her grandmother, a fluent speaker from the island of Niʻihau, and cherishes the Hawaiian language and cultural practices passed down to her through hula, oli, and ʻohana.
In 2009, Leialoha founded Hula Halau Ka Lei Haliʻa O Ka Lokelani (KLHOKL) in Aloha, Oregon, with a vision to empower future generations. Under her leadership, KLHOKL has awarded over $30,000 in educational scholarships and grants. Leialoha is also a founding member of Ka ʻAha Lahui o ʻOlekona Hawaiian Civic Club of Oregon and SW Washington (KALO), an organization established by Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaʻole over one hundred years ago. In 2022, KALO appointed her as their founding executive director, making her the first staff member of the Hawaiian Civic Clubs in the region. She serves as a passionate advocate for the perpetuation of Hawaiian culture and the uplifting of Pacific Islanders’ voices. Leialoha is a board member of the Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition and actively participates in the decolonization and revitalization of Indigenous communities.
She was elected to the board in 2026.
Born in Winchester Bay, raised in Prineville, and now settled in Portland, Jenn is deeply passionate about uniting Oregonians through community dialogue and heart-centered programming. Her heart has been continuously energized by humanity's resilience and the collective power we have to change systems for the better. This path has taken her around the world, from coordinating service-learning projects in Nicaragua to pursuing peacebuilding work across Asia and Central America.
Today, she serves as the program manager at SVP Portland, where she supports the organization's mission of achieving universal preschool. Her passion lies in community partnerships rooted in restorative justice, collaborative learning, and global citizenship. Jenn is also completing her master’s degree in conflict resolution and holds a certificate in collaborative governance, specializing in nonviolent communication, mediation, and organizational learning.
When she's not working on systemic change, Jenn focuses on fostering spaces for healing and connection. You can usually find her in a yoga class, dancing to reggaeton, or walking her cat around the block.
Ramycia McGhee is an instructor of English and literature at Linn-Benton Community College. Born and raised on the west side of Chicago, she holds an MS in journalism from Roosevelt University and an EdD from Cappella University and taught at City Colleges of Chicago before coming to Oregon. During her time at LBCC, she has taught courses at Oak Creek Youth Correctional Center and founded the college's Black History Essay Contest. She is a 2019 recipient of Oregon State University's Black Excellence Community Member Award. She was elected to the board in 2021.
Vaun Monroe is a filmmaker, educator, and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores themes of identity, community, and storytelling across generations. He serves as an Assistant Professor of Digital Cinema at Southern Oregon University, where he champions inclusive, liberatory approaches to curriculum design. Monroe is the former executive director and creator of the Film and Theatre Conservatory at Wiley College, the first of its kind at an HBCU. His recent projects include a stage production of Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and a documentary highlighting Black intergenerational storytelling in former sundown towns. Vaun brings a deep commitment to the humanities as a vital force for civic dialogue and cultural understanding.
Moana Newman has spent more than twenty-five years leading nonprofit development programs that support healthy, connected children, youth, and families. She currently serves as vice president of development and community engagement for Albertina Kerr, advancing the organization’s mission to empower people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health challenges to lead self-determined lives in their communities.
Earlier in her career, she worked with family- and wellness-centered organizations including Family Support Services and Family Paths, supporting programs for parents and caregivers of medically fragile children, families in transition, and kin-families—grandparents and relatives raising children in their extended families. She also held advancement roles with arts and education organizations including Caldera and Crowden Music Center.
Moana believes deeply in the power of one-to-one connections to build caring, engaged communities and works to create spaces where children, youth, and families can thrive.
Ciara Pressler is an award-winning entrepreneur and community advocate for leveling the playing field in entrepreneurship and small business. She is the founder and CEO of Pregame, partnering with innovative businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies to create their strategic plans and develop their leadership teams. She is a frequent event emcee and prolific content creator, including video projects Portland Tea Party and Work/Life on Digital Trends Live and books Game Plan: Achieve Your Goals in Life, Career, and Business and Exit Stage Right: The Career Change Handbook for Performers. Ciara also serves on the Governor's Racial Justice Council and Economic Committee.
Sankar Raman is the founder and board president of The Immigrant Story, a Portland-based nonprofit which chronicles stories of immigrants and refugees in a variety of formats to advance a national dialogue about immigration and to dispel myths about new Americans. Raman has been instrumental in developing The Immigrant Story into a collaborative, community-oriented multimedia arts programming organization and a premier storytelling organization in the Pacific Northwest. Raman immigrated to the US from India to attend graduate school, earning a masters in physics, and a PhD in engineering from Purdue University. After a successful career in high tech, he now applies his technical knowledge, managerial skills, and pragmatic mind to leading the nonprofit organization he founded. Raman is an award-winning digital art photographer, storyteller, community leader and a motivational speaker. Sankar was elected to the board in 2023.
Teresa Stover is a technical writing and project management consultant and owner of Stover Writing Services, an Oregon business since 2000. While several clients have been Fortune 500 corporations, she has gained the most satisfaction in working with nonprofit organizations, school districts, and community colleges. Teresa has authored fifteen books about business productivity software and project management. She serves on the board of Four Way Community Foundation, which supports nonprofits in the greater Josephine County area. Teresa was part of the group that formed Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. in 2007 to reopen the area’s library system, and also worked for the effort that formed Josephine Community Library District in 2017. She lives in Grants Pass and was elected to the board in 2021.
Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong is the executive director of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon in Portland. She holds a BA in history and BS in political science from Boise State University, as well as an MA in museum studies from Johns Hopkins University, where she serves as an adjunct faculty member for the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences' Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Management Programs. Hanako was previously superintendent of the Honouliuli National Historic Site of the National Park Service. Prior to her superintendency, she served on special detail as the Acting Chief of Interpretation for the Pearl Harbor National Memorial. Hanako has devoted the last sixteen years of her personal and professional life preserving the history of the Japanese American incarceration experience during World War II. Hanako was elected to the board in 2023.
Janet Webster was head librarian of the Guin Library at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport for over twenty-five years. She has served on the Oregon Library Association Legislative Committee and is a member of the Oregon Community Foundation's North Coast Leadership Council. She was elected to the board in 2012, and reappointed by Governor Kate Brown in 2020. She lives in Newport.