Facilitators and Speakers
Facilitators
Jessica Mole Heilman
Executive Director, Center for Women's Leadership
Jessica Mole joined the Center for Women’s Leadership in November 2020.
As a second-generation small-town Oregonian, first-generation college graduate, Jessica is passionately committed to partnering with the CWL Board, Alumnae, and Advocates to build leadership capacity for womxn across Oregon’s 36 counties.
Jessica has worked in Oregon Higher Education with nontraditional student populations for over a decade. This work has provided context and experience in navigating complex systems, social justice in institutions, and development of a wide range of domestic and international experiential education.
Jessica holds an MS in Education: Education Leadership and Policy, specialization: Post-Secondary, Adult and Continuing Education concentration, certified in Teaching Adult Learners, and completed her B.S., Health Studies all from Portland State University. Her areas of specialization include; program development, non-traditional recruitment and retention, student success, and relationship building.
In her free time -- you can find Jessica riding her motorcycle, summiting cascade peaks, kayaking, hiking and backpacking in Oregon’s backcountry, planning her next international travel, or enjoying time in Oregon’s wine country.
Jennifer Groth
Director of Policy and Partnerships, Rural Development Initiatives (RDI)
Jennifer has been happily immersed in rural community vitality for most of her career. She graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in Political Science and Economics, and earned an MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She has worked with rural nonprofits and local governments across the Pacific Northwest to support organizational development and community priorities. Jennifer has a passion for civic engagement at all levels of government and getting resources into the hands of rural leaders to advance their efforts to improve their communities. She directs programs at RDI related to organizational development (Ready, Set, Grant!) and public policy (Community Conversations, Rural Civic Engagement Project).
Jennifer has lived in the Pacific Northwest in 2000, and spends any free time she has outside on her bike or exploring hiking trails. She is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the success of rural communities as part of the RDI team.
Vicki Reitenauer
Associate Professor: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies - Portland State University
Vicki Reitenauer joined the faculty of Portland State University in 2000 and teaches core and elective courses in the Women, Gender and Sexuality program, as well as Capstone service-learning courses in the University Studies program. Before coming to PSU, she worked as an advocate in the domestic violence field, a counselor and medical assistant in women's reproductive health clinics, and a sexuality and community health educator. The co-author of Learning through Serving: A Student Guidebook for Service Learning across the Disciplines (Stylus, 2005) and numerous articles on pedagogy, reflective practices, and service learning, Vicki also writes and publishes poetry and creative nonfiction, serves as a writing and creativity coach, and works as a freelance editor.
Kendra Schaffer
Program and Communications Coordinator, Rural Development Initiatives (RDI)
Kendra was born and raised in rural Oregon. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Willamette University in 2013. She has professional experience in youth programming and development, service learning, trip planning, social work and resource connection, wilderness therapy, and social media and web design. She continues to grow her interests in sustainable living and has an educational background in sustainable tourism and home horticulture. Kendra is excited to be a part of the Turn Up Your Voice team and looks forward to connecting with strong female leadership spanning across Oregon. She is an avid runner and outdoor enthusiast. She loves traveling, playing board games, and connecting with people through food.
2023 Panelists
Tita Montero
City Councilor for the City of Seaside
Esperanzita (Tita) Montero, has served on the Seaside City council since 2010. Her prior community commitments include working on the boards of the Seaside Downtown Development Association, Clatsop Behavioral Health, Clatsop CASA and Clatsop Development Resources as well as serving as Seaside Chamber of Commerce President. She currently serves on Clatsop County Budget Committee, Sunset Empire Transportation Advisory and Budget committees, Senior Advisory Council for Northwest Disabilities and Senior Services, Clatsop County Citizen Review Board, Oregon Citizen Review Board Advisory group, and the Coaster Theatre Board.
Tita holds a BA in recreation administration and a master’s degree in library sciences; her professional work includes health system and health plan executive management, small business owner, public relations, and non-profit executive director.
Most recently, Tita has assisted in the establishment of the Women’s Caucus of the League of Oregon Cities (LOC). She currently sits on the LOC board and also serves as President of the Women’s Caucus.
Session 2: Defining Issues and Building Coalitions
Carina Miller
Chair of the Columbia River Gorge Commission
Carina Miller is the first indigenous person to be elected as chair of the Columbia River Gorge Commission, which sets policy for the protection of non-federal lands in the gorge. Her background is in economic development and she is one of the youngest members of the Tribal Council for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. She currently works for a nonprofit called Vibrant Tribal Economies, studying Tribal Economic Health and will lead the commission's approval of the first Climate Change Action Plan for the gorge.
Session 2: Defining Issues and Building Coalitions
Beth Wytoski
Teacher, Former Mayor of the City of Dayton
Beth Wytoski is a resident of Dayton, Oregon, a small city in the Willamette Valley with a rich agricultural history. Her daytime career is in education, where she teaches high school Civics and Economics in addition to supporting several student activities from Youth and Government to Yearbook. In addition to work, Beth is a busy mom of three daughters who play sports, dance, swim, and along with her husband, the family loves to go camping. Their favorite spots are near water and Beth loves to drive the family's ski boat. Beth has served in local government throughout her adult life, with her first election to local office coming at age 24, just after grad school. Following in the footsteps of her parents, grandparents, and several great aunts and uncles, she was drawn to community service. After a term on City Council, Beth became Council President and in 2014, Mayor. During this time, she also began working with YCAP, community events, the local VFW, the food bank, and other local service providers. As Mayor, Beth built a network of partners around the region and state and became actively involved with the League of Oregon Cities and especially the Mayors Association, where she really found her people. In 2021, Beth served as the President of the statewide Mayors group, creating mentorship and support networks to help new Mayors learn the ropes and find their voices. Local action results in local change which requires empathetic listening and collaboration.
Session 2: Defining Issues and Building Coalitions
Jennifer Purcell
Community Builder/ Economic and Workforce Development Strategist, Future Ready Oregon Initiative
Jennifer Purcell currently serves as Future Ready Oregon Director at the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, overseeing implementation of the Oregon Legislature’s historic $200 million investment in education and training.
Prior to her current role, Jennifer served as Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s Workforce Policy Advisor where she facilitated the development of the Future Ready Oregon proposal and successfully introduced and advanced SB 1545 in Oregon’s 2022 legislative session.
Additionally, Jennifer served as a Regional Solutions Coordinator on the North Oregon Coast for 10 years, investing her strategic planning, facilitation, and leadership skills to convene and coordinate collaborative project delivery. Working with state, county, municipal, private, philanthropic, and community partners, Jennifer coordinated collective impact to address regional community and economic priorities, solving problems and seizing opportunities.
Jennifer is a community builder. She brings extensive public and private sector experience and a proven history of developing collaborative relationships. Personally and professionally, Jennifer is committed to pursuing community vitality, supporting economic resiliency, promoting community engagement and leadership development, and ensuring equitable opportunities for education and workforce advancement.
Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing from Pacific Lutheran University and received an Executive Master of Public Administration from Portland State University’s Hatfield School of Government in 2020. After nearly 20 years on the north Oregon coast, Jennifer recently relocated to the Salem area where she lives with her husband and two dogs. They have three adult children, and one grandchild.
Session 3: Developing Your Message
Julia DeGraw
Coalition Director, Oregon League of Conservation Voters
Julia joined the OLCV staff in July 2020. She’s spent her career working in the environmental nonprofit sector starting with a yearlong field school for environmental organizing called Green Corps in 2005. From there she worked briefly at Oregon Wild, then Cascade Forest Conservancy, and then spent nearly a decade as the Northwest Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch. While at Food & Water Watch she led the decade-long campaign to stop Nestle from bottling public water in the Columbia River Gorge. The campaign was victorious and led every other Northwest community Nestle approached to say no to Nestle as well. Julia ran strong campaigns for Portland City Council in 2018 and in 2020 on a system change platform. She was born and raised in Oregon and after five years away from home for college and Green Corps, she knew that Oregon was her home and there’s nowhere else she’d rather be. Outside of work Julia loves reading science fiction, spending time outdoors, traveling, and cooking and eating really good food.
Session 3: Developing Your Message
Shawna Peterson
Owner, Peterson Law LLC.
Born and raised in Weiser, Idaho, Shawna benefits from deep family roots in farming and small business. She graduated magna cum laude from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington and the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Her legal career began in Omaha, Nebraska, after a completing a year as a visiting student at Creighton University’s School of Law, where she gained experience in business transactions, estate planning, taxation, and civil litigation. Shawna joined Yturri Rose, LLP in Ontario, Oregon in 2004, focusing her practice on estate planning and advising businesses. She took a leave of absence from the firm from 2010-12 to serve on the executive team at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario, gaining in depth experience in health care contracting, mission, advocacy, and operations. Drawing on nearly two decades of broad experience, Shawna launched S Peterson Law, LLC in January 2019. That same year, she undertook the executive directorship of the Eastern Oregon Border Economic Development Board, serving in areas of policy development, legislative advocacy, public relations, and program management. Shawna lives in Ontario with her husband and their three children.
Session 3: Developing Your Message
Rebecca Tweed
President, Tweed Strategies
Rebecca Tweed is the president of Tweed Strategies, a political consulting firm where she and her four team members specialize in political strategy, campaign management, and communications. In addition, she is a regular contributor to KGW News in Portland providing political and electoral analysis. She graduated from Syracuse University in 2005 where she studied Political Science, Public Policy and Philosophy with focuses in International Relations and Women’s Studies.
She currently serves on the Oregon State University Legislative Scholars Advisory Committee, and as an advisory board member at the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the University of Oregon. She is a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum of Oregon. She recently served on the Executive Committee for the Center for Women’s Leadership at PSU, and on the Board of Governor’s for City Club of Portland.
For over a decade, Rebecca has been a top political strategist in Oregon and has worked on more than 90 political campaigns for local government, legislative and statewide candidates, plus county and statewide ballot measures.
In her available time, she is a certified yoga instructor and runner, and enjoys spending time with her rescue dogs.
Session 4: Creating a Communications Plan
Lynne Terry
Editor, Oregon Capital Chronicle
Lynne Terry has more than 30 years of journalism experience, including a recent stint as editor of The Lund Report, a highly regarded health news site. She reported on health and food safety in her 18 years at The Oregonian, was a senior producer at Oregon Public Broadcasting and Paris correspondent for National Public Radio for nine years.
Session 4: Creating a Communications Plan
Angela Pursel
West End Radio Group
Angela began her career in radio in 1992 as an on-air announcer. She then moved on to become a News Director and Program Director. After switching gears into the business side of the broadcasting field, she began working with clients in creating effective marketing campaigns before taking over as General Manager of KOHU/KQFM in Hermiston, Oregon. After joining the ownership team with her then partner, she and her husband purchased the stations in 2016. Angela continues to lead the stations as President and General Manager.