Solving Portland’s Problems at Scale

In January of next year, Portland’s City Council will begin its first session in the new format.  

Twelve folks will be coming together, three from each of the four districts, to make a brand new team. Your November vote will shape the future of the newly formed council, and have impact for years to come. The stakes are high!

This team is going to face a lot of challenges. Some of those challenges are ones that the city already struggles with, such as aging infrastructure, housing, and transportation. After all, Portland is no longer the small town that many of us — including myself — grew up in. It’s a city, with complex problems that require thoughtful and inclusive solutions. 

But the new City Council won’t just be faced with the challenges of the city. They’ll also be expected to figure out how to work together in the new format, as a team of diverse individuals.

Portland is counting on the City Council to hit the ground running, and those challenges are not going to stop and wait for us to figure the new format out. 

My background is not in politics. I come from a background in business, where my skill set is in managing diverse teams that are focused on solving complex problems at scale. These are skills I’ve developed over 35 years working with companies like Coca-Cola and Microsoft, leading the Global Revenue Team for Tony Robbins, as well as owning my own businesses here in Portland, and up and down the West Coast.

That skill set will be invaluable when combined with those of the more traditional politicians and civil servants who will also be serving on the new City Council. It’s also aligned with that of Mike Jordan, who’s the transition manager for this new form of government. 

Portland is no longer a small town, and we can’t keep running it that way. With more than 7,000 City employees on the payroll and over 600,000 citizens, 70% of Portlanders have lost trust in our leadership, and Portland deserves a City Council that can work together to solve its biggest problems. We don’t need more bureaucracy. We need people with the skill sets to work together with people who have different points of view, different backgrounds, different political orientations, and one goal: to create a Portland with more rose, and less thorn.