At the end of last year, the 91视频 editorial team gathered to discuss the people, companies and projects covered covered during the previous 12 months as well as those expected to make headlines during 2016. It was a very, very long list. But through discussion and a little debate (we are, after all, journalists), we managed to narrow the pool to 25 candidates 鈥� the 91视频’s Newsmakers for 2016.

American Assets Trust

BluBloc

Brian Emerick

DR Johnson Lumber Company

EC Company

Holst Architecture

Iain MacKenzie

Interface Engineering

Kiewit Infrastructure West Company

Killian Pacific

Lease Crutcher Lewis

National Association of Minority Contractors 鈥� Oregon

Oregon Health & Science University

Oregon State University AGC Student Chapter

Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. (Editor’s Choice Award)

Oregon Zoo

Patrick Kessi

Portland Housing Bureau

Robert Grott

Ron Paul (1950-2015)

SolTerra

Teresa Elliott

Tim Gauthier

Tim Ramis

Tom DiChiara & Cairn Pacific

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Tim Gauthier is a nearly classic example of 鈥渇rom the mail room to the board room.鈥�

His 40 years of service with the National Electrical Contractors Association began in Washington, D.C., while he was a senior in college. After graduation, he trained in Chicago and Kansas City, before arriving in Portland in 1981 to serve as assistant manager of the NECA’s Oregon chapter. The following year he was named the chapter’s executive manager, a position he has held ever since.

As part of his role with the NECA’s Oregon chapter, Gauthier has helped International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers chapters in the region grow their ranks from 1,200 members when he arrived to more than 5,000 certified electricians. He was an advocate of diversity early on, and boosted by his support Oregon IBEW locals now boast among the highest rates of women and minority participation in the nation. A tireless promoter for NECA-Oregon, Gauthier helped secure better pension plans, and also negotiated and achieved labor agreements with IBEW locals in the area.

Gauthier has been heavily involved in governmental affairs both locally and at the state level.

Gov. Neil Goldschmidt appointed Gauthier to serve on the Premium Equity Task Force for Worker’s Compensation in 1990. In 2005 he was named to the Prevailing Wage Task Force on Private Public Development.

He has also been deeply committed to the B.U.L.L. Session, an event in which local business, union and labor leaders raise money for children’s organizations in the Portland area. He has served on the nonprofit’s executive board, including filling the president’s seat since 2000.

鈥淚t’s about people,鈥� Gauthier said. 鈥淲e have to promote opportunities for our members and work to keep them on top of the latest changes in the industry. I’ve seen nine different business managers (for the local IBEW chapter) over the years. The industry has changed dramatically in that time. New technology drives the need for keeping our members current.鈥�

The chapter built and currently maintains a 60,000-square-foot training facility to assist with certification and education. Gauthier helped streamline programs that keep members up to date on the most innovative and efficient methods in a rapidly changing industry.

鈥淲e have to be better, smarter, more effective in a competitive industry,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd I feel like we’re on the cutting edge.鈥�

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Teresa Elliott wanted to be an astronaut when she was younger and, while she remained earthbound, her interest in science and engineering led her to become the first woman to head the Portland Water Bureau.

She joined the water bureau in 1996 after earning her degree in civil engineering from Portland State University. As the bureau’s chief engineer she manages about 125 people and oversees a range of projects, all of which incorporate a seismic component.

In fact, Elliott is so committed to earthquake preparation and resiliency that she shares her time and expertise to help investigate earthquake damage and conduct assessments in the U.S. and abroad. Her volunteer work has taken her as far away as Turkey, where she studied a fault line that is similar to the San Andreas Fault, and, closer to home, to New Orleans where she spent 30 days performing damage assessments for that city’s water bureau after Hurricane Katrina.

A member of three subcommittees of the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Resilience Division, she also has led damage assessments along the Oregon and Washington coastlines when they have been battered by hurricane-force winds.

Elliott admits that as chief engineer, her work is now about 10 percent engineering and 90 percent public outreach, politics and coordinating with other officials and agencies. She said she enjoys public speaking and technical writing, both of which play a big role in her work.

鈥淲hen I was in college I took a lot of writing classes, and one of my writing teachers said you should always know who your audience is and the issues they are interested in,鈥� she said.

Shortly after Elliott was promoted to chief engineer last year, Bureau Director Michael Stuhr told the 91视频 he picked Elliott for the job because of her engineering abilities and also for her talent for working with people.

鈥淚t’s hard for younger engineers to understand that one of the challenges is getting permission (for work on the water system),鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have to get permission from state agencies, interested groups in the communities and boards. She does very well interfacing with city groups.鈥�

When she’s not working or volunteering, Elliott enjoys genealogical research, playing on the beach and ziplining.

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In his 10 years as executive director of the Northwest Environmental Business Council, Robert Grott has seen the organization double its membership and expand its programs and conference topics. This year marks NEBC鈥檚 20th anniversary as well as the 10th year of its Energy Future Conference, which connects policy with practice and addresses the industry鈥檚 current challenges and opportunities.

鈥淲e鈥檙e always changing and looking for new ways to bring people together and one of our missions is to help with education and disseminate best practices,鈥� Grott said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e continually evolving and growing our educational activities, especially our conferences.鈥�

NEBC also serves as a regional leader in providing education and resources about stormwater management and redevelopment of brownfields. It is working with a large coalition to advocate for legislative and regulatory changes that encourage brownfield redevelopment.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking for new tools for communities to use to facilitate that redevelopment. Last session we had this concept passed called land banking, where a municipality can take over contaminated sites without taking over the liability,鈥� he said.

Grott said one of the biggest changes he has seen over the last decade is NEBC鈥檚 use of technology. 鈥淲hen I started working here we were sending out event announcements by fax, and now we鈥檙e looking at how social media can be used to promote our programs and events.鈥�

The challenge that lies ahead is determining how different modes of communication are going to change people鈥檚 expectations, he added. While technology has many benefits, one of NEBC鈥檚 key roles is to foster connections between representatives from regulatory agencies, property developers and service providers such as the consultants and engineers who make up the organization鈥檚 membership.

鈥淥ne thing we鈥檝e kept consistent is our belief that interpersonal connections are so fundamental to what we do,鈥� Grott said. 鈥淭here are a lot of ways you can do technical content these days and we鈥檝e decided to stick with our core strength, which is bringing people together.鈥�

This year also marks Grott鈥檚 retirement as NEBC鈥檚 leader. He said he expects the transition to happen by mid-year and, while he does not plan to work full time, he would like to spend more time on personal pursuits and may do some consulting work.

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Perhaps it was kismet that as we lost food visionary Ron Paul this past December, the Washington Post ranked Portland as America’s best food city. Paul did, after all, play a leading role in the elevation of the city’s food scene and so much more.

Paul, who died at 65 from complications tied to cancer, was a respected restaurateur who owned Ron Paul Catering & Charcuterie. He also was a well-known proponent of using local foods.

鈥淲hen he opened the Charcuterie he started a whole food movement in Portland,鈥� said Toni Berres-Paul, his wife of 34 years. 鈥淚 think Ron was one of the pioneers of that. He was way ahead of his time.鈥�

Paul worked for more than a decade to establish the James Beard Public Market, which will be built at the Morrison Bridge’s west end. Completion is scheduled for 2018. Initial plans call for the 80,000-square-foot market to feature more than 150 food vendor stalls, a mezzanine level with a learning kitchen and event venue, a rooftop terrace, below-grade parking, and both indoor and outdoor seating and gathering spaces.

Berres-Paul, a legal writing professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, said her husband’s travels inspired him to create the market.

鈥淔rom his experiences in markets all around the world, he saw that markets are an excellent place for community and for people to get together and enjoy wonderful foods,鈥� she said.

鈥淗e was so much a visionary,鈥� Fred Granum, who succeeded Paul as the market’s executive director, told the 91视频 shortly after Paul’s passing. 鈥淗e brought his background as a chef to work for his community and moved into a successful career as a public servant. His loss saddens us all. He will be sorely missed.鈥�
In addition to his career as a restaurateur, Paul served as chief of staff for Charlie Hales when the mayor was a city commissioner from 1999 to 2002. Berres-Paul said Paul’s public service was important to him.

鈥淗e always said he went from retail to retail politics. Those three years in government 鈥� that’s when the whole market idea originated and it’s a place where you can start to get things done,鈥� she said.

Paul was the father of three children, which Berres-Paul said he considered his most important accomplishment.

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A continuous barrage of headlines has driven home one very obvious fact about the downside of living in Portland: There is not nearly enough affordable housing for people who are working hard just to pay for the basics in life, and it has created a state of emergency in the Rose City.

The Portland Housing Bureau is working to change that by allocating increased funding for affordable housing projects with the goals of preventing displacement, creating opportunities for people seeking to rent and own homes, and acquiring land.

Kurt Creager took over as the bureau’s director in August 2015 and says he is optimistic about the changes that have occurred so far and the promising future ahead for affordable housing in Portland.

鈥淚’ve been extremely pleased by the amount of political consensus around affordable housing, so most of the last six months we’ve been finalizing financial commitments from the decision makers,鈥� he said.

With a $20 million addition to its budget, the Portland Housing Bureau developed and adopted the North/Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategy to address displacement and gentrification in those communities. The bureau then issued a record-setting notice of funding available to area developers, designating $61.6 million that is expected to benefit more than a dozen affordable housing projects.

Among them is an 81-unit complex called Grant Warehouse that is planned for Northeast Portland. The $8 million project is designed by Carleton Hart Architecture, and the development team is Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives Inc. and Gerding Edlen. Colas Construction will build the project this year.

Creager noted that affordable housing projects are also slated for sites near the Oregon Convention Center, the South Park Blocks, and the Gateway and Lents neighborhoods, among others. He expects the development to generate $185 million worth of economic investment.

Creager said that while efforts to create a statewide housing program during the most recent legislative session added to the complexity of increasing affordable housing in Portland, a balanced approach to housing across the state is essential.

鈥淓ven though we have a particularly acute problem in Portland, we are sympathetic to other jurisdictions like Bend and Hood River, and we want to work in collaboration to address their housing issues as well,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’m learning the Oregon way of doing business. We engage and involve more partners than other parts of the country.鈥�

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Within weeks after the Oregon Zoo‘s new Elephant Lands exhibit opened, project leaders were delighted to see some very notable differences in how much the elephants were moving around the six-acre site.

鈥淲e have randomly timed feeders to encourage foraging like in the wild, and they are constantly exploring the new features and foraging for food,鈥� said Heidi Rahn, the zoo’s bond program director. 鈥淭his is great because that was one of the main goals for the habitat.鈥�

A national model for other zoos, Elephant Lands features an 80-foot-wide, 160,000-gallon pool that is up to 12 feet deep; a 14,000-square-foot barn; and several outdoor habitat areas with paths, warming sheds and feeding stations. Elephant Lands includes an interpretive center and indoor viewing area in Forest Hall, which is 33,000 square feet and has auditorium seating overlooking a large indoor enclosure. The enclosure has 40-foot walls and 4 feet of sand on the floor with dune play areas.

Rahn said zoo staffers quickly saw changes in the elephants’ foot pads because of the sand, and the pads are adapting to better grip it. In addition, the keepers have seen changes in the elephants’ social structure and dynamics.

Construction Manager Jim Mitchell oversaw the $57 million project and said researchers filmed the elephants three days a week to record their reactions as the construction took place around them. The researchers are continuing to monitor the elephants in the new habitat, measuring their activity and social dynamics; a report comparing their behavior before, during and after construction will be released later this year.

Elephant Lands is one of eight projects paid for with money from by a $125 million bond measure that voters passed in 2008. Other projects already completed include a new Veterinary Medical Center; an upgrade to the water filtration system in the penguin habitat; and the Condors of Columbia exhibit. A new Education Center is being built. A full renovation of the polar bear habitat, an upgrade to the primate habitat and an expansion of the rhino habitats are in the works.

鈥淭he transformation of the zoo with these bond projects is phenomenal and it feels pretty fantastic,鈥� Mitchell said. 鈥淭he elephant project in particular really exceeded my expectations. It’s a legacy project.鈥�

鈥淲e’re so appreciative of the community’s support for the zoo,鈥� Rahn added. 鈥淚f people haven’t checked it out already, they should come see us because just these four (completed) projects have really changed things here.鈥�

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In the roughly 30 years since Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. was formed, its membership has grown from four founders and a handful of their colleagues to more than 400 women working in the building industry trades.

The nonprofit group has established itself both locally and nationally as a go-to resource for women looking to start careers in construction as well those already in the industry who are looking to build the leadership and professional development skills necessary to advance their careers.

Women interested in working in the trades can get a foot in the door through OTI’s seven-week-long pre-apprenticeship training program. Women already in the trades can tap into the group’s leadership development program. There’s also OTI’s Women in Trades Career Fair, an annual event that in the past has offered middle- and high-school students a chance to learn about careers in the trades as part of an OTI program to introduce girls to careers in construction.

Connie Ashbrook, co-founder and executive director, says the services and programs OTI provides are more important than ever.

鈥淭here’s more need out there than we have the capacity to serve, both on the part of women that come in our door 鈥� and employers,鈥� Ashbrook said. 鈥淲hen our students are ready, they just fly out the door. Employers are hungry for our graduates.鈥�

Ashbrook doesn’t see employers’ demand waning in the future. A key component to being able to meet that need down the road depends in large part on tapping into younger generations now, she says. At the end of the last year, however, OTI had to make the tough decision to put its girls program, which offered construction camps and clubs along with the career fair days, on hiatus.

鈥淲e had to cut back to our core services,鈥� Ashbrook said.

Still, Ashbrook didn’t become Oregon’s first woman elevator journeyman by giving up as soon as things got rough. She says she and her staff are dedicated to getting the girls program back on its feet. They’re pursuing grants that, along with the support of industry partners, might allow some students to attend this year’s career fair as well as allow operation of a construction camp this summer.

鈥淲e do have a number of very dedicated industry supporters,鈥� Ashbrook said. 鈥淲ithout them, we really could not do our work.鈥�

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As the construction of new buildings forges ahead on Oregon Health & Science University‘s South Waterfront campus, researchers are making significant gains both there and on Marquam Hill.

Jeanette Mladenovic, OHSU executive vice president and provost, noted that the university’s Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute is developing a vaccine that may someday prevent or cure HIV 鈥� the virus that causes AIDS. The research team working on the vaccine in 2014 received a $25 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; it was one of the largest philanthropic grants in OHSU’s history.

By meeting Phil Knight’s $1 billion fundraising challenge this past June, OHSU continued its ascent as a national leader in cancer research. It hopes to bolster its cancer research programs through President Obama’s request for $755 million in cancer research funding as part of his 2017 budget. Congress has already approved $195 million in research funding in 2016, which would bring total funding to nearly $1 billion over the next two years.

Mladenovic said another aspect of Obama’s research initiative is neuroscience.

鈥淔or many years, OHSU has been a leader in neurosciences,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have built on this initiative and are about to recruit some leaders in neuroscience.鈥�

Other research advances that have elevated OHSU as a national leader include the areas of autism and Parkinson’s disease. Its Doernbecher Children’s Hospital recently became the only children’s hospital on the West Coast to have a mobile MRI machine, allowing neurosurgeons to more precisely and safely remove most tumors in a single operation.

The growth of OHSU’s research programs means more space is needed to accommodate them. Following the success of the award-winning Collaborative Life Sciences Building & Skourtes Tower, OHSU’s South Waterfront campus will expand with the addition of the Center for Health and Healing South and the Knight Cancer Institute research building.

The $349 million Center for Health and Healing South will include a 14-story health care facility and a 10-story mixed-use building. ZGF Architects designed the development, and Hoffman Construction began building it in January.

SRG Partnership designed the $160 million Knight Cancer Institute building as a seven-story, 320,000-square-foot research facility, which will feature a commons area to the east. Another building is planned for the other half of the block five to 10 years after work on the research building wraps up.

Both buildings are scheduled for completion in July 2018.

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Just nine months into Nate McCoy’s tenure as executive director of the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, his endeavor to strengthen partnerships and improve communication with public agencies and private companies already is changing the dynamic within the nonprofit organization.

As NAMC-Oregon works to remove barriers and improve opportunities for minority-owned contractors, McCoy credits the relationships he built over the years while working as senior construction coordinator for both the Portland Development Commission and the Portland Housing Bureau, as well as connections he made while studying architecture at the University of Oregon and working with design firms in Portland.

鈥淢y leadership style is trying to focus on the opportunities and run NAMC like a professional business,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s less about resources and more about building programs, infrastructure and systems that can support contractors in our association.鈥�

One significant goal McCoy had early on was a stronger partnership and improved communication with the Metropolitan Contractors Improvement Partnership and its leader, Tony Jones. McCoy, who led the housing bureau’s Minority, Women, and Emerging Small Business (MWESB) outreach and contracting initiatives, also is working with Business Oregon’s certification office to provide more of a 鈥渙ne-stop shop鈥� approach for minority contractors.

McCoy said that while progress has been made in creating more opportunities for minority contractors, there is still a long way to go and a more cohesive approach is a way to make greater progress.

鈥淎 lot of these organizations tend to work in silos 鈥� and I just don’t feel like there are enough venues in how we collectively talk about the issues and outcomes,鈥� he said. 鈥淣AMC is pretty mighty as a small organization, but we’re only one piece of the equation and it takes all of us working together to address the issues.鈥�

McCoy recalls being the only African-American architecture student in his first two or three years at UO, and said promoting a culture of inclusion and communication to young people is essential in confronting the workforce shortage in the trades.

鈥淚 definitely want to bring a lot more flavor to the industry, and I want to include architecture and engineering services,鈥� he said, adding he has had conversations with Portland State University and UO and plans to connect with Oregon State University to help increase diversity in university programs.

鈥淲e need communities of color so kids can see people who look like them promoting these programs and it can help them career-wise,鈥� he said.

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