The State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation (SAIF) named Ian Williams as its interim president following the sudden resignation of former CEO Chip Terhune amid a sexual harassment investigation.

The Oregon Journalism Project first reported on Terhune’s quiet departure in April after an anonymous complaint was issued. It accused Terhune of sexual harassment and called him a “liar.”

SAIF is Oregon’s longtime not-for-profit workers’ compensation insurance company. Based in Salem, it has 1,185 employees. It is a public corporation and is subject to state public records law.

Terhune was named the company’s CEO in 2021. His annual base salary was $592,307, and he earned an incentive in 2024, which was paid in 2025, for $251,431.

During Terhune’s time as CEO, an unknown suspect fired several rounds into his Lake Oswego home and fled the area on foot. Police believe Terhune was targeted, according to a report.

Terhune, according to his SAIF biography page, previously served as senior vice president and general manager of government programs and accounts for healthcare tech company Medecision.

He was also chief of staff for former Gov. Ted Kulongoski, an assistant executive director of the Oregon Education Association, a director of environmental and public affairs at Schnitzer Steel in Portland and vice president at Cambia Health Solutions in Portland.

In late 2025, an anonymous reporter filed a complaint. The Statesman Journal received a copy of the redacted complaint through a public records request.

“I am worried about the safety and well-being of other employees,” the complaint said. “There have been happy hours scheduled on (redacted)’s calendar that include just her and Chip, and I know other female employees have been invited out after working hours to meet with him alone as well. He is often seen hugging female employees, along with emailing, texting and calling them after hours.”

SAIF officials said they could not comment on the specifics of individual complaints.

“SAIF takes all complaints seriously and has a process for employees to report concerns confidentially,” company spokeswoman Lauren Casler said. “We are committed to a workplace where all employees feel safe.”

Oregon Journalism Project reported that after receiving the complaint, SAIF immediately started an ethics complaint investigation. Before a scheduled closed-door meeting about potential discipline, Terhune resigned on March 25, according to the article.

Williams, SAIF’s chief operating officer, was named interim CEO and president.

SAIF’s board of directors is conducting a nationwide search for a permanent president and CEO, Casler said.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

The post SAIF in leadership transition after CEO resigns amid investigation appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is nearing completion of a renovation and expansion of a building at the Salem campus of SAIF, Oregon’s not-for-profit, state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance company. The project includes construction of a new six-story wing, renovation and seismic upgrade of an existing office building, and modernization of the building’s facade.

Work on the Ankrom Moisan Architects-designed project began in early 2016 with extensive abatement at the existing 1960s-era office building. It was originally L-shaped, with five stories on one wing and one story on the other. The single-story wing has been demolished, and a six-story addition built in its place. The five-story wing was gutted down to structural concrete and rebuilt, including seismic reinforcement.

Due to the building’s location on the floodplain of Pringle Creek nearby, the first floor of the five-story wing was abandoned. Concrete walls around the old first floor were built up, essentially turning it into a crawlspace, and mechanical systems were installed to keep air flowing so it isn’t stagnant. The first floor of the new south tower is higher than the original building’s first floor and is out of the floodplain.

The building wraps around a large old oak tree that is the visual focus of two-story “collab” spaces. Large, open common areas are used by employees for breaks and meetings, and two-story curtainwalls provide a view of an outdoor courtyard. The renovated building will feature better natural light, and upgraded energy features including chilled beam cooling, vapor heating and all-LED light fixtures.

The original building, minus the former first floor, measures 95,912 square feet, and the south tower will add 83,215 square feet. Crews currently are applying final touches on the building, including refinement of the façade and installation of roof metal panels and concrete skin panels. Finish work is continuing in common areas, flooring is still being installed, and commissioning and startup have begun. The project is slated for turnover on April 20.

A second phase of the project, including renovation of an adjacent building connected by a sky bridge, will begin later this year. That work will be completed by June 2019.

Other project partners include structural engineer Kramer Gehlen & Associates Inc., civil engineer Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc. and mechanical engineer Glumac.

The post Salem office building renovated, expanded appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Oregon and its leaders have a history of being able to look forward, of being visionary.

The list illustrating Oregon’s leadership on tough public issues is long: ensuring open access to beaches, the Bottle Bill, Oregon’s land use system and the workers’ compensation system, to name a few.

Over 100 years ago, Oregon leaders saw a need to help workers recover from workplace injuries, heal themselves, be retrained if needed, and get back to productive work.

In 1914, the Oregon Legislature created the State Accident Insurance Fund, which also goes by the acronym SAIF.

In 1980, Oregon restructured SAIF, and created the nation’s first public workers’ compensation corporation.

By 1986, Oregon gained the dubious honor of having the sixth-highest average workers’ compensation premium rates in the nation, and one of country’s highest frequencies of worker injuries and claims.

Medical and disability costs for injured workers were among the highest in the country, but benefit levels for some types of injuries were near the lowest. Some charged that Oregon’s workers’ compensation system was paying out too much in benefits for questionable claims, and that too much of the benefits that were being paid were going to lawyers or care providers of uncertain reputation.

In short, the system was failing.

In 1990, then-Gov. Neil Goldschmidt convened a labor-management work group that focused on improving and restructuring Oregon’s workers’ compensation system. The workgroup reached agreement on a number of changes to the system. These changes — known as the “Mahonia Hall Reforms” — were enacted into law in a one-day special session in May of that year.

The reforms increased benefits to injured workers but decreased the number of workers getting benefits. Criteria for reopening claims were tightened. Other changes eliminated the formal hearings process for resolving treatment disputes, required the use of strict standards in determining disability awards, allowed lump-sum settlements for accepted claims, and doubled benefit awards for certain injuries. There was also a substantial commitment made to the use of return-to-work and safety programs.

Since these reforms (and further changes in 1995) were enacted, the performance of Oregon’s workers’ compensation system has been a shining example of a government entity that works and works well. For example:

• More than 40 percent of Oregon’s employers have purchased workers’ compensation insurance through SAIF.
• SAIF has among the lowest system costs in the United States.
• Oregon’s workers rank in the 80^th percentile in receiving temporary disability benefits.
• Statewide, reported workplace injuries have fallen by almost 50 percent.
• Workplace fatalities have fallen by almost two-thirds.

In 1988, the average premium cost per $100 of workers’ wages was $4.86. By 2014, the rate had dropped to $1.37, a reduction of almost 72 percent. By comparison, the average national premium average in 1988 was $3.42 per $100, and it had declined an average of about 54 percent by 2014.

This performance in Oregon continues to this day and is, by any measure, a success story.

In the late 1990s I was part of a team representing Intel during its period of rapid expansion in Oregon. The company was in the process of making decisions that would bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investments. Oregon was a competitor once again for those investments, having lost to other states in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In working with state and local governments to help make Oregon competitive for Intel’s future growth, we would tell the story about why the company chose to make Oregon its first expansion site outside California.

Back in the mid-1970s, when Intel began to look at where to grow, Oregon had numerous competitive advantages: a well-trained and available workforce; an excellent education system; a working transportation system; abundant clean water; low-cost energy; and a predictable land-use system that provided for developable industrial land.

By the time the company was looking at its next major burst of growth 20 years later, Oregon’s primary competitive advantages had basically shrunk to two: a state law limiting tax property tax liability for multibillion-dollar investments, and a low-cost, stable workers’ compensation system.

Today, Oregon is facing serious fiscal challenges. Despite near-record economic performance and the generation of over a billion dollars of unforecasted additional revenue, our state is still facing serious deficit challenges because our leadership continues to kick the PERS and Medicaid cans down the road.

In 2017, the Legislature acted on the Medicaid part of the problem, but that effort may be facing political or legal challenges.

Unfortunately, the legislature did not act on PERS reforms. Reforms are critical if Oregon is to reduce PERS’ $22 billion unfunded liability, a situation that has become a vacuum for public funding that could otherwise go to education programs, infrastructure improvements, and other public needs.

Until these challenges are met, Oregonians will be facing multibillion-dollar deficit challenges for many years into the future.

The governor has appointed a taskforce to develop options to reform PERS that will be available for review by the governor and Legislature. This is a good thing. If there was ever a time for visionary leadership in solving a public problem, now is the time.

Unfortunately, the taskforce is not focusing solely on structural reforms to PERS. Among the options being considered are fully or partially privatizing SAIF or even using some of SAIF’s reserve as one-time revenue sources.

These are not — should not — be options to address Oregon’s deficit problems.

SAIF is one program that is working and working well. Oregon’s workers have been well served by the system. We have improved workplace safety, reduced injuries, implemented programs to return workers back to full health and back to work, and reduced premium costs.

In trying to solve one serious problem, Oregon shouldn’t re-create another. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

In the case of SAIF and Oregon’s outstanding workers’ compensation system, the saying should be, “If it ain’t broke, don’t touch it.”

Mike Salsgiver is the executive director of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter. Contact him at 503-685-8305 or mikes@agc-oregon.org.

The post Op-Ed: SAIF and workers’ comp: If it ain’t broke, don’t touch it appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Members of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter got back a record amount in retrospective returns for workers’ compensation payments – $9.87 million for 642 companies.

The figure represents a 30 percent return of paid premiums during the 2015-16 policy year, the AGC stated Thursday.

SAIF, Oregon’s nonprofit workers’ compensation insurance company, will mail individual results and retro checks to policyholders in mid-August.

Firms are expected to get additional savings this year due to a reduction in Oregon pure premium rates. The contracting industry decreased 7.3 percent overall, with the AGC group slightly below the average rate of decrease, with 7.15 percent.

The retro return is based on the safety performance of all group members.

“Employers make investments and commitments to safety and training,” the AGC said in a news release. “Employees carry out the work, utilizing safe work practices and behaviors. Industry professionals from SAIF, AGC, and agent brokers work diligently to train and educate, manage claim costs, and get injured workers back to productive work.”

The post Nearly $10M returned to AGC Oregon-Columbia chapter members appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.