HAP - About Us - Board of Commissioners

Housing Authority of Portland: Housing, Help and Hope for All

135 SW Ash Street Portland, OR. 97204

The HAP Board of Commissioners

The Board of Commissioners oversees the Housing Authority of Portland and is responsible for establishing policy and approving HAP's annual budget. The Board of Commissioners also hires the Executive Director, who serves as the agency's Chief Executive Officer. The Executive Director oversees the day-to-day operations of the Housing Authority and implements policies and programs established by the Board.

Each Board member is recommended by the jurisdiction he or she serves: four appointments are recommended by the City of Portland, two by the City of Gresham and two by Multnomah County. A ninth member participates in one of HAP's housing programs and represents residents. The recommended members are appointed by the Mayor of Portland and confirmed by the Portland City Council. Board members are volunteers who serve staggered four-year terms.

HAP's Board of Commissioners holds monthly public meetings. For a complete schedule of the Board's public meetings, please visit our Public Meetings page.

In addition to attending Board meetings, persons interested in contacting the Board may write them c/o the Housing Authority of Portland, 135 SW Ash Street, Portland, Oregon, 97204, or contact them via email at board@hapdx.org.


		Lee Moore, Chair “Many of the issues facing people today are the same challenges my family had when I was a child...I am humbled to be in a position to help folks who are striving to improve their lives.” Moore brings senior management experience in both the public and private sectors to the HAP board, as well as a deep commitment to the agency's mission shaped by personal history. His parents came to Oregon during World War II to work in the Kaiser shipyards, and the family lived in government housing as they saved to buy a home. Today, Moore is the general manager of Clackamas River Water, with previous positions in the public sector that include Deputy Director, Oregon Lottery and Acting Executive Director and Director of Operations and Hearings for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. He worked in the private sector at Tektronix, where he managed new site development and operations, and at Precision Castparts, and he has owned a small business. Moore has served on numerous boards and commissions and is the past Vice Chair of the Southwest Portland Neighborhood Association.

		Harriet Cormack, Vice Chair “I'm pleased to be able to join the board of an organization … that has an excellent record in pursuit of its mission of helping to ensure everyone in the community has safe, decent housing that they can afford." Vice Chair Cormack is a longtime community leader who brings more than 25 years of real estate management and development experience to the position. Cormack served as director of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts for six years. Prior to that, she served as vice president for development for Cornerstone Development Co., leading the development of Portland's RiverPlace and Seattle's Waterfront Place. She led urban renewal efforts for the preservation of the Pike Place Market and adjacent residential development in downtown Seattle. Cormack, now retired, also brings solid housing experience to the board. She worked at the Boston Housing Authority in the 1960s and was a former chair of the Oregon Corporation for Affordable Housing (dba Homestead Capital).

		David Widmark, Treasurer “Serving on the HAP board provides an opportunity to raise the bar on housing conditions in Gresham and the region. When housing improves, the overall quality of life in the community improves too.” Treasurer Widmark is a Gresham City Councilor who has served four times in that role since 1996. His volunteer public service also includes numerous committee and task force assignments, including seven years on the Gresham Planning Commission, five of which he served as chair. In addition to this work, he was general manager and public relations director for Cramer Fish Sciences, a fisheries consulting firm, for four years until June 2008. Prior to that, he retired from a 36-year career with the U.S. Forest Service, where he most recently was a Public Affairs Officer for the agency in the Pacific Northwest and Washington, DC.

		Jeff Bachrach, Chair Emeritus "Portland has a significant unmet need for affordable housing. I am excited to be part of HAP's effort to provide safe, affordable housing for those who are most vulnerable in our community." Jeff Bachrach brings to the Board his extensive experience in real estate and housing development. Bachrach is a lawyer specializing in land development and real estate transactions. He is a former board member of REACH Community Development Corp., the Commercial Real Estate Economic Coalition and the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland. Bachrach also served as one of the original commissioners on the Portland Baseball Commission. A former newspaper reporter, Bachrach holds a bachelor's degree in literature and earned his law degree at Lewis & Clark College.

		Gretchen Kafoury, Commissioner “Serving on the HAP board allows me to spend more time making a difference in the world of affordable housing, including achieving the ever-elusive goal of finding a permanent, sustainable source of revenue.” Commissioner Kafoury has had a distinguished career in public service and education. She spent 20 years in elected office, serving in the Oregon legislature, on the Multnomah County Commission, and on the Portland City Council. Her primary interests have revolved around social and economic justice, and she has left her mark on affordable housing, homeless programs, and domestic violence prevention. After leaving elected office, she joined the faculty of the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University and taught courses ranging from Poverty and Homelessness to Oregon’s Future and Public Administration. She is a 'founding mother’ of the New Leadership Oregon Board and continues to be active training the next generation of Oregon women politicians.

		Brian Lessler, Commissioner "Housing that is affordable is a tremendous stabilizing force for families in need, particularly for children and their ability to move forward in life." Lessler holds one of the two Gresham seats on the board and brings more than 35 years in real estate development and construction management. He is president of PDG Construction Services, a general contractor with extensive community development experience. PDG has grown from its start developing the Persimmon Country Club Community to building green-certified homes across the metro area and providing a full array of construction services for commercial and industrial projects. Lessler's strong commitment to civic involvement includes serving as president of the East Metro Economic Alliance and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.

		Amie Pico, Commissioner "I know first hand how challenging it is to find resources while managing life, and I want to encourage families to connect with community resources that can help empower them to succeed." Pico holds the seat on the board that represents those HAP serves in its different housing programs. As a young mother, Pico knew that higher education would make the true difference in her quest for economic independence. She used the family self-sufficiency resources at the housing authorities in central Oregon and Portland as she earned an associate degree in Bend and then a bachelor's degree in Child and Family Studies from Portland State University. Today, she is building a child care business that specializes in providing on-site child care during events. While she is on the board, Pico hopes to help HAP find innovative ways to connect residents with community resources.

		Shelli Romero, Commissioner “Serving on the HAP board fulfills my desire to continue to make positive contributions toward building and sustaining healthy communities and to make a difference in people’s lives.” Shelli has extensive public sector and non-profit experience in housing and supportive services. In her work at the city of Portland’s Bureau of Housing and Community Development and the Portland Housing Center, she led communications, outreach, and public education efforts for a range of initiatives. She was involved in policy decisions on critical supportive services while serving as the chief of staff for a Multnomah County Commissioner and was a legislative assistant for two U.S. representatives from Oregon. Currently she is government liaison for the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Portland Region One.

		Jim Smith, Commissioner “I would like to focus my service on the HAP board on tying the process we have to help many of our clients reach economic independence to Portland’s small business economy, making this effort as relevant as possible to our clients’ needs.” Jim Smith has a strong background in business management, building small businesses, and fostering entrepreneurship. He held executive positions in the high tech industry over several decades, starting with IBM, and now is the CEO of YCHANGE International, a management consulting firm for small and medium-sized companies. He is a member of the city of Portland’s Small Business Advisory Council and serves as chair of the Portland chapter of SCORE, an all-volunteer organization that provides counseling to small businesses and entrepreneurs to help them become successful.