Our Team
Trustees
The Board of Trustees for Uplift Oregon (Oregon Unions State Worker Training and Education Fund) holds the vision for our work and oversees the planning and implementation of the Trust agreement. We come together to take action on our shared goal of supporting state employees so that they can thrive.
Travis Brouwer
Chairperson of the Board. Assistant Director, Oregon Department of Transportation
Jennifer Li
Sub-Local 219 Chair, SEIU 503, Oregon Health Authority
Mike Powers
Department of Agriculture. President, SEIU 503
Sophorn Cheang
Director, Business Oregon
Jim Franks
Contract Specialist, Oregon AFSCME
Jade McCredy
State Program Manager, AFSCME
Melinda Gross
Director, Office of Cultural Change, DAS
Gail Levario
Assistant Director, Department of Corrections
Philip Shilts
Public Services Director, SEIU Local 503
Staff Members
The Uplift Oregon staff team is part of RISE Partnership. From curriculum development and training delivery to benefits education and Trust administration, our team delivers training and benefits for over 80,000 Oregon caregivers and state employees.
Kelley Weigel
Director
Kelley is the Director for Uplift Oregon, working with the Board of Trustees and staff to bring the power of our labor-management partnership to fruition through consistent, quality training for state employees. Kelley has 25 years of program development and organization building in the nonprofit sector, bringing a broad set of skills to this first-of-its-kind partnership. In her past work she served as Executive Director of Western States Center from 2011 to 2017, a hub for nonprofit training and leadership development. Earlier work includes community organizing in rural areas across the state, and interfaith collaboration for racial justice. She is a 2012 graduate of Rockwood Institute’s “Leading from the Inside Out” national fellowship program and holds a BA from the University of Oregon in Political Science and International Studies. Kelley lives in Portland with her partner and son and enjoys digging in her garden, traveling the state and beyond, and playing board games.
Sherri Aytche
Program Manager
Originally from New York City with a background in Education and Counseling, Sherri worked for New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corp. She assisted with New York City’s efforts to provide emergency counseling for those affected by 9/11as well as the implementation of a therapeutic child care center for abused children.
Since moving to Oregon, she has worked for many nonprofit agencies, designing curriculum and/or facilitating innovative programs such as Rethinking Job Search. This program, being the first job search program of its kind to focus on Cognitive Behavioral Training (CBT), was a collaboration between the Oregon Employment Department and Willamette Workforce Partnership. Prior to joining Uplift Oregon, she was contracted to work with the Department of Human Services to assist TANF recipients with engaging in culturally specific treatment resources.
She currently teaches undergraduate-level courses, enjoys spending time with her family, movies, thrifting for new finds, and is passionate about ceramics and works out of a studio in her home.
Jeanette Cooper
Data and Operations Manager
Jeanette is the Data and Operations Manager for Uplift Oregon. She comes to us from SEIU 775, the long-term care union covering Washington state and Montana. Prior to her role in the labor union, she covered similar roles in non-profit mental healthcare, particularly in quality improvement and electronic medical records (EMR). While she was at SEIU 775, she spent four years on the Equity and Inclusion Committee as a senior member and collaborated on several workshops for the organization. Her passions for race and social justice continue within her community, and globally.
When she’s not fighting the good fight, Jeanette can be found spending time with her two energetic terrier mix dogs along with her spouse and adult kids. She enjoys visiting the zoo, playing with otters (it’s an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime experience), puzzles, reading, taking day drives, listening to podcasts, and of course being a foodie.
Brad Fortier
Training and Education Coordinator
Brad is an anthropologist, educator, and author who holds an interdisciplinary MA from Portland State University. He is an expert at applying both anthropology and interactive/experiential methods to adult learning and training. Brad’s writing is based on his research on improvised theater and its effects on people. He has applied his skills to working with unaccompanied minors crossing the southern border and running a social justice education program that uses interactive theater at Portland Community College. Brad has also been a consultant to the United Nations Institute for Training and Research for his work with experiential methods. He will be supporting the efforts of the Uplift team by developing and delivering content in their three domains of benefits; health and wellness; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
When he is not at work, Brad is an active performer and teacher in Portland’s improvised theater scene (which he has been a part of since 1996). He has traveled the US, Canada, and Europe as a performer and director. Brad is an avid outdoors person boating, hiking, and camping. He also loves spending time with his husband and their two cats.
Dr. General Johnson
Wellness Training and Education Coordinator
Dr. General has spent many years working in Higher Education as a Director/Program Manager, Health Studies/Public Health Professor, and Developer of Equity-based Educational Programs and Mentoring Initiatives. His experience includes developing and evaluating research data to make informed decisions to implement strategic initiatives to establish equitable programming and services to recruit, sustain, and enhance adult learners’ success and experiences. He is also a Trainer for the OHA (Oregon Health Authority) Covid-19 Rapid Response Training Team. In his role as Wellness Education and Training Coordinator, Dr. General will lead collaborative efforts to design, build, and improve equitable and engaging educational materials that provide access to and knowledge of benefits related to wellness activities, seminars, and events to state employees.
He holds a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine. He is nearing completion of his Educational Doctorate in Leadership for Change from Fielding Graduate University and the Public Policy and Leadership Credential from Harvard University. He is originally from Washington, DC, and currently resides in Portland, where he enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
Stephanie Schaefer, Psy.D.
Benefi Benefits Training and Education Coordinator
Dr. Stephanie Schaefer is a psychologist by training who grew up in a union household in Portland, Oregon. She has over a decade of experience teaching students in various levels of higher education, has supervised the clinical work of future mental health professionals, and provided continuing education to current mental health professionals through trainings and by co-authoring the second edition of a pair of books on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Stephanie is passionate about employee wellness and ensuring that employees are aware of and fully utilize the employer and union benefits available to them.
Stephanie enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, crafting, and learning in her free time.
Raquel Kinser
Program Support Specialist
As the Program Support Specialist for Uplift Oregon, Raquel helps coordinate benefits trainings for state employees while assisting with data processes including data analysis, data entry, and systems maintenance. Prior to her position with Uplift Oregon, Raquel worked for the Department of Human Services at the State of Oregon and in various capacities in non-profit and for-profit settings. In her spare time, she enjoys visiting farmers markets, the Oregon coast, and fostering dogs. She is pursuing her MBA at Oregon State University.
Rodas Haile
Program Support Specialist
Alexis Smay
Program Support Specialist
Alexis is a graduate of Portland State University with a degree in World Languages and Literature. Following graduation, she relocated to Bogotá, Colombia, where she worked as a teacher and dedicated herself to various collectives doing grassroots media work by covering protests, national strikes, and elections as an international elections observer.
Alexis is interested in educating herself on the social and working conditions that migrant farm workers face in Oregon and Washington as well as committed to various projects supporting the reintegration of ex-combatants in Colombia. She likes to relax by translating texts from English to Spanish, weightlifting and going dancing when she can.
Whitney Johnson
Career Mobility Program Manager
Whitney Johnson is an avid dog lover with a background in Communications and Educational Program Direction. With more than a decade of experience in the non-profit sector and a wide variety of program development projects under her belt, Whitney has discovered that her greatest passion is helping people grow by brining them together to build systems of support that help them navigate the highs and lows of personal and professional growth. In her spare time, she is a runner, an outdoor enthusiast, and an improviser with a variety of groups in Portland. Whitney is thrilled to be continuing her professional journey with RISE Partnership and Uplift Oregon in the role of Career Mobility Program Manager and can’t wait to get to work!
Jamila Dozier
Training Education Coordinator
Jamila (she/they/elle) is a queer, bilingual Afro-Latina originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has extensive experience facilitating racial justice education, strategic planning, leadership development, and data collection and assessment. In the Portland community, Jamila serves as the co-chair of Metro’s Committee on Racial Equity (CORE) and is a board member for Rose CDC. In all of Jamila’s work she utilizes targeted universalism, centering populations who are most marginalized and vulnerable when making decisions and providing support to individuals.
When she’s not at work, she’s playing kickball with her friends, playing her bass guitar, and enjoying live music
Malika Edden Hill
Partner Coordinator
Malika Edden Hill, MSW, is the Partnerships Coordinator for Uplift Oregon. Before joining Uplift she worked at the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) in the Reproductive Health Program as the Health Education Coordinator for a little over 5 years, and then transitioned to support the Covid Response and Recovery Unit/Public Health Directors office as an Equity Liaison. While she was at OHA she had the opportunity to get involved with her union, SEIU 503, and was on the Sates Central Bargaining team. This opportunity helped her to become more engaged in union work, including being an original trustee for Uplift Oregon.
Malika worked as a Health Educator on the African American Sexual Health Equity Project at Multnomah County Health Department providing education, community engagement, developed intervention programs, and outreach to address health disparities among African American adults and youth.
Malika also teaches as adjunct faculty at Portland State University in the School of Social Work. Her passion for advocacy, equity, and sexual and reproductive health began when she was 17 and had the opportunity to join a peer education program through Planned Parenthood that was focused on educating youth. She has educated and trained youth and adults, and she shares that 5th graders are by far her favorite age group to work with.
She had the opportunity to become a Board Member for the ACLU of Oregon, right after a presidential election. Along with her fellow board members and ACLU staff the organization was able to support important work that protected Oregonians civil rights.
When Malika isn’t working, she can be found eating tasty food with friends, laughing, traveling, or curled up on the couch with her two cats and her dog that she lovingly refers to as “the management.”
From Our Trustees
“Uplift Oregon’s approach to training with equity at its core is important to me. This focus on equity will strengthen our workplaces, and in turn, assure that we as state agencies are developing and implementing culturally specific and responsive strategies to advance equitable outcomes for all Oregonians. “