Alicia moved to Eugene years ago because the community offered a great opportunity to play wheelchair basketball—little did she know it would also provide a path to a rewarding public sector career and years of service as an elected official. As an athlete, she played in numerous national women’s wheelchair basketball tournaments, including winning the national title. Professionally, Alicia served as Lane County’s Director of Children and Families, and later Director of Health & Human Services, retiring from that position in 2017. Alicia was elected to the Eugene 4j School Board in 2007, where she has served ever since. While serving on the School Board, she had the opportunity to serve on, and chair, a number of local campaigns including both those for bond measures and levy measures. She has a strong community network, and understands the world of public financing.

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Eric worked for 20 years in park, natural area, and recreation management for the City of Eugene, Willamalane Park and Recreation District, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). He was the Natural Areas and Urban Forestry Manager at City of Eugene, the Assistant Superintendent for Parks, Planning, and Facilities at Willamalane, and the Freshwater Director for TNC Oregon. In these roles, Eric worked collaboratively with other organizations and he planned, designed, and implemented capital improvement projects and successfully managed $10 million grants. Eric has been on the Board of Directors for several nonprofit organizations since 1999, including the Long Tom Watershed Council, Native Plant Society of Oregon, and Emerald Valley Pickleball Club. Eric is currently a professional pickleball player and member of the Seattle United Pickleball Club in the NPL. He also the Pickleball Professional at Eugene Swim and Tennis Club. Eric is dedicated to growing the game of pickleball and is excited about the opportunity to construct new pickleball facilities in the area.

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Laura is an accountant, outdoor lover, foodie, proud mom of 2 and wife of John, a Landscape Architect. She spent the 1st half of her career in the IT industry working for NCR in Atlanta. After her husband started his own company, she started using her accounting degree to run the financial side of his business. She also worked for several CPA firms during that time. In 2010, she started a QuickBooks consulting business which she still runs today. After their children were out on their own, Laura and her husband were looking for a change of scenery, quicker access to great hiking trails and out of traffic jams! They moved to Eugene in 2019.  Even though they quickly made friends here, none of them played tennis – which was her sport of choice in Atlanta. Eventually she met someone who was teaching people to play pickleball, and now she is hooked on pickleball! She is excited to be lending her accounting expertise to the Foundation.

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Karen Gaffney is a long-term resident of Eugene, graduating from the University of Oregon, building a career and raising her family here, and demonstrating a commitment to community engagement and leadership. After more than 30 years of public service, Karen has recently retired as the Director of Lane County Health & Human Services, leading the County’s largest department, and building strong collaborative relationships with leaders across the community in the public and private sectors. Her work at Lane County included many collaborative capital building projects, leveraging funding from private foundations as well as local, state and federal governmental sources. Karen currently works as a Strategic Consultant for Funk/Levis & Associates, specializing in strategic planning, communications and public relations. In addition to her work on behalf of Lane County, Karen has previously championed the selection, purchase, and funding of a new church building for her congregation, and is currently an active member of Eugene Rotary. After decades of being an avid sports spectator, this year Karen was introduced to pickleball by her close friend, and has enthusiastically been practicing new skills and planning for much more play time during retirement. Karen earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Oregon, and a Graduate Certificate in Public Health from Oregon State University. 

Roger served for nine years as Recreation Director of the Quincy Illinois Park District. During that time, he developed a Community Education program that resulted in collaboration between the Community College, Park District, and School District to share facilities and joint programs. He also worked with other staff to plan and develop an 80-acre, multi-million-dollar Park. I and successfully wrote a grant to attend World Congress on Philanthropy and made presentations to Community organizations on fundraising. Roger has been on the board of directors of other organizations, is the founding President of the Emerald Valley Pickleball Club, and is a USA Pickleball District Ambassador. Roger is committed to helping create a new facility that will meet these needs and one that we all will be proud of.

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Tina is a native Oregonian and a 1980 graduate of the University of Oregon, where she lettered in Women’s Tennis for 4 years. Following her graduation from Oregon, she went to work in the marketing and advertising industry. Tina successfully worked with hundreds of clients throughout her career while generating over $70 million in revenue for her respective employers, including a launch of a new News product that pre-sold $700k in revenue for the year before the show even aired! Tina’s passion is working with people and watching them become successful while seeing their dreams become a reality. 

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Over the years, she has participated in many different organizations, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, SO Humane Society, Oregon Association of Broadcasters, Order of the O, numerous Chambers of Commerce, and numerous fund-raising endeavors for a variety of organizations. 

Alan is part of five generations to grow up in Eugene. He has four married children and 12 young grandchildren. He attended public schools in Eugene, including Francis E. Willard Elementary, Spencer Butte Junior High, South Eugene High, and the University of Oregon. After his undergraduate years, he went on to receive accreditations from the Wharton School of Business (UPENN) and Stern School of Business (NYU). Alan worked 20+ years at Rexius Inc, ending as Senior Vice President, before transitioning to becoming a financial advisor within one of the world’s largest global banks. He eventually left this large company to co-found the independent firm of “Sapient Private Wealth Management LLC”, from which he retired 4 years ago. Alan remains the Chairman of the Board for Rexius Inc. As a multi-sport athlete, Alan has experienced most types of competitions, but he enjoys the inclusiveness of pickleball the best and wants to partner in making Eugene “pickleball central” of the Pacific Northwest!

Chris has worked in the healthcare space for 40 years, most recently serving as the interim Senior Director for Oncology at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis. He also served as the Executive Director for The US Oncology Network for over 20 years. In this role, he was responsible for developing, planning, directing and controlling broad activities needed to ensure the long-term success of community-based cancer practices in Oregon, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio.  In addition to working in the private sector, Chris has over 12 years of experience working with non-profit organizations. He has been on the Board of Directors for three different organizations where he focused on designing the organizational structure and generating funds to support the mission of these organizations. Chris is an avid pickleball player and hopes to increase the quality and quantity of Pickleball facilities in the Eugene/Springfield area.

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