Jennifer Baker, former deputy district director for the Portland office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, was named the new president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council.
Baker, 40, chosen following a three-month search, will start Jan. 14.
As the organization’s president, Baker will oversee the CREDC’s staff, funding, budget, program, initiatives, business support and recruitment activities. She will also be responsible for development and execution of the CREDC’s strategic direction.
“I am thrilled that I was selected to lead the CREDC team. I’m eager to engage with the staff and board members as we position our communities to manage current economic opportunities and future challenges optimally,” Baker said in a news release. “A considerable amount of effort went into creating the Clark County Comprehensive Economic Development Plan, and there will be much work to do as we continue building out this vision into actionable channels. I pledge to represent CREDC with the high-level of professionalism and polish for which it is reputed, and I look forward to facilitating the strong collaboration and partnerships that help make Clark County an unparalleled place to live, work and play.”
Baker has worked for the past eight years at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Portland office, which serves Oregon and Southwest Washington. She worked the first three years as the office’s economic development outreach manager, and became the office’s deputy district director in 2014.
While serving in the Small Business Administration, Baker also served as an advisory board member for the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs and the Women’s Business Center at Mercy Corps Northwest.
“We are thrilled to have someone of Jennifer’s caliber lead the organization,” Casey Wyckoff, board chair of CREDC, said in the news release. “Jennifer brings a wealth of experience that will propel the team to new heights. I am confident Jennifer’s leadership will continue the strong momentum toward accomplishing the goals of our Economic Development Plan as we embark on year two of execution.”
Prior to joining the Small Business Administration, Baker worked in a number of different business and trade fields, including four years as an international trade specialist with the U.S. Department of Commerce from 2004 to 2008.
She served as a trade adviser at the Institute of International Education in Ethiopia in 2008, and served in Vanuatu in 2010 and 2011 as a senior trade policy adviser during preparations for negotiation of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus, a regional trade agreement involving Australia, New Zealand and several Pacific Island countries.
She received her bachelor’s in Modern Languages and International Studies from Pacific University, and her master’s in International Policy with a focus on trade and development from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California.
The previous CREDC president, Mike Bomar, departed in April to serve as the Port of Vancouver’s economic development director. The organization’s former executive vice president, Max Ault, began serving as interim president in May.
Ault announced in September that he would be leaving the group at the end of the year to become the assistant vice chancellor for strategic partnerships at Washington State University Vancouver. The CREDC said that Wyckoff would lead a search for a new president starting in October, with the goal of having a new president hired by the end of 2018.
Ault will remain with the organization in an advisory capacity to assist Baker in the transition during her first two weeks. His first day at Washington State University is Feb. 1.
