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Energy Trust of Oregon board adds Melissa Cribbins

Coos County Commissioner brings passion for conservation, economic vitality to the nonprofit

COOS BAY, Ore. — April 15, 2014 — Energy Trust of Oregon has added three new members to its board of directors, including Melissa Cribbins of Coos Bay.

Cribbins is an attorney and a Coos County Commissioner, serving since her election in 2012.

“Melissa has great expertise in resource conservation and passion for building strong, healthy communities on the coast and statewide. We are delighted that she has joined Energy Trust’s board,” said Debbie Kitchin, board president, Energy Trust.

Drawn from communities around the state, Energy Trust directors represent a broad spectrum of expertise from the private sector and public institutions. Board members, all volunteers, provide strategic and policy direction for the nonprofit, which designs and delivers programs that help residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers save energy and generate renewable power. The 15-member board approves the organization’s annual budget and major expenditures. Board members bring independent viewpoints to their oversight of Energy Trust, which operates under a grant agreement with the Oregon Public Utility Commission.

Cribbins graduated from Gonzaga University Law School and was admitted to the Oregon Bar. She worked for the Coquille Indian Tribe as in-house counsel for six years. Prior to becoming an attorney, Cribbins worked as a judicial clerk in the Oregon Circuit Court, a law clerk in the Washington State Court of Appeals and water quality manager for the City of Spokane.

Cribbins is active in many organizations both in Coos County and statewide. She is secretary of the Coos Bay–North Bend Water Board, an American Leadership Fellow, a Ford Leadership Community Ambassador Trainer and an Oregon Bay Area Chamber of Commerce board member.

In addition to Cribbins, others recently named to Energy Trust’s board are Susan Brodahl, owner and executive of an insurance brokerage firm from Portland, and Kenneth Mitchell-Phillips Sr., attorney and president of Easy Legal Northwest, Inc. from Multnomah County.

Other members currently serving on Energy Trust’s board include Debbie Kitchin, board president, InterWorks, LLC, Portland; Ken Canon, board vice president, Canon and Hutton law firm, Myrtle Creek; Alan Meyer, board secretary, Weyerhaeuser Company, Salem; Dan Enloe, board treasurer, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro; Rick Applegate, Applegate Consulting, Portland; Roger Hamilton, Western Grid Group, Eugene; Anne Haworth Root, EdenVale Winery and Eden Valley Orchards, Medford; Mark Kendall, Kendall Energy, Salem; John Reynolds, University of Oregon, Eugene; John Savage, Oregon Public Utility Commission, Salem; Lisa

Schwartz, Oregon Department of Energy, Salem; Dave Slavensky, Structus Building

Category: General News