Staff Profiles

Robin HarklessRobin Harkless, MS

Director
(503) 725-9099
hrobin@pdx.edu

Robin joined the Oregon Consensus team in May 2016 after 15 years in private practice with DS Consulting in Portland, Oregon. She brings extensive experience assessing, designing and facilitating collaborative processes on complex natural resource and public health public policy issues. With a background in communication and conflict engagement, Robin helps people engage in challenging conversations toward positive, sustainable relationships and sound public policy decisions.

Robin has worked extensively in the region on contentious water and land use issues which intersect multiple governments, species, and socioeconomic needs, providing impartial facilitation and coaching support to help dynamic groups work toward durable agreements. She served as a senior facilitator for the Columbia River Regional Forum, a sovereign to sovereign negotiating body focused on management of the federal hydroelectric system in the Columbia Basin, from 2007 to 2016. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Portland State University and a master’s degree in negotiation and conflict resolution from Creighton University’s Werner Institute. In 2012, she received the Sid Lezak Award for Excellence for Outstanding Service to Oregon from the Oregon Mediation Association.


Turner OdellTurner Odell , JD

Senior Project Manager
(503) 725-8200
todell@pdx.edu

Turner conducts assessments of public policy situations to gauge the potential for collaborative problem solving. He provides skilled facilitation to help groups negotiate complex policy issues. And he teaches collaborative governance to university students and professionals.

Before joining Oregon Consensus, Turner Odell worked as senior mediator for RESOLVE in Portland focusing on public policy mediation. He served as senior attorney with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C., counsel to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, senior project attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and as an associate with the Fried Frank law firm in New York. Turner earned a JD from the Rutgers School of Law in Newark, and a bachelor’s degree in resource economics from Cornell University.


Bobby CochranBobby Cochran, PhD

Senior Project Manager
(503) 334-6872
jcochran@pdx.edu

To Bobby, community means places where families and food grow, kids and rivers run,
and people know and look out for each other. Bobby has been supporting community-based collaboration for 20 years across natural resources, health, and economic opportunity.

Prior to Oregon Consensus, Bobby worked for the Rural Community Assistance
Partnership’s national office advancing its strategy and vision to work with rural and
tribal communities across the United States and with the Willamette Partnership building successful nonprofits and collaboratives. Bobby is skilled in linking research, collaborative process, policy, and innovation that help coalitions thrive. He received his PhD and MA from Portland State University, specializing in public policy
and conflict resolution, and is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader.


Jennah StillmanJennah Kiefer

Project Manager
(530) 680-8668
jennah@pdx.edu

Between growing up in Paradise, California, and living in various communities around Oregon for the last 15 years, Jennah has cultivated a deep appreciation for the natural environment and diverse human perspectives. Jennah draws from her experience in community outreach, science communications, project coordination, external partner relations, development planning, and facilitation. She roots her work in a passion for collaborative problem-solving.

Jennah previously worked at the OSU College of Forestry, and before that, a place-based environmental nonprofit organization. She studied International Development at the University of Oregon with a focus on public policy, community health, and sustainability and also conducted research in Morocco on rural and urban healthcare capacity development. A large portion of her life and work has been dedicated to the agricultural realm ranging from on-the-ground farming, to local food-focused business development, and global commodity supply chain management with an emphasis on beekeeping and honey.


Laurel SingerLaurel Singer, M.S., L.P.C.

Executive Director, National Policy Consensus Center
(503) 725-8224
laurels@pdx.edu

Laurel Singer leads state and national programs that provide conflict resolution and community engagement services, as well as applied research and training in collaborative governance. Laurel has expertise in designing and implementing processes that help organizations, public bodies, and stakeholder groups make decisions collaboratively. She teaches collaborative governance to professionals and graduate students, and presents on the topic nationally and internationally.

Since joining NPCC in 2006, Laurel has served in various service and leadership capacities. She draws on 30 years of experience as a manager, facilitator, mediator, and trainer in public service and private practice. Laurel has worked extensively in the human service arena, where she helped pioneer the first parent-adolescent mediation program in the Northwest. Laurel has a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Oregon and is enrolled in the Public Affairs and Policy PhD program at Portland State University. In 2011, Laurel received the Oregon Mediation Association’s Bryan Johnston Award in recognition of her outstanding service in the public policy mediation field.