Ron Christie is Founder and CEO of Christie Strategies LLC, a full-service communications and issues management firm in Washington, D.C.  Christie is also the author of three books.  His most recent title,Blackwards: How Black Leadership is Returning America to the Days of Separate But Equal was published in September 2012.  His two previous books were Acting White: The Birth and Death of a Racial Slur (2010, St. Martin’s Press) and Black in the White House (2006, Thomas Nelson/Nelson Current).   Christie served as a Resident Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government Institute of Politics for the Fall 2011 term at Harvard University. Christie presently teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the McCourt Graduate School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

Mr. Christie is also a Co-Founder of NoLabels.org – a non-partisan group seeking real policy solutions in Washington, D.C. Along with former Gov. Jon Huntsman, Christie is a co-host of No Labels Radio heard each Saturday on Sirius XM POTUS Channel 124. He also is a Columnist at The Daily Beast.com.

Mr. Christie, a veteran senior advisor of both the White House and the Congress, brings years of government relations experience.  Most recently, Christie served as Vice President of Navigators LLC – a strategic consulting and communications firm.  He previously served as Executive Vice President and Director of Global Government Affairs at Ruder Finn and Of Counsel at the DC law firm of Patton Boggs, LLP.   From 2002 to 2004, he was Acting Director of USA Freedom Corps and special assistant to President George W. Bush. He began service at the White House in 2001 as deputy assistant to Vice President Cheney for domestic policy, advising the Vice President on policy initiatives in health care, budget, tax and other policy areas.

As a frequent commentator on current political events, Christie served as a political commentator for BBC Worldwide Television for their global 2012 election night coverage. He will reprise his role to cover the 2014 midterm elections this upcoming November with the BBC.  He has appeared as a political/legal analyst on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, On the Record with Greta Van Sustern, Real Time with Bill Maher, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Fox News Sunday, Hannity, The O'Reilly Factor, and The Tavis Smiley Show.  Christie also serves as a Political Contributor for National Public Radio. 

A native of Palo Alto, California, he received his B.A. from Haverford College and his J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center.  Christie has served as an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Advocacy at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. Christie also taught a course on strategic advocacy at his alma mater, Haverford College, where he was appointed a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science in 2009 and 2011. 

He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, D.C., The Prevent Cancer Foundation and the American Conservative Union.

Michael Anderson-Nathe - Michael is the Director of Community Engagement for Health Share of Oregon.  He serves on the Executive Team of Health Share and is charged with enabling health care transformation by engaging Health Share’s members, affiliates and community service providers to cultivate innovative approaches to addressing social determinants of health outcomes, upstream prevention and facilitating member engagement.  

Liz Baxter, MPH – Liz is Executive Director of the Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI), committed to building vibrant communities of healthy people by advancing policies, plans and practices that address the root causes of our state’s most pressing health concerns.

Prior to OPHI, Liz spent seven years leading We Can Do Better, founded as the Archimedes Movement, an organization that believes small groups of people can have great impact, and influence the state and national debates on health and health care.

Liz has spent her career building bridges between complex policy discussions and the public's ability to understand and weigh in on these issues. Liz acts as a “translator” of technical knowledge for those who don’t live inside the policy world, and bridges information between community members and decision makers.

Liz has her undergraduate degree in social work, two years of graduate study in gerontology and a Masters in Public Health. She has chaired the board for Cover Oregon for more than 3 years, and serves on the boards of Oregon Health Decisions and the MRG Foundation. She was vice chair of Oregon’s Future of Public Health Task Force, and is on leadership committees for OHA’s Health Equity Policy Committee and the Allies for a Healthier Oregon.

Laura Cali is an actuary who led the Oregon Insurance Division through the review of 2014 health plan rates amid major reforms, became Oregon insurance commissioner on July 15, 2013.

The division hired Cali in mid-2011 as a casualty actuary specializing in workers’ compensation and medical malpractice. She previously worked as a consulting actuary for Towers Watson in San Francisco, overseeing projects for self-insured companies, public entities, and insurers. She started her career at Liberty Mutual’s home office in Boston, building rating models for workers’ compensation and general liability lines of business.

While her area of expertise is in property and casualty insurance, Cali became heavily involved in health insurance issues in 2012-2013 as chief actuary and manager of the division’s product regulation section. In that position, she helped lead the division’s efforts to ensure that health insurers comply with the Affordable Care Act by Jan. 1, 2014. During her time with the division, Cali has demonstrated a strong commitment to consumer protection and enhanced the participation of individuals and consumer groups in addressing key insurance issues facing Oregonians.

Brett Hamilton joined the FamilyCare, Inc. team in July 2013 as the Community Development Coordinator.  Hamilton is now Health Policy and Program Manager and is the staff lead for FamilyCare’s Community Advisory Council.

Hamilton joined FamilyCare after serving four years as the executive director of the Tobacco Free Coalition of Oregon, Inc.  where he engaged the state, county, city and local community members in the fight against the harms of tobacco. Prior to becoming the executive director of the Tobacco Free Coalition of Oregon, Inc. he was Managing Director of Public and Professional Education at the Oregon Dental Association where he advocated for improved oral health care.

Hamilton is currently on the executive committee for Allies for a Healthy Oregon and serves on the City Club of Portland’s Advocacy and Awareness Board.  Before joining FamilyCare Hamilton served on the steering committee for Healthy Oregon Partnership for Equity (HOPE now known as OHEA) and Healthy Kids Learn Better Coalition.

Hamilton received a Masters of Public Administration from The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at University of Washington where he is focused on Urban Affairs after returning from Senegal where he served as small business development volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps.

Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer - Alissa has spent over 30 years working to eliminate poverty, promote cross-cultural understanding, invest in youth, protect the environment, and promote civil rights.

After graduating from Stanford, Alissa spent several years doing community development in Indonesian villages. She then earned a Masters in Public Health in Hawaii, worked in Hawaiian nonprofits and the Hawaii legislature, and ran an international exchange organization in California.

Alissa and her husband, Neal, moved into their Mt. Tabor home in 1994 when Neal became the head of Mercy Corps. While Alissa has volunteered for Mercy Corps around the world, most of her professional and volunteer time has been devoted to the community where she and Neal have raised their three children. Over the past 20 years, Alissa has worked with hundreds of parents, activists, and policy makers to invest in early childhood, public education, and healthy neighborhoods. She is a vocal advocate for the non-profit sector and under-represented communities.

Johanna Lindsay serves as Vice President for Programs, Public Policy and Advocacy for the Arthritis Foundation, Great West Region.

In her current role, she coordinates advocacy efforts for the 8 states and 17 counties of the Great West Region. Her responsibilities include the grassroots e-advocate and ambassador programs, advocate trainings and a growing number of state-level policy and legislative activities.

Prior to serving in an advocacy role, her 13-plus year tenure at the Arthritis Foundation included implementation of evidence-based physical activity programs, education events for public and professional audiences as well as development of the Kids and Teens Families Investing Support and Hope (KAT-FISH) Family Camp program, which serves children and teens living with juvenile arthritis and their families. Having worked directly with so many of the Foundation’s constituents fuels her passion for advancing public policy solutions.

Nicole O’Kane is the Clinical Director at Acumentra Health where she provides oversight and clinical expertise for a variety of health care related programs. Acumentra Health is an Oregon nonprofit consulting organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of health care in the Pacific Northwest. The company works directly with practitioners across different health care settings, and with purchasers, community-based organizations, professional associations, policymakers, and consumers, to ensure that every patient gets the right care every time.

Doctor O’Kane has a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of New Mexico. Since moving to Oregon in 1999, she has been working collaboratively on a wide range of medication-related initiatives. These programs focus on the needs of people who require complex medication combinations, such as elders who have a diagnosis of chronic pain, diabetes or heart disease. Her expertise includes the evaluation and reporting of current medical data, as well as the design and measurement of patient-centered interventions to improve the safety and effectiveness of medication use.

Becky Olson - In 2000, Becky co-founded Breast Friends, an Oregon based organization dedicated to helping women survive the trauma of cancer.  (www.breastfriends.org). She is also author of, “The Hat that Saved My Life.” She has received numerous awards for her work including the Toastmaster’s International Communication and Leadership award, The Susan G. Komen/BMW North America “Local Hero” award, the 2009 national “Pink Power Mom” by Bright Starts, an award granted to eight women around the country for their work in supporting women with breast cancer. In 2011 Becky received the Bank of America Local Hero Award in Portland, OR. 

Latricia Tillman, MPH - Deputy Director, Public Health. Multnomah County Health Department

Ms. Tillman’s goals throughout her career have been to promote a highly qualified, diverse workforce, to engage communities experiencing disparities in promoting health and well-being, and to reduce social inequities.  She has worked over the last 22 years to improve the health of culturally diverse communities in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Oregon.

This January, Ms. Tillman returned to work at the Multnomah County Health Department to serve as Deputy Director for Public Health.  Prior to this, she was the Director for the Office of Equity and Inclusion in the Oregon Health Authority.  With her leadership the Office of Equity and Inclusion elevated the mandate for health equity and civil rights, increased state funding for culturally specific community organizations to promote health and well being, created opportunities for highly qualified and diverse health professionals to serve in policy leadership roles, and created and implemented policies that promote equity and civil rights in health and human services. She advocated for the integration of health care interpreters, community health workers, doulas and other “traditional health workers” in health systems transformation as proven health equity strategies.

In her new role, she will continue to work to ensure that health equity and culturally and linguistically appropriate service standards are a strong part of Multnomah County.

Thea Zajac, MSW, Director of Government Affairs, Pacific West Region, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Thea has been with LLS since October 2012, where she started working with patients and leading advocacy efforts for 16 counties in the San Francisco Bay area. Previous to LLS she worked as a pediatric social worker for UCSF medical center. She also has experience community organizing for political campaigns, neighborhood issues and health initiatives. Thea earned a bachelor’s degree in city and regional planning from California Polytechnic State University and a master’s degree in social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.