25 Years of NWHF - The Staff Members Who Le(a)d the Work
This year, Northwest Health Foundation hits a huge milestone: 25 years of grantmaking and advancing health in Oregon and SW Washington. In honor of that milestone, we are celebrating some of the people and organizations who have been most influential on this journey. This is the second in a series of blog posts. Read the first one about NWHF’s founding chair, Mark Hatfield.
Thomas Aschenbrener getting sworn in as a Manzanita City Councilor in 2019.
Thomas Aschenbrener
Thomas was NWHF’s founding president and CEO, serving from 1997 until 2012. During Thomas’ tenure, NWHF granted over $65 million to advance, support and promote the health of the people of Oregon and Southwest Washington. Under his leadership, NWHF established the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund, Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future, and many other important partnerships and initiatives. Thomas advanced philanthropic conversations about equity, social justice and civic engagement. He is also the namesake of the Thomas Aschenbrener Center for Philanthropy, NWHF’s office building in Old Town Portland, which rents offices and provides free meeting space to community-based organizations.
Nichole June Maher and fellow Group Health Foundation staff member Eduardo Moreno (also a former NWHF staff member).
Nichole June Maher
Formerly a member of NWHF’s board of directors, Nichole served as president and CEO of NWHF from 2012 through 2018. Before 2012, Nichole was the executive director of Native American Youth and Family Center and co-founded the Coalition of Communities of Color. While at NWHF, Nichole redoubled NWHF’s commitment to equity and significantly increased our funding to Black, Indigenous and people of color-led nonprofits. Under her leadership, we launched several funding initiatives, including Healthy Beginnings+Healthy Communities, Advancing Disability Justice, the Health & Education Fund, and Oregon Active Schools.
Jesse Beason with NWHF staff members Stephenie Smith and Felicita Monteblanco at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Conference.
Jesse Beason
Jesse joined NWHF as our Director of Public Affairs in 2013. In January 2019, he became NWHF’s third president and chief executive officer. With his background in policy and public affairs, Jesse has led NWHF to take full advantage of our 501(c)(4) by increasing our funding to 501(c)(4) community-led organizations, endorsing campaigns like Cover All Kids and Restoration of Voting Rights, and hiring lobbyists to support our grantees’ legislative priorities. Since Jesse became NWHF’s president, we’ve launched our multi-year Civic Health initiative and were selected by the Transforming Justice Coalition to administer the Justice Reinvestment Equity Program.
Suk Rhee with former NWHF board member Marjorie McGee and former staff member Eddie Moreno at a celebration of the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund.
Suk Rhee
As NWHF’s Vice President of Strategy and Community Partnership, Suk led NWHF’s program team for several years. Suk built strong relationships with community partners, including individual leaders, community-led organizations, and fellow philanthropic institutions. She was dedicated to listening to and learning from communities throughout our region, advancing NWHF’s journey toward equity and justice. Suk left NWHF to take on the role of Bureau Director for Portland’s Office of Community and Civic Life in 2017. She is now the Vice President of Programs at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy.