OSBA Board selects Miller-Jones as OSBA executive director
Monday, January 28, 2013
The Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA) Board of Directors has unanimously selected Betsy Miller-Jones as the association’s new executive director, effective January 31, 2013.
OSBA President Terry Lenchitsky announced Miller-Jones’s appointment on behalf of the Board. Miller-Jones has served as OSBA interim executive director since January 2012. “Betsy has been a strong and loyal employee of OSBA. When asked, she took on the leadership on a temporary basis and has done an admirable job. We are thrilled to name her to the permanent position of Executive Director,” Lenchitsky said.
Miller-Jones added, “I am humbled by this appointment and I am excited to continue and enhance the work the Board, staff and I have done over this last year. We will work tirelessly for the school boards across our state. OSBA will embrace our education partners and advocate with them to promote good policy decisions that advance public education in Oregon.”
Past President Kris Howatt, who is also a Gresham-Barlow School Board member, led the search committee whose work led to Miller-Jones’s selection. “The international search revealed what a good decision the Board made last year in appointing Betsy Miller-Jones to take us through our leadership transition. Now, we want her continued leadership to guide us to the next level of success,” Howatt said.
Other search committee members were OSBA Board members Karen Cunningham (Beaverton School Board), Dave Krumbein (Pendleton School Board), Samuel Lee III (Winston-Dillard School Board) and Craig Prewitt (Phoenix-Talent School Board). Last August, OSBA hired the search firm Ray and Associates, Inc., located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to assist the Board in selecting a new executive director. Ray and Associates contacted board and search committee members, employees, statewide member districts, legislators and other stakeholders to determine the qualities and characteristics most desired in their new Executive Director. Individuals who were interviewed for the position were selected from an international pool of 77 applicants.
Miller-Jones has been with OSBA since 2004. From 2004 through 2011 she provided training, facilitation and board development services to Oregon school district, education service district and community college boards. She has six years experience as an elected school board member and prior experience with executive search services and board training with the New Hampshire School Boards Association. She is a nationally recognized board trainer, presenting at the National School Boards Association annual convention and at other state conferences.
