FHDC is excited to welcome some new leadership to its Board of Directors. This Fall, Reyna Lopez and Wendy Veliz joined our multifaceted Board to continue delivering our mission and building our leadership capacity as the housing development portfolio grows and as we deepen our investment in communities of color through leadership, health, education and workforce development.
Reyna Lopez joins FHDC Board as the current Executive Director of a sister organization, PCUN.
Reyna is a leader and proud daughter of immigrants from Mexico, who came to Oregon in the late 80’s following the migration of farm work in the Marion County area. She is currently the Executive Director of PCUN, started and led by farmworkers and now Oregon’s longest-standing Latinx-led organization. Reyna grew up in Salem, Oregon and graduated from Willamette University with her BA in Political Science and Sociology. For over a decade, she has been a fierce leader and advocate for the Latinx community in Oregon, receiving the Immigrant Award from the American Association of Immigration Lawyers of Oregon, and Willamette University’s Young Alumni of the Year Award for her work in social justice causes, campaigns, movement, and coalition building. Today, Reyna is also leading national efforts as a member of the board of the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Secretary-Treasurer of the Oregon Working Families Party. Reyna’s passion for organizing and community is reflected throughout her career from her position as Civic Engagement Director at Causa, where she lead the Yes on 88 Campaign, Oregon’s first bilingual-bicultural ballot measure campaign! She founded the organization’s New American Voter’s Project and worked tirelessly to win Tuition Equity – a fight that took over a decade – for Oregon’s Dreamer population. In recent years, Reyna was the Outreach Director at Our Oregon, where she leads the Fellowship Program and organization’s base-building efforts for Oregon revenue reforms. And most recently, fighting for gender justice at Family Forward Oregon as the Organizing Director where she developed programs around Paid Family and Medical Leave, and nationally focused campaigns fighting back to protect the national budget from harmful cuts and protecting safety net programs.
Wendy Veliz joins FHDC as the current Government Affairs Manager at Portland General Electric (PGE)
As a current PGE employ, where she works as a Local Government Affairs Manager on the Public Policy team, Wendy’s responsibilities include managing utility and business issues that impact PGE’s operations with local municipalities both within PGE’s service and operating service territories. She focuses on the strengthening of community partnerships with local government and community leaders in support of thriving and healthy communities.
Wendy is a third-generation Latina who grew up in Woodburn and now resides in Aurora with her family. Her family settled in Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley more than 60 years ago when her parents and grandparents migrated here from Texas to work in the fields. Wendy spent many summers working in the fields as a farmworker alongside her siblings. There she gained an appreciation for hard work and a strong focus to gain an education and work towards a better life. Her desire to make a difference is deeply rooted in her passion and personal commitment to helping friends and neighbors and giving back to the community.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Eastern Oregon University. Wendy has also completed the Utility Management Certificate program from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.