Wendy Veliz, President
Wendy Veliz is the Local Government Affairs Manager at Portland General Electric Company and currently serves as the Chair of FHDC's housing committee. She is a third-generation Latina Oregonian and received her B.A. in business administration from Eastern Oregon University.
Reyna Lopez, Vice President
Reyna Lopez 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, which was started by farmworkers and is 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.
Paloma Dale, Secretary
Attorney at Legal Aid Services of Oregon
Larry Kleinman, Treasurer
Larry Kleinman has been on FHDC's Board since 1999 and has served on the Boards of several non-profits. He has extensive fundraising, organizing, personnel management, and administrative experience. Larry is a co-founder of PCUN and stepped down from his PCUN leadership role in 2013 to take up national work building the capacity of the immigrants rights movement.
Nargess Shadbeh, Founding Member
Nargess Shadbeh is an immigrant from Iran. She started her law practice right out of law school in Woodburn, Oregon serving farmworkers in 1985 and in all the decades since then has focused her practice exclusively on serving migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Oregon. She has been a fierce advocate for farmworkers across Oregon but particularly across the Willamette Valley and in the Gorge. Her body of work includes an establishment, in a co-led effort, for overtime for farmworkers in Oregon's Christmas tree worker for two decades and most recently on behalf of farmworkers across all industries. She has also co-led policy improvement to protect workers from heat stress and harmful smoke levels. She was one of the founding members of FHDC in the early 1990s with the singular belief that there must be decent affordable housing with easy access to services for farmworkers whose work supports the economy of this state. Nargess calls representation of farmworkers the honor of her life. Her greatest hero is her father who has been a constant inspiration in her work for farmworkers. He always reminded her whether serving Iranians or Latinx farmworkers, ultimately serving farmworkers is of the highest calling in her profession.
Elias Villegas, Member
Elias Villegas and his family immigrated to the United States in search of the American dream of prosperity and education. They settled in Chico, California, and survived by working as seasonal farm laborers; performing various types of agricultural farm work. He currently serves as the Dean of Chemeketa, The Woodburn Center.
Mark J. Wilk, Member
Mark Wilk is an attorney with the Oregon Law Center and works on issues affecting farmworkers. He has been on the Board since 1999. He has personnel management experience at the Executive Director level and provides training to FHDC property management staff on landlord-tenant issues.
Anette Campista, Member
Annette Campista is the Senior Vice President, Business Banking Center Manager at Banner Bank. She has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry. Annette dedicates her time in building strong relationships within her community. In addition to her service with FHDC, she serves on the Board for Salem Health Clinic and PODER. Annette provides insight into the Latino community and her financial knowledge and expertise of the state’s economic condition. She is a proud graduate of the UCLA Latino Leadership program, Hispanic Metropolitan Leadership Program, City of Hillsboro Leadership program, and Unid@s of Oregon Leadership program. Her commitment to the community has been fostered through participating in multiple nonprofit committees and boards within Washington, Marion, Polk and Multnomah Counties.
Amanda Saul, Member
Amanda is the Assistant Director of Development at Home Forward.
Monica Avila, Member
Housing Voucher Program Supervisor at Marion County Housing Authority
Jenifer Wagley, Member
Jenifer serves as the Executive Director at Our Children Oregon, bringing 15 years of experience in community development/affordable housing, grass-roots power building, and organizational leadership. Previously she served as the Deputy Director of Avenue Community Development Corporation in Houston, TX. During her tenure, she developed a nationally recognized model for place-based, community-led transformation. In 2017, she and partners received the American Planning Association’s National Planning Excellence Award for Advancing Diversity & Social Change. Subsequently, Avenue was selected for the National BUILD Health Challenge. In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious Rubinger Fellowship by the Local Initiative Support Corporation, which led her to Oregon.
Miguel Arellano, Member
Miguel is a proud first-generation immigrant and college graduate. He was born in Guererro, Mexico but grew up in Woodburn, Oregon, where he spent most summers working agricultural jobs. He is the fifth of seven children and was one of the first residents of Nuevo Amanecer. He currently works in the Office of Institutional Diversity at Oregon State University, serves as board president for DevNW, and sits on the joint task force to address racial disparities in homeownership in Oregon.