Business Law

Events

Sen. Betsy Johnson

Date: April 7 2006, 12:00pm Location: RiverPlace Hotel, 1510 SW Harbor Way

Each year our Business Law Luncheon not only celebrates the accomplishments of our students and business law program, but allows us to thank the many members of the community who lend their talents to our curricular and extracurricular activities. We also invite members of the broader business and legal communities to join us in our celebration, and to use it as an opportunity to reflect on the roles that businesses and business lawyers play in our state and our region. 

On behalf of the Business Law Faculty of Lewis & Clark Law School, we are pleased to invite you to join leaders of the business and legal communities and our student scholars for an exciting and engaging lunch to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our Business Law Program. 

About Sen. Betsy Johnson

Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) is serving her first term in the Oregon Senate after being appointed to fill the District 16 position formerly held by Senator Joan Dukes. The appointment came as Betsy began her 3rd term in the Oregon House of Representatives. Her father, the late Sam Johnson, was a member of the House of Representatives from Redmond. Her mother, Becky Johnson, has served on numerous State Boards, including the State Board of Higher Education and the Teachers Standards and Practices Commission. 

Betsy received her undergraduate degree in History from Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota) and her Law degree from the Northwestern School of Law, Lewis & Clark College. A licensed commercial pilot of both fixed and rotor-wing aircraft, she founded Transwestern Helicopters, Inc., in 1978. 

The helicopter division of the firm was sold in 1993 and the company, now known as Transwestern Aviation, Inc., is managed by her husband, John Helm. 

In September 1993, Betsy was selected as Manager of the Aeronautics Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation, a position she held until her resignation in September 1998. During the 1999 Legislative Session she was Vice President for Legislative Affairs for the Oregon Pilots Association; she successfully championed legislation that created the Oregon Department of Aviation. 

Betsy has served on numerous local, regional and national boards and commissions, including the Oregon Health Sciences University Foundation, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the Oregon Public Broadcasting Foundation, the High Desert Museum and is a former Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Betsy currently serves on a number of regional boards, most recently elected as a member of the Board of Visitors, Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College. She also serves as the Vice-President of the Samuel S. Johnson Foundation. 

Betsy was elected to the Board of Commissioners of the Port of St. Helens in 1992 and was re-elected in 1996. Other elective positions she had held include Director of the Columbia County Health District in 1990. 

In the 2005 Legislative Session, Betsy was, once again, been appointed to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means where she has served since her first session. Betsy’s subcommittee responsibilities include chairing the General Government Subcommittee and membership on the Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee. Her assignments make good use of her business, government and public sector experience. 

Betsy’s Interim Committee assignments include Senate Rules & Executive Appointments, Senate Interim Committee on Economic Development Oversight, Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Oregon Law Commission Government Ethics Work Group. Current Legislative appointments include the “Brand Oregon” Development Committee, Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Organization (Chair), the Rural Policy Advisory Committee and the Coastal Caucus. 

About the Keynote Speaker, Jack McGowan, Executive Director of SOLV

Jack McGowan is the Executive Director of SOLV. SOLV was founded 37 years ago by Governor Tom McCall and other prominent Oregonians, and is now considered the largest volunteer non-profit in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to his duties at SOLV, Jack has served as on-air host for various special televised programs produced in Oregon. Prior to his position at SOLV, Jack worked as a correspondent for KGW-TV, and was station correspondent for various international special programs from Japan, Australia and the Amazon region of Brazil. 

In the mid-1980s, Jack served as an assistant to Mayor J.E. Bud Clark of Portland, working as the Mayor’s liaison to the press and business communities. While representing the mayor on a mission to China, he initiated discussions with the government leaders of Suzhou which eventually led to creation of formal Sister City status with Portland. Jack also has been a partner in the Biggs-McGowan Company, a public relations firm where, along with his partner, he conceptualized and produced the first Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz. As the Public Relations Director for the Washington Park Zoo, he conceptualized and produced the “Your Zoo … And All That Jazz” concert series, the first musical series ever held in a zoological park. 

He was the Director of Promotion/Public Affairs at KINK FM and worked at the New York Stock Exchange as a floor representative for various stock brokerage firms. Jack’s present and past affiliations include Board of Directors of the Providence Medical Foundation, Governor Kitzhaber’s Willamette Basin Taskforce, Willamette Restoration Initiative, Willamette Partnership, as a Commission Member of the 2009 Oregon Sesquicentennial and New Carissa Review Committee. He is also involved in various community-related causes around the state such as KPTV’s One Oregon project. In 2003 Jack was presented with the Oregon Business Association’s “Oregon Statesman of the Year” Award. 

In 2003, SOLV also received the prestigious, national “Take Pride in America” Award and the President’s “National Award on Volunteerism,” in addition to receiving the “Outstanding Volunteer Organization” Award presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. In 2004, SOLV has received the sole non-profit award category under the esteemed “Oregon Ethics in Business Award” from Willamette University’s Atkinson School of Business.