Meet Our New Staff Member, Karen Russell

Karen joined Earthrise in the summer of 2017 as our new Budget and Financial Administrator after a 3-year stint as Accountant and then as Contracts Manager at Moovel North America, a software company dedicated to facilitating mobility in urban settings.  Karen also teaches Water Law as an Adjunct Professor at Lewis & Clark Law School and an Environmental Law and Policy course at Lewis & Clark College.   Since 2006 Karen has worked as a Nonprofit Consultant advising organizations on all aspects of nonprofit organizational management, with a focus on financial management and accounting.   From 1990 to 2006 Karen worked in a variety of roles at WaterWatch of Oregon.  As Interim Executive Director Karen was responsible for all aspects of fundraising, budgeting, staff management and working closely with the organizations board of directors.  As Senior Staff Attorney Karen was a constant presence before the Oregon Water Resources Department, pushing the agency at every opportunity to reform long-held water policies that ignore the needs of fish and other instream users. Karen has drafted numerous bills to reform Oregon water law and analyzed the environmental impacts of all water bills considered by the Oregon Legislature.  Karen is a graduate of the University of Washington (BA 1985) and Lewis & Clark Law School (JD 1990) and is a member of the Oregon and Washington State Bars.  Karen is highly regarded within and beyond the environmental community for her knowledge, experience and environmental advocacy.  Karen enjoys telemark skiing, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, knitting and reading books the old fashioned way.