Teri Bowles-Atherton Elected President of Portland Rose Festival Foundation

Teri Bowles-Atherton was elected President of the Portland Rose Festival Foundation at the Annual Board meeting Thursday October 25, 2018. Teri, who currently serves as Director of Physician Development and Provider Compensation for Providence Medical Group, first volunteered 10 years ago when she signed up to be wardrobe coordinator and chaperone for the Rose Festival Court. In 2009 she was invited to join the board.

Teri is a second-generation Oregonian and proud daughter of Gail Black-Bowles and Carl Bowles. She is a Thanksgiving baby born at Emanuel Hospital and raised in Northeast Portland where she attended Alameda Elementary School, Beaumont Middle School and later St. Mary’s Academy. Teri completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Vanderbilt University and returned to Portland where she would meet and marry Jermaine Atherton and daughter Jaiden.

Like many Portlanders, Teri's family has a history with the Rose Festival, dating back to the 1960s when her uncle, “Jimmy Bang-Bang Walker” entered the first Grand Floral Parade float representing the African-American ‘Albina’ community in 1968.

"I was seven years old and given my first volunteer position with my parents, brother, family and friends, in a huge warehouse at 4:30 a.m. I was helping to put the finishing touches on my uncle’s float. It wasn’t play; it was work," says Bowles-Atherton, "Even at that age I knew that I was contributing to something grand; something bigger than I could even imagine at the time."

As the newly elected Rose Festival Foundation President, Teri Bowles-Atherton will serve two one-year terms.

2019 BOARD OFFICERS

• Dave Todd - President-Elect. Dave has served the on the Rose Festival board for 29 years. The President-Elect serves two one-year terms and succeeds to President.
• Amy Johnson - Vice President. Amy has served on the Board for more than a decade and worked on many committees. Amy was the 1996 Rose Festival Princess from David Douglas High School.
• Contesa Diaz-Nicolaidis - Secretary. Contesa joined the board in 2009, and she has served in several leadership positions. 
• Cheryl Zander - Treasurer. This is her second year as treasurer and sixth year on the board. 
• John O'Hanlon - Assistant Treasurer. John joined the board in 2011 and has chaired the CityFair Committee for the past three years.

NEW BOARD MEMBERS

• Gary Bray is a retired firefighter and a car enthusiast who has been part of the VIP car program for the past five years and helped with the Grand Floral Parade mini-float program.
• David Casias is an Operations Manager for Siemens Industry, Inc. in Building Automation. He is a U.S. Navy vet who has served as a float judge, parade marshal and Fleet Host.
• Marlo Eckert is a Corporate Project Coordinator at Portland General Electric. She has volunteered for Rose Festival since serving on the Court in 2014.
• Jamal T. Fox is the Property & Business Development Manager for Portland Parks & Recreation. A recent transplant to Portland, he was the youngest-ever City Council member in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. 
• Brenda Frank is also a recent transplant to Portland from Kentucky, where she spent more than 30 years in administrative and leadership roles with state and local government. She served as the Special Assistant to the Mayor of Louisville, as well as serving on the Kentucky Derby Festival board of directors.
• Valerie Ellis Nias is a stay-at-home mom of two children who has a notable connection to the Rose Festival board of directors as the daughter of longtime Director Bruce Ellis.
• Adrienne Roark is the Vice President and General Manager of KPTV Fox 12 Oregon. She has lived in the Portland area for four years, moving from Dallas, Texas where she served as the News Director at a CBS-affiliated station. 
• Geneane Lynn Stahl is a dental hygienist in Portland and served as the first lady for the Royal Rosarians in 2017 when her husband James was Prime Minister. Last year she served as a member of the Rose Festival Court Committee. 

(New Board Position) Director At Large

JJ Spriet is a financial advisor from Trustime Retirement Plan Specialists who lives in Pendleton, Oregon. JJ has many years of experience in marketing civic events, including more than twenty years at the Pendleton Round-Up. He served on the Happy Canyon board of directors from 2008-2016, presiding during Happy Canyon's centennial in 2016.