Leadership

Karen Humelbaugh, Director, Paid Leave Oregon

Karen Humelbaugh (she/her) is director of Paid Leave Oregon. She is dedicated to putting the customer first and ensuring equity and access to services for all people in Oregon, especially communities of color, rural communities and those affected by chronic and generational poverty. Karen has spent her career working with industry and worker advocates toward prosperity for all Oregonians. During her 24 years of experience within Oregon's workforce system, she has worked as a tribal liaison, a dislocated-worker specialist, and a leader on multiple local and state partnerships and strategic planning efforts. Most recently, she was the director of the Office of Workforce Investments at the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission. She holds a bachelor's in psychology from Western Oregon University and a certificate of public management from Willamette University's Atkinson Graduate School.

Juan Serratos, Deputy Director, Paid Leave Oregon

Juan Serratos (he/him) is the deputy director of Paid Leave Oregon. He has more than 17 years of experience working in the public sector serving low-income families, and he has proven experience implementing programs and leading teams through change. His experience includes work as an employment programs manager for Human Solutions; an operations manager at the Oregon Department of Human Services; an operations and policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Human Services, where he helped implement modernization projects; and a special collections and case intake manager at the Oregon Department of Justice, leading teams through the transition from a mainframe system to a web-based system to manage child support cases. From 2019 to 2021, he led the Benefit Services section for the Oregon Employment Department, where he was instrumental in scaling his team from 35 employees to more than 150 in a few months. Juan earned a master’s in public administration and a bachelor’s in economics from Portland State University. He also holds a project management certification.

Kelley Ofoni, Policy Manager, Paid Leave Oregon

Kelley Ofoni (she/her) is the policy manager for Paid Leave Oregon. She has been with Paid Leave Oregon since March 2020. She has led both the contributions and benefits policy teams. Prior to her time at the Oregon Employment Department, Kelley managed a nonprofit language school in Portland. She also worked in Kosovo in Eastern Europe as a political officer for the United Nations and as project manager for a minority rights nonprofit called European Centre for Minority Issues. She has a master's in Central and Eastern European Studies from University College London and a bachelor's in international relations from the University of California, Davis.

Danielle Willey, Operations Manager, Paid Leave Oregon

Danielle Willey (she/her) is the operations manager for Paid Leave Oregon. She has been with the Oregon Employment Department for almost 10 years and has held several positions within the department. She has served as the claimant reemployment program coordinator, overseeing the federal Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program for the state. Most recently, she emerged as a leader within the department's response to the pandemic by working collaboratively across divisions to improve services for customers. She holds a bachelor's in political science from Linfield University and a master's in public administration from the University of Montana.

Michele Schwartz, Outreach and Engagement Manager, Paid Leave Oregon

Michele Schwartz (she/her) is the outreach and engagement manager for Paid Leave Oregon. She joined the program in March 2022 and previously served as the executive director of the Oregon Attorney General's Sexual Assault Task Force (SATF), a statewide nonprofit based in Keizer, Ore. Michele has 22 years of advocacy experience serving survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, harassment, stalking, trafficking and child abuse in Oregon, Tennessee, and Arizona. In addition to leading legislative and public policy efforts to address gender-based violence, Michele led the Sexual Assault Training Institute at SATF and is experienced in leading outreach, engagement, primary prevention, and crisis response efforts, including community mental health services, medical advocacy, forensic nursing, and local sexual assault response teams. She has a master's in interdisciplinary studies from Oregon State University and a bachelor's in sociology from the University of Oregon.

Shannon Ball, Policy Lead, Paid Leave Oregon

Shannon Ball  (she/her) is a policy lead for Paid Leave Oregon, focusing on drafting administrative rules, legislative work, and assisting in design sessions with the Oregon Employment Department's Modernization program. Prior to working with the Oregon Employment Department, she worked at the Oregon Department of Revenue for almost 18 years in the Personal Income Tax division. She worked on administrative rules, legislation, and developing forms and instruction, and she conducted annual outreach and training to tax practitioners on the new law updates for the Personal Income Tax division. She graduated with a bachelor's in accounting from the University of Oregon. Shannon is excited to create policies for Paid Leave Oregon that will allow families to have stability in their income so they can take time off with their children and loved ones during a critical time of need.

Ayesha Khalid, Economist, Paid Leave Oregon

Ayesha Khalid (she/her) joined Paid Leave Oregon as an economist in February 2020. Ayesha was born and raised in Pakistan and moved to the U.S. in 2010. She did her undergraduate in economics in Pakistan and received her master’s in economics from Portland State University. In 2020, she graduated from the University of Oregon with a doctorate of philosophy in economics. In her doctoral dissertation, she analyzed the impact of pollution and climate change on educational outcomes in a developing country context.

Angela Yeager, Communications Officer, Paid Leave Oregon

Rachel Bruneau, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator, Paid Leave Oregon