Board of Directors

Alison Bahr
Dr. Alison Bahr is a medical internist in Kaiser Permanente’s Continuing Care Services Department and previously worked as a physician at Kaiser’s Gateway Clinic. Previously Dr. Bahr served as a primary care physician at the Kaiser Permanente Gateway Clinic. Dr. Bahr received her BA and MA Comparative Literature from UCLA, then moved to San Francisco where she served as a workers compensation specialist and as a caregiver volunteer for the Zen Hospice project.

Her experience with injury prevention, as well as evaluation and preservation of functional status, formed a natural segue to her eventual decision to study medicine, for which she came to OHSU in Portland in 2000. Dr. Bahr also performs inpatient medicine as a hospitalist, and previously supported a home-care practice. As a physician and a person, Dr. Bahr supports policies that allow people to live out their at lives at home, and sees the Village movement as a critically important piece of the aging in place puzzle.

Becky Crew
“Housing is a recurring theme in Becky’s resume’. She began managing a large apartment community in the 80’s and by 1990 became the Director of Property Management for REACH Community Development, Inc., a non-profit in Portland that provides affordable housing for families and individuals. During her 19 year tenure her team of 25 plus, not only housed people in need, but also maintained their homes at a high standard, providing an optimum quality of life and, more importantly, creating much needed stability for the residents.

Following a brief sabbatical after leaving REACH, Becky worked for The Springs at Carman Oaks, a Senior Living Community in the capacity of Director of Marketing, helping retirees embrace downsizing and move to an environment that provided all the accouterments of luxury living, without all the chores. Her interaction with prospective residents was enlightening, as she began to realize that the optimal place for aging for most of us, is in our homes that we love and know so well.

Since 2014, Becky has been an Oregon Real Estate Broker, still providing housing; a smooth transition and a good fit as is her involvement with VNW! The core values held by the organization are shared by her, and she is excited about being a part of this grass roots yet, progressive mission.”
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Wyatt Christensen
Treasurer
Wyatt grew up on a farm in Idaho where the sense of community was abundant, and neighbors took care of neighbors.  He left the farm to pursue a degree in business administration from Boise State University.  Shortly after graduation, he began a career in engineering and construction, where he started as an accountant and worked his way up to director of finance.

His career brought many opportunities for traveling the world and being part of mega engineering & construction projects, such as the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson just north of New York City.  Wyatt’s last child, of five children, just graduated college and he decided it was time to leave his career and move home to Portland to be near his children and grandchildren.

He recently started a fiduciary firm with his daughter and is enjoying working & advocating for the protected persons of Oregon.  He is also enjoying the sense of community that Portland offers and he feels that Villages NW is a great fit for him because, after all, Villages NW is all about our neighbors and community.

Nancy Doty
Secretary
Nancy Doty’s background in nursing, guardianship and conservatorship, and care coordination has led her to a natural fit at Villages NW. She previously served as Deputy Public Guardian for Multnomah County, and is a Founding Member of the Guardian/Conservator Association of Oregon and the President of Nancy Doty, Inc. Nancy has also been involved in Third World women’s health care issues with Dining for Women, and served on the Boards of the Reed College Women’s Committee (women seeking college education through non-traditional paths),  and Women’s Care Foundation (with a focus on health, safety, and skills training for women in the Portland Metro area). Nancy was also instrumental in launching Garden Partners, offering gardening opportunities for persons in long term care facilities.
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Anjala Ehelebe
Anjala has worked as an Administration Manager for a state agency, an Operations Manager for a neighborhood non-profit and she ran the Oregon State Veterinary Medical Examining Board. She has worked as a financial advisor and has studied many related issues, such as methods of financing retirements and long term care.

She is a neighborhood activist and has served as her neighborhood’s Land Use and Transportation chair for years.  She helped craft her neighborhood’s development plan and has worked to make the best parts of that plan come to fruition.  She wrote a book about the history of her neighborhood.  She worked as a free-lance journalist, technical writer, public relations writer, and a copy editor.

She became an advocate for people with disabilities when she was an undergraduate at Portland State University, focusing on making the world a more accessible place for people with disabilities.  She served on and later chaired the State Rehabilitation Council that sought to make it easier for people with disabilities to find employment.  For a decade, she was caregiver part-time or full-time for her late mother, father and husband.

Most recently, Anjala helped bring North Star Village into being, which fulfilled a dream that sparked when she first heard about Beacon Hill Village.  She is a member, a volunteer, and served on its Governing Council.

All of these interests and experiences led her to her current service on the board of Villages NW.

Jurie Lewis
Jurie Lewis, MRED is an Oregon licensed real estate agent and developer helping people buy and sell property.  Development mission is to create sustainable places.
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Charlie Meyer
President
Charlie served as a City and County Manager for nearly 40 years in several local governments in New York, Minnesota, Virginia and Arizona.  He was responsible for overseeing the full range of services that cities and counties provide as well as managing the people and finances to provide them.   The experience solving community problems and capturing opportunities has helped him to understand the balance that is necessary to deliver programs that are informed by the people who will use them with the energy of volunteers and nonprofit organizations resources and the authority and resources of government agencies to produce sustainable and meaningful change in people’s lives.

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Lyn Trainer
Managing Director
A summer job in the Volunteer Services office at OHSU led Lyn Trainer to a career in nonprofits at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation and several professional associations. One of the first employees hired when Doernbecher resurrected its community-based fundraising activities after a 50-year hiatus, she was privileged to be part of the team that built the new hospital which opened in 1998. Lyn continues to be an active Doernbecher volunteer through the Kiwanis Doernbecher Children’s Cancer Program and Friends of Doernbecher. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Oregon Chapter of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.

Lyn was excited to “discover” Villages NW in 2015 as she was looking for a way to expand the options for older adults to retain their independence and autonomy. Her interest in this area has been steadily increasing since a relative had a series of falls that resulted in cycles of hospitalization, convalescent care, assisted care and back to an apartment.  Additional experiences with other family members have only fueled its importance.

Diana Zapata
While caring for her own parents, Diana found herself immersed in important and complex issues facing our senior communities. Certified in 2014 as an Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS), Diana is the owner of an interior design business focused on developing creative solutions for successfully Aging in Place.

Diana earned her BA in Design and Visual Communications from California State University, Chico. The first ten years of her career began in Southern California. She worked with clients from Walt Disney Imagineering, to the LA Olympic Organizing Committee. After her family moved to Portland, she chaired a non-profit 501(c)(3) Foundation Board, led fundraisers and served on site council. She also coordinated many dance recitals, trips, and endless events while her daughters were in school. Now Diana is honored to serve as a volunteer Board Member for Villages NW, work which perfectly fits into her Aging in Place mission. Diana lives in SW Portland with her husband after downsizing from their family home of 22 years.