State Commission Chairs
Megan Decker is the chair of the Oregon Public Commission.
PUF's Liz Stipnieks: How is it being Chair of the Oregon Commission, and what does your typical day look like?
Chair Decker: Being a Chair of the Commission combines executive management of a state agency and all of the usual administrative and external relations responsibilities that go with that. It also requires leadership in the decision-making process — the how and when we make decisions — as well as the decision-making role itself. The Chair remains an individual contributor who's responsible for understanding and evaluating the details of all the cases in what has become a busy docket for our agency.
A typical day has been changing for our agency over the last five years. I've been a Commissioner for two years, but I have observed that in the last five years it has become a busier agency with a higher volume of complex and challenging issues and more attention from more people, whether it's customer groups, community groups or policymakers.
I've tried to come in as a Chair with a focus on making our internal communications and processes more inclusive and regular, and I appreciate having a great team that is adapting to that and also adjusting in terms of how we incorporate participation from wider sets of stakeholders.