Director's Message

Berri Leslie
DAS Director and State Chief Operating Officer

With the new year underway, I am excited to share what the Department of Administrative Services has been working on since our last update. Part of our strategic vision is to focus on continual improvement, concentrating on those areas of most impact to our customers.

As part of our commitment to outstanding customer service, DAS is working on a new, enterprise-wide customer service policy. As our work culture shifts with location flexibility and availability of online services, state government needs to keep up with Oregonians’ expectations of excellent customer service. This policy will work to reflect outstanding service while also creating a roadmap for employees to meet Governor Kotek’s performance expectations.

DAS is also evaluating its existing pay equity practices, following the Secretary of State’s pay equity report. We have been working with Segal, a human-resources consulting firm, to develop new methodologies to narrow the wage gap, consistent with the law. We expect to implement the first phase of this work in the spring. This work is only part of what needs to be shifted to address equity issues and we’re proud to be moving forward on those things within DAS’ control.

Finally, DAS is working on new policy related to use of office space and real estate. Our new work culture allows us to evaluate enterprise-wide needs and how we might repurpose minimally used buildings to better support the community. We’re excited to embark on this endeavor to save taxpayer dollars AND support community interests.

I look forward to keeping you updated on these ongoing efforts as the year progresses.

DAS Welcomes New State Chief Procurement Officer

The Department of Administrative Services is excited to announce that Stephen Nelson joined the agency as the new Chief Procurement Officer on Jan. 29.

"It has been a whirlwind of activity and learning, and at times dizzying meeting everyone and getting to know their agencies," said Nelson when asked about starting his new role. "It has been so great meeting all the professional and dedicated people who pour their hearts into improving the lives of Oregonians."

Chief Human Resources Office Finishes Restructuring

Jessica Knieling
Chief Human Resources Officer

I am excited to share that the Chief Human Resources Office has a new leadership team composed of many familiar faces! 

Existing staff members have stepped into new roles as follows:

• Jen Coney – Classification & Compensation Administrator
• Nettie Pye – Labor Relations Unit Administrator
• Krista Campbell – Workforce Development Administrator
• Carol Williams – HR Policy, Investigations & Compliance Administrator
• Amber Daniels – Interim HR Director, DAS/Client Agency Operations

Introducing the New Office of Cultural Change

The Office of Cultural Change works to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts across the enterprise. The office also evaluates and implements processes to remove systemic barriers throughout Oregon.

The office is now fully staffed as of November 2023 with the following members:

• Melinda Gross, Director of Cultural Change
• Juliet Valdez, Affirmative Action Manager
• Tobias Sherwood, Cultural Change Manager
• Torrey Sims, DAS Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Manager

"Because DEIB is a value at the state, we believe that every employee has a role and responsibility to advance equity and inclusion both internally and externally," said Torrey Sims. "​Our efforts will be centered on building our collective capacity and muscle so that every state employee and agency champions equity."

State of Oregon Disparity Study: Results & Next Steps

In November 2023, BBC Research & Consulting submitted its final report to the Procurement Equity and Disparity Study team.

The report included the findings from the disparity study and recommendations for how state government could encourage greater participation of all firms in its work. This especially includes firms whose demographics were found to have substantial disparities within the study such as Persons of Color-, woman- and Service Disabled Veteran-owned businesses in its work.

BBC and DAS have since hosted numerous in-person and virtual meetings to share the results of the study with interested groups. To view the report and learn more about next steps of the project, visit the State of Oregon Disparity Study website.