Christopher Broderick has served on the Portland Workforce Alliance board of directors since 2016, bringing his expertise in strategic communications and his enthusiasm for working with young people.
As the Associate Vice President for Communications and Marketing at Portland State University, Chris oversees media and campus communications, marketing, the alumni magazine, community outreach, and more. He has been at PSU since May 2010. In that time, PSU University Communications has received with more than 40 awards for excellence in communications and marketing from the Council for Support and Advancement of Education.
Before PSU, he was Politics and Education editor at The Oregonian, where he worked for 12 years. Broderick previously was a reporter and editor for newspapers in Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas.
A native of Los Angeles, he has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Humboldt State University and a master’s degree in legal studies from Yale Law School. He and his wife, Mary Gay Broderick, have three daughters, all of whom attended or attend Portland Public Schools.
What inspired you to get involved with PWA?
CB: “I didn’t know much about Portland Workforce Alliance until I was brought into the fold by Susan [Nielsen, executive director], and I’ve been so impressed with everybody. For an incredibly small organization, it has a large impact and I’m proud to be a part of it. I think I’m involved for the same reason as [everyone on the board], and it’s because it’s making a difference with young people in high school learning about careers and getting excited about their future.”
What do you bring to PWA?
CB: “From a personal standpoint, I really like the opportunities to get to do mock interviews with students, and helping with their college essays. Since I have been editing and writing for a long time, I can offer them a little help and it’s really fun to do that, I enjoy it. I love getting into these settings and seeing [the student’s] energy and enthusiasm, their idealism and passion and hopefully some of that rubs off on and really inspires us.”
How do you want to strengthen the organization & help us grow?
CB: “In terms of the future of Portland Workforce Alliance, anything I can do and we can do to grow the influence of PWA is what we’re all here for. In terms of direction, the Expo is fantastic and incredible, it brings in thousands of students. It seems like if we want to grow the employers and high school participation, we should think about having a committee that looks at post-Expo. Coming off of that when there is excitement around it and it’s so successful, [it could] get more schools and employers involved, supporting the mission of Portland Workforce Alliance.”
For more information about the PWA Board of Directors, go here.
For more stories on the PWA Board Members, go here.
Some quotes were edited for length and clarity.