Ted In The News

The Oregonian, Hillsboro Community Events, April 23, 2012

Please join us for this May’s business forum luncheon featuring Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler on Tuesday, May 8th. This interactive presentation will discuss business development in Oregon and how the newly passed Oregon Investment Act will be a catalyst to help companies grow and hire. Wheeler will illustrate how the Act will help coordinate and consolidate the state’s economic development resources and encourage additional private sector leverage to invest in Oregon opportunities.

Ted Wheeler is the 28th State Treasurer of Oregon. A fifth-generation Oregonian, Wheeler was born in Portland, Oregon where he attended Lincoln High School. He earned a BA degree in Economics from Stanford University, an MBA from Columbia University and a Masters in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He sits on several committees including the State Land Board, Oregon Investment Council and chairman of the Oregon 529 College Savings Board. Before entering elected office, Wheeler worked in the financial services industry for nearly 20 years and was Chair of the Multnomah County Commission.

Statesman Journal State Workers Blog, by Dennis Thompson, April 18, 2012

State Treasury investment brokers are taking a stand on excessive executive pay, using the clout given them by a $58.4 billion state workers pension fund. You can read the USA Today coverage of the Citigroup vote here. 

Portland Business Journal, by Andy Giegerich, April 6, 2012

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has signed a business-backed bill from this year’s short legislation session into law.

Kitzhaber inked the Oregon Investment Act,House Bill 4040, at a ceremony at Hillsboro-based FEI Corp. Friday. Among other functions, the measure basically assembles many of the state’s business investment tools that had operated independently of each other.

Kitzhaber believes the measure will allow private investors to better partner with public economic development efforts.

“The Oregon Investment Act is essential to help us leverage our limited public resources and get our local businesses the resources they need to grow,” Kitzhaber said in a statement. “By encouraging the private sector to partner with the state’s economic development efforts, we can help spur an economy of innovation in Oregon.”

Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler, who’d lobbied hard to pass the bill, said the effort “puts us on a path toward a smarter and more coordinated economic development strategy, which will better respond to business needs and increase accountability.”

by Andy Giegerich, Portland Business Journal, March 2, 2012

As they near the end of the 2012 short legislative session, Oregon lawmakers have approved a key economic development measure.

House Bill 4040, the so-called Oregon Investment Act, passed the Oregon Senate by a 23-4 vote. The measure would:

• Coordinate economic development resources under a new Oregon Growth Board. The board would provide strategies for businesses while aggregating several services in one place.
• Establish the Oregon Growth Fund, which would back job development tools.
• Require all state portfolio managers to “seek out private sector leverage” so that the state isn’t a sole investor.

“There are substantial economic resources available in the state of Oregon, but they are currently fragmented across different agencies,” said Sen. Richard Devlin, a Tualatin Democrat who chairs the Joint Ways and Means Committee, in a statement. “Reforming the way that these resources are managed will improve the way Oregon handles economic development, helping Oregon businesses prosper and create jobs.”

Bill supporters said the measure could steer more money, on a per capita basis, into Oregon businesses. State companies have receive $2.1 billion in private investment over the last decade.