RDPO STAFF

RDPO staff are stationed at the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management.
Email us at rdpo@portlandoregon.gov.

mark ferdig

RDPO Managing Director

Mark joined the RDPO in February 2023. He has over 27 years of domestic and international non-profit experience. He has a strong collaborative executive leadership background with an extensive history of managing strategic change and solving complex problems. He has thrived living and working in multicultural contexts around the world and has led initiatives that foster more diverse and inclusive work environments.

Mark previously spent 22 years in the international relief and development sector, primarily with Mercy Corps where he most recently founded the Program Performance and Quality department to establish standards and controls for quality program implementation. Prior to that, he led Mercy Corps’ global operations that provided centralized processes and systems for procurement, logistics, and administrative functions. He served for four years as the Senior Team Leader on the Strategic Response and Global Emergencies unit, working directly with field teams to strengthen program quality and accountability. Mark also led Mercy Corps’ Development Operations providing oversight to the financial systems for processing, tracking, and forecasting private revenue. In the years prior to that, Ferdig managed a diverse portfolio with direct program experience in East and West Africa; East, Southeast, and Central Asia, including leading teams in Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

Mark earned a Master of Environmental Studies degree from Evergreen State College and a BS in ecology and environmental management from South Dakota State University, with supplemental coursework in field ecology at the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station. He began his career in The Gambia, West Africa in 1994 where, as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer he supported agroforestry programs that provided specialized support to small shareholder farmers and garden cooperatives. Mark is a certified PRINCE2® Registered Practitioner and a PMDPro Project Management Professional.

Laura Hall

Communications & Accessibility Analyst

laura.hall@portlandoregon.gov
Phone: 503-865-6300

Laura joined the RDPO in 2017. She provides coordination of regional disaster communications and is the Chair of the RDPO Disaster Messaging Work Group. She co-coordinated the Regional Joint Information System (R-JIS) during COVID-19 response.

Prior to joining the RDPO, Laura was the Language Program Coordinator for Portland Community College's Community Education Department. She has also worked as a Program Manager in the Portland State University Graduate School of Education and the Bellevue College Center for Career Connections. She has a BA in Sociology from the University of Kansas and an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Portland State University. She spent several years teaching ESOL at PCC, PSU, IRCO, and various other Portland-area community organizations.

Laura is engaged in a number of community efforts to advance disaster preparedness. She is a active in the Arbor Lodge/Kenton Neighborhood Emergency Team and Co-Chair of Parents4Preparedness. She manages PortlandPrepares.org and teaches disaster preparedness classes at venues throughout Portland. She is also a contract writer for the Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission (OSSPAC).

Carol chang

Senior Planning Coordinator

carol.chang@portlandoregon.gov
Phone: 503-865-6809

Carol joined the RDPO in June 2021. In her current role, she supports the region’s planning and preparedness efforts through convening and collaboration.

Prior to joining the RDPO, Carol worked in New York City in the nonprofit and public sectors doing volunteer program management, and emergency management planning and coordination for human services and logistics.

Angela Carkner

Emergency Preparedness Coordinator

angela.carkner@portlandoregon.gov

Phone: 503-307-6912

Angela joined the RDPO team in September 2022 as a Coordinator II supporting the region’s planning portfolio. She is also the Emergency Alert & Warning Work Group Chair. Previously, Angela worked at the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management where she administered the City and County’s public alerting program and software, helped ensure Portland Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) readiness, supported City emergency training and exercise, and was part of the operations Duty Officer program.

Before joining PBEM, Angela worked as a project and emergency manager at Multnomah County Drainage District for four and half years, focusing on flooding and levee systems. Angela is a third-generation Portlander and studied Planning, Public Policy, and Management at the University of Oregon.

PATRICK KRAMER

PROCUREMENT ANALYST

patrick.kramer@portlandoregon.gov

Patrick joined the RDPO in January 2022. He has worked for the City of Portland for almost 22 years, mostly at the Portland Bureau of Transportation. He has served in many roles, including as a Parking Enforcement Officer, Regulatory Program Specialist, and Towing Coordinator.

Patrick is a lifetime Portland area resident. He lives with his wife, teenage son and daughter, dog, and two cats. He enjoys spending time with his family and watching sports, specifically Oregon Ducks football and some NFL.

toni slightam

FINANCIAL ANALYST

tonia.slightam@portlandoregon.gov

Toni joined the RDPO in April 2022 as the Grant Coordinator and transitioned into the Financial Analyst role in June 2023. Toni’s educational background is in Public Administration, but she has a myriad of experience in all sectors - public, private, and non-profit. She’s worked for the Oregon Health Authority, a Portland-based strategic communications consulting firm, the US Department of State, the Australian-American Fulbright Commission, an international adoption non-profit, a petroleum distribution wholesaler, an independent management consultant for state and local governments, and an English teacher in South Korea and Japan. Toni has a BA in History from Oregon State University, a Project Management Certificate from Willamette University, and a Masters in Public Administration from Portland State University.

Toni enjoys traveling to far-off lands, wasting time with her family, and pulling weeds.

Marissa Walden

Program Specialist

marissa.walden@portlandoregon.gov

Marissa joined the RDPO in December of 2023. Marissa’s educational background is in Public Health Services, she has spent the past 8 years working in both clinical and administrative roles in specialty healthcare. She is excited to bring her strong service-oriented mindset and her passionate spirit to the RDPO.

Marissa enjoys cooking, learning about different cultures, and spending time with her husband and three children.

GInger Hintz

Grants Coordinator

ginger.hintz@portlandoregon.gov

Ginger joined the RDPO in January 2024 as the Grant Coordinator. In her current role, she is responsible for overseeing UASI federal awards, managing grantmaking processes, and administering a portfolio of projects aimed at enhancing disaster preparedness and resilience in the region.

Before joining the RDPO, Ginger worked for the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) providing program and analytic support to the California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP) and UC Research Initiatives (UCRI) programs within the Research Grants Program Office (RGPO). She also worked for the Women Donors Network (WDN), a national donor organizing and grantmaking organization, as well as the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) while in the Bay Area. Prior to that, Ginger worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ginger enjoys writing, creating poetics research projects, and looking for cats on her walks around the city.