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COMMISSION & STAFF
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Commissioners
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Kurt Bendixsen was elected to the port Commission in 2003. Commissioner Bendixsen is a graduate of Portland State University and received his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan. He practices law in Hermiston, Oregon. Commissioner Bendixsen is a member of the board of the Good Shepherd Health Care System Foundation and serves in various church leadership positions. |
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Tim Mabry was appointed to the Port Commission in 2001 and was re-elected in 2003. Commissioner Mabry is a graduate of the University of Oregon, and owns Credits, Inc., which has offices in Pendleton and Hermiston. He currently serves as a member of the Pendleton Round-Up Board of Directors. |
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Marge Roff was elected to the Port Commission in 1991 re-elected in 1995, 1999, and 2003. Commissioner Roff owns a real estate firm in Milton-Freewater, and has been involved in property development, management, and construction for over 20 years. She is a member of the Milton-Freewater Community Development Partnership, Milton-Freewater Chamber of Commerce, and the local, state, and national Realtor Associations. |
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Jerry Simpson was appointed to the Port Commission in 1985. He has been re-elected 6 times, and in 2005, became the longest-serving commissioner in the Port’s history. Commissioner Simpson is a graduate of Washington State University, and operates a wheat ranch near Pendleton. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton. |
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John Turner is the President of Blue Mountain Community College and he resides with his wife, Gail, in Pendleton, Oregon.
In June of 2003, John retired from the U.S. Marine Corps as a Colonel with more than 28 years of service. His last job was the President of the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Virginia.
During his carreer, John commanded infantry organizations as a Lieutenant, Captain, and Lieutenant Colonel and he participated in combat operations in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. He was an Assistant Professor of Naval Science at the University of Nebraska for three years, he served as a NATO staff officer in Belgium, and he was a Federal Executive Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds a masters degree in International Relations from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and is a distinquished graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College.
On the first of July 2003, he joined Blue Mountain Community College as the Executive Vice President and Provost. On May 1, 2004 he became the Interim President of BMCC and was appointed by the Board to be the President in February of 2005.
John is an active member of the Pendleton Rotary club, the Round-up City Development Corporation, and the Pendleton Convention Center Commission.
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Staff
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Kim B. Puzey, General Manager joined the Port of Umatilla staff in 1994. Mr. Puzey’s diverse work experience spans over 35 years from steel fabrication, high rise construction, and farm management to university educator and port manager. Before becoming General Manager of the Port he was Executive Director of the Roosevelt County Board of Economic Development. As a university educator, he was on the faculty of Eastern New Mexico University in the Department of Business Administration and Economics. He was Adjunct Assistant professor of Human Resource Management and Development at Chapman University in California. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Blue Mountain Community College, Oregon Vice President and member of the Executive Board of Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, Executive Board member of the Oregon Public Ports Association and the Inland Ports and Navigation Group. In addition, Mr. Puzey is an advisor to the Regional Maritime Security Coalition |
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