State and Future of Power: Megan Decker

Deck: 

State Commission Chairs

Fortnightly Magazine - June 10 2019
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PUF's Liz Stipnieks: How is it being Chair of the Oregon Commission, and what does your typical day look like?

Chair Decker: Being a Chair of the Commission combines executive management of a state agency and all of the usual administrative and external relations responsibilities that go with that. It also requires leadership in the decision-making process — the how and when we make decisions — as well as the decision-making role itself. The Chair remains an individual contributor who's responsible for understanding and evaluating the details of all the cases in what has become a busy docket for our agency.

A typical day has been changing for our agency over the last five years. I've been a Commissioner for two years, but I have observed that in the last five years it has become a busier agency with a higher volume of complex and challenging issues and more attention from more people, whether it's customer groups, community groups or policymakers.

I've tried to come in as a Chair with a focus on making our internal communications and processes more inclusive and regular, and I appreciate having a great team that is adapting to that and also adjusting in terms of how we incorporate participation from wider sets of stakeholders.

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