OBI Announces 2026 Oregon Visionary Award Honorees
Oregon Business & Industry is thrilled to announce the selection of two businesses to receive the Oregon Visionary Award – OBI’s highest honor – at its annual Vision Oregon Event on Oct. 28.
The 2026 Visionary Award winners are:
ENTEK. Founded in Oregon in 1984, ENTEK has been part of the fabric of the Oregon manufacturing community. Maintaining its Oregon headquarters and cultural roots, it has grown to become a global company. The Lebanon-based company has become a world leader in the production of separators (a required component for almost all batteries) and is playing a key role in the global shift toward electrification. ENTEK produces separators that are key components in the batteries we depend on for everyday life.
Threemile Canyon Farms. Established in 1999, Threemile Canyon Farms is a leader in combining modern agricultural operations with a longstanding commitment to being stewards of the land through its innovative closed-loop system. Its 93,000-acre Boardman operation maximizes efficiency while minimizing environmental impact. At the heart of Threemile Canyon Farms is a large-scale dairy whose milk is trucked a short distance to nearby Boardman, where it is made into award-winning Tillamook cheese.
Go here to read the full announcement.
Oregon Civics Bee Tomorrow at the Oregon Capitol
Nine middle-schoolers have qualified to participate in the third annual Oregon Civics Bee, which will take place June 16 in Salem. The qualifying students finished among the top three in a trio of regional bees that occurred in April in Beaverton, Eugene and Tigard.
The Oregon Civics Bee will take place in the House Chamber of the Oregon Capitol. Secretary of State Tobias Read will emcee the competition, which will run from 2-3:30 p.m. The bee will feature a quiz-style competition as well as engagement with a panel of judges about student essays identifying community problems and proposing solutions guided by civic virtues. The winner of the Oregon Civics Bee will be invited to participate in the National Civics Bee®, which will take place in Washington, D.C., in fall 2026.
The Oregon Civics Bee is presented by Kinder Morgan with support from the Oregon State Capitol Foundation. It is organized by Oregon Business & Industry in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Go here to learn more about the Oregon Civics Bee.
Oregon Business Matters Interviews TrackTown USA CEO Michael Reilly
Michael Reilly helps make Eugene track magic happen as chief executive officer of TrackTown USA, a nonprofit that hosts track and field events. And not just any events. TrackTown organizes some of the most iconic track and field events in the nation and across the globe, including the national and para national championships, the Olympic Trials, the Prefontaine Classic and even world championships. This work serves the sport, but the business of track and field is no small part of the regional economy. Listen to our conversation with Michael here.
In case you missed them, check out our recent interviews with Oregon Symphony President and CEO Paul Snyder, Con-Vey Chairman and CEO Dave Larecy, Sport Oregon CEO Jim Etzel and Hillsboro Hops President and General Manager K.L. Wombacher, Visit the Oregon Business Matters website to listen.
The Oregon Business Matters podcast can be found on major podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and YouTube.
Save the Date: Ballard Spahr Employer Best Practices Seminars
Save the date for Ballard Spahr’s annual Best Practices for Best Employers labor and employment seminar in Portland on Sept. 23 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Marriott Downtown Waterfront. Click here for more information. The price is $265 but OBI members receive a discount. If you have questions, please email Liza Pineda. The annual seminar, now in its 44th year, will help bring employers up to speed on developments that affect their businesses. Interactive sessions will cover:
- Critical changes you need to know about labor and employment laws at the federal, state and local levels
- Class action trends and the steps you can take now to avoid them
- Using executive coaching to strengthen leadership and performance while reducing legal risk
- Navigating leave and accommodation challenges
- Your new legal obligations when federal immigration inspections happen
- What you need to know now to manage your workforce’s AI use
Policy and Rulemaking Updates
Moda Center restoration: The city of Portland has posted a survey, not limited to Portland residents, gauging opinion about whether and how to provide local financing to upgrade the Moda Center. In 2026, the Legislature passed, and the governor signed, SB 1501 to provide state support for renovations to the city-owned arena. OBI supported the bill as Moda Center is a publicly owned, 30-year-old statewide asset with widespread economic and cultural importance. Without an adopted financing structure, construction will not start in 2027, and the Trail Blazers’ lease expires in 2030. This is also when the arena is scheduled to host the women’s NCAA Final Four. For these and other reasons, time is of the essence.
The Trail Blazers are currently at the bottom of the NBA in team revenue and receive the league’s highest level of revenue sharing, while the arena still generates hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and 1.6 million visitors across all events annually. It would be irresponsible to let this publicly owned economic asset further erode and add to Portland’s and Oregon’s competitive disadvantages and poor economic reputation. We encourage OBI members to take the survey.
Economic development legislation: Gov. Kotek’s economic development legislation, HB 4084, took effect on June 5, 90 days after the 2026 legislative session concluded. OBI supported the bill, which provides needed updates to Oregon’s Enterprise Zone property tax incentive program, a new “fast track” permitting approach for large projects and catalogues and reports on permitting that OBI had pursued in 2025. The following are the dates and deliverables of the permitting elements that are now in law:
- The new Joint Permitting Council (mostly state agency personnel) is to be appointed by the governor no later than July 1, 2026, and must produce its readiness criteria for “fast track” permitting no later than Oct. 1.
- Several specifically named agencies will produce a catalog of permits issued as well as a report by Oct. 3, 2026. Named agencies are the Department of Transportation, Department of Land Conservation and Development, Department of Energy, Department of State Lands, Department of Environmental Quality, Water Resources Department, Department of Agriculture and the State Historic Preservation Office. Their report must include identified options for improvements, suggestions from permit applicants and opportunities to provide fee relief for delayed permits. OBI believes that in addition to process improvements and transparency, accountability in the form of fee refunds or reductions is critical to improving Oregon’s notoriously challenging permitting regime. We will be looking forward to these reports.
(One additional note about HB 4084: In the final days of session, the bill was amended to prohibit new data center firms from participating in Oregon’s Standard Enterprise Zone property tax abatement program and to prohibit extensions of existing data center agreements, both until 90 days after the end of the 2027 legislative session (which would be Oct. 2, 2027, at the latest.) OBI opposed this amendment.)
Primary health care: The Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) Primary Care Strategy Committee met in May to continue discussing possible 2027 legislative concepts. OHA formed the committee in April to tackle Oregon’s current and anticipated primary care shortage, with some estimates projecting the state will need 1,200 additional primary care providers by 2030. At a high level, legislative proposals include changes to primary care reimbursement models, flexibility around staffing and changes to OHA’s internal definitions and processes. OHA’s current proposals can be read more in-depth here.
Jury task force: Throughout 2026, OBI has participated on the Task Force on Removing Barriers to Jury Service, which was created by SB 1175 during the 2025 legislative session. The task force has identified many reasons for low jury participation – including inefficient administration and declining trust in government – but has chosen to focus on jury pay. During the task force’s June 8 meeting, the chair highlighted a new Illinois law that requires employers to pay workers their hourly rate when serving on juries. While OBI supports jury service as fundamental to our democracy, it would oppose requiring employers to pay for jurors to serve. Doing so would create yet another leave law with which employers must comply, and it would place extreme burdens on Oregon’s smallest employers.
Notable News
Les Schwab layoffs: Les Schwab Tire Centers laid off 70 employees June 8 at its corporate offices in Bend, part of a restructuring the company said is designed to prioritize other spending. About 430 remain at Schwab’s headquarters (The Oregonian).
Intel and Google: In what would be a significant win for its manufacturing arm, Intel has reportedly landed a chipmaking deal with Google. The Information, citing people with direct knowledge of discussions, said June 8 the Alphabet unit placed an order for 3 million Google-designed AI chips from Intel in 2028. Nvidia was also said to be in talks with Intel (Portland Business Journal).
Portland initiatives: Backers of two Portland ballot initiatives have each raised more than $700,000 to try to get the measures on the November ballot. Proponents of the measures — one which would give Portlanders the ability to decide how the city spends millions every year and another which would redirect funds from the city’s clean energy fund to increase police staffing — are optimistic they will obtain the requisite 40,437 valid signatures to qualify for the Nov. 3 election (The Oregonian).
Oregon battery maker: Oregon battery maker ZincFive plans to go public on the strength of demand by AI data centers for its energy storage products. The 10-year-old Tualatin-based company announced June 11 it had entered a merger agreement with Spark I, a special purpose acquisition company formed by a Silicon Valley artificial intelligence investors SparkLabs Group (Portland Business Journal).
Hillsboro data centers: Hillsboro took the first steps June 9 toward shutting down development of new data centers in the suburban community as the city council scrambled to respond to community outrage over the industry’s growth and impacts (The Oregonian).
IP 28 opposition: A growing list of Oregon politicians are expressing opposition to a proposed ballot measure that would effectively ban hunting, fishing and other animal-related activities in the state (The Oregonian).
Amazon solar project: Amazon is moving ahead on a massive, shovel-ready solar farm in Eastern Oregon amid a tech and utility scramble for new clean energy resources in the region. In a filing with state regulators, the online retail and cloud giant requested no changes to an existing site certificate for the nearly 10,000-acre, 1,200-megawatt Sunstone project in Morrow County (Portland Business Journal).
Progressive victories: In two Washington County legislative districts, Democratic voters nominated the more progressive, union-backed candidates over opponents endorsed by many of the state’s most influential Democratic players. The winning candidates and the groups that backed them say the victories are a clear sign that voters across the state are dissatisfied with lackluster leadership from the Democratic establishment and are seeking candidates who will fight for the working class (The Oregonian).
Oregon breweries: Oregon’s craft beer market has gone a little flat. The number of breweries is at its lowest point in eight years and employment is down, too, amid signs that Oregonians have all the beer they can drink (The Oregonian).
Health care president: Michael Cole, market president for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon and Regence BlueShield of Washington, has left the Portland-based health plans. Cole was appointed executive vice president of Sentara Health and president of Sentara Health Plans, which serves about 1 million members in Virginia (Portland Business Journal).
Oregon construction: As construction projects in the Portland metro area dry up, local construction firms are expanding their geographic portfolio. Some stay within the region, seeking projects in Washington or Idaho while others seek bids in other parts of the country experiencing development booms (Portland Business Journal).
TriMet cuts: About 7 miles of the MAX Green Line will be eliminated in two months—just one of 33 changes that TriMet service will undergo beginning Aug. 23 as the agency seeks to close a large budget shortfall (Willamette Week).
Portland housing provider: A Portland landlord that manages more than 1,000 low-income apartments in the metro region area says it could cease operations in as little as six months unless city officials throw it a financial lifeline. Innovative Housing Inc. said chronic crime inside and outside its Portland buildings, coupled with fewer tenants paying rent while more struggle with behavioral health and addiction challenges, had placed it on a collision course with insolvency (The Oregonian).
ODOT director finalist: Two weeks before Gov. Tina Kotek announced she was sending her chief of staff to lead Oregon’s troubled transportation department, she had another person in mind for the job (Oregon Public Broadcasting).
Rate hike paused: Oregon utility regulators said they’re suspending a proposed 29% rate increase for data centers that Portland General Electric was planning to roll out. The proposed rates were to take effect on June 10 pending approval from the Oregon Public Utility Commission (The Oregonian).
Snack company sold: An Oregon maker of meat snacks has been acquired by a national group of food brands. Chicago-based Second Nature Brands is adding Tillamook Country Smoker to its portfolio of snack labels in a deal with Tillamook owner Insignia Capital Group and family shareholders (Portland Business Journal).
Device company sold: Novanta Inc. announced June 9 it has a definitive agreement to acquire Portland-based Riverpoint Medical, which makes medical devices, for $1.2 billion (Portland Business Journal).
Water pollution suit: Eastern Oregon residents who have lived for years with contaminated water can move forward with a class action lawsuit against the Port of Morrow and large food processors in the area, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon on May 29 issued an order denying a motion from the Port of Morrow and five businesses to dismiss Pearson v. Port of Morrow (Oregon Capital Chronicle).
Check Out OBI’s Member Benefits
OBI offers members a range of programs that can save money or help small businesses offer benefits normally available only to much larger companies. Benefit programs include:
- HealthChoice: Helps businesses with fewer than 100 employees offer comprehensive health-care benefits through our partnership with Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon.
- Partners Retirement Plan: Allows multiple employers to offer a 401(k) benefit to employees through a group structure while maintaining individual company design and control over the benefit – such as eligibility, employer match, and vesting.
- CompSAFE: Helps eligible companies enjoy workers’ compensation discounts through SAIF Corporation.
- Fuel Program: Helps members save fuel costs through our partnership with Ed Staub & Sons.
- LegalPLUS: OBI members receive 15 minutes of free legal consulting per month from Innova Legal Advisors.
Go here to learn about all of OBI’s member benefits.