Pulitzer Prize Winner Joins Business Group

Erik Lukens briefly left journalism for a job in the tech industry. He now returns to public life

The business district of Beaumont Wilshire. (Brian Burk)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Erik Lukens, a highly decorated former journalist, joined Oregon Business and Industry as its new communications director last month.

Lukens won a 2014 Pulitzer Prize for editorials on the Public Employees Retirement System and served as the editorial page editor for The Oregonian before becoming the editor in chief of the Bend Bulletin.

After the Bulletin declared bankruptcy, Lukens briefly left journalism for a job in the tech industry. He now returns to public life as the voice for the state’s largest business lobbying group.

“Anyone who has worked in or around public policy in Oregon for the last several years knows that Erik is an effective communicator,” says Angela Wilhelms, president and CEO of OBI, “even when it comes to talking about complex—or even unpopular—ideas.”

Lukens adds: “OBI does vital work in Oregon, and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

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