Nike Executive Piper Crowell Mulling Bid for Portland Mayor

Her employer already has given Wheeler $10,000 for his re-election campaign.

Piper Crowell (Courtesy of Paige Crowell)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The race for Portland mayor may soon get more interesting.

Piper Crowell, who works as Nike's director of global and innovation policy, has been quietly preparing to enter the race against incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler.

Crowell, 34, started at Nike in June 2017 after a stint working for Pandora, the streaming music provider, in Washington, D.C., and, earlier, four years working for U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). She is a 2007 graduate of Amherst College, where she played goalkeeper on the soccer team.

If Crowell enters the race, she will join leading challenger Sarah Iannarone and nine other candidates seeking to unseat Wheeler in May. Crowell has missed the deadline to file for public financing and so would have to raise money in the traditional fashion.

She'll have to look outside the Nike berm—her employer already has given Wheeler $10,000 for his re-election campaign.

"Yes, I'm seriously exploring a run for Mayor," Crowell tells WW. "I love Portland and am proud to call this city home, but we are not living up to our full promise in so many areas. It's not a question of opportunity or the potential of our people, it's a question of leadership and priorities. We can and we must do better."

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