Oregon Investment Council Sees Turnover

The departures will ease one point of tension.

Downtown Portland. (Henry Cromett)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The five-member Oregon Investment Council, which oversees more than $130 billion in state pension and other investments, is experiencing unusual turnover.

Charles Wilhoite, whom Gov. Kate Brown appointed to the council last March, resigned Dec. 31, saying new ownership of the consulting firm where he works left him with insufficient time for the OIC and the state Housing Stability Council, on which he also served.

Another OIC member, Monica Enand, is expected to step down in May, an Oregon State Treasury spokeswoman said. Enand could not be reached for comment.

Spots on the OIC are coveted but hard to fill because they require expertise that’s difficult to find in Oregon’s relatively small finance industry.

But the departures will ease one point of tension: Both Wilhoite and Enand also serve on the board of NW Natural, the state’s leading fossil fuel company. In December, three Democratic state lawmakers joined climate activists in urging the OIC to divest itself of nearly $2 billion in fossil fuel investments.

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