Our Staff

Tyler Frisbee

Director

Tyler is a third-generation Oregonian whose commitment to public policy runs deep—her earliest dinner table conversations with her mother often revolved around land use law. A committed policy wonk and graduate of Dartmouth, Tyler has built a career at the intersection of policy and politics, serving at the local, state, and federal levels. Tyler spent six years in Washington, D.C., working for Congressman Earl Blumenauer on transportation and agriculture policy, and later worked as both an advocate and private-sector consultant.

In 2016, Tyler returned home to Oregon and joined Metro, Portland’s regional government, where she spent seven years leading policy and government affairs. Following another term with Congressman Blumenauer, she joined Portland State University in 2023 as director of the Institute of Metropolitan Studies, advancing President Ann Cudd’s vision of strengthening PSU’s ties with local governments and community leaders to address the region’s most pressing challenges in housing, transportation, and the economy.

Outside of work, Tyler represents Southeast Portland on the TriMet Board and serves on the Northwest Avalanche Center Board. She loves hiking, skiing, and trail running in the mountains around Portland, biking around the city with her husband and two kids, and petting her dog’s very soft ears.

Earl Blumenauer

Presidential Fellow

For more than 50 years, Earl Blumenauer has dedicated his career to building livable communities: places where people are safe, healthy, and economically secure.

A lifelong Oregonian, Earl was raised in SE Portland and attended Centennial High School. While a student at Lewis and Clark College, he led the fight to lower the voting age and his advocacy helped fuel the passage of the 26th amendment to the Oregon Constitution. In 1972, Earl was elected to the Oregon House as one of the youngest legislators in the state’s history during a groundbreaking legislative session for school funding, ethics reform, and Oregon’s land use laws. In 1978, he left the legislature to serve his hometown more directly, first as a County Commissioner, then on the Portland City Council as Commissioner of Public Works. There, his advocacy for public transportation, land use planning and environmental protection earned him an international reputation as a leader for livability.

In 1996, Earl was elected to the US House of Representatives. During his 28 years in Congress, he developed a reputation for approaching controversial issues in a way that breaks through gridlock and brings people together around common-sense solutions.

Earl chose not to run for reelection for another term in Congress in 2024, but instead to concentrate his efforts directly on so many of the issues he cares passionately about. This includes serving a Senior Fellow and Special Advisor to the Portland State University President and as a Presidential Fellow of the Institute for Metropolitan Studies.