Billi Odegaard Fund Benefit

Good evening, everyone. It’s an honor to be here with you tonight to support the Billi Odegaard Scholarship Fund, celebrate the three classes of recipients who benefited from the fund, and to reflect on the legacy of someone I had the privilege of working with and knowing personally.

Billi Odegaard was a visionary leader in Oregon health care. She dedicated her career to building a system that truly worked for the people it served – not just in Multnomah County but across the entire state. She was fierce, compassionate, and deeply committed to equity long before that was a widely embraced value in public health.

One of her most visible contributions was co-founding CareOregon in 1994 with Peter Kohler, then President of OHSU. Billi became the first chair of its board, and the organization quickly became a national model for how we can deliver better care to the people who need it most.

And of course, Mary Lou Hennrich—another health care pioneer and CareOregon’s first executive director—is one of the driving forces behind this very scholarship fund. Mary Lou and Billi shared a vision: that all Oregonians, regardless of background or zip code, deserve access to excellent, culturally competent health care that works for them.

That vision lives on in the mission of this fund: to improve the health and healthcare experiences of Oregonians by developing a professional nursing workforce that mirrors the communities it serves. The vision is bold but simple: a well-educated, ethnically diverse nursing workforce improving the health of all Oregonians.

Patients have better health outcomes when they’re treated by providers who understand their culture, language, and lived experience. Representation matters. And this scholarship fund is breaking down the barriers that stand in the way of talented students from underrepresented communities—students who are ready to serve and to lead.

This organization exists because people like you believe in its mission, its values, and its potential. In a time when equity, inclusion, and even truth itself are under attack in some corners of our country, we must double down on supporting organizations like this. We need to lift them up, and we need to protect the kind of work that Billi championed her entire life.

To those of you who have donated, volunteered, or supported this fund in any way: thank you. You are continuing the legacy of one of Oregon’s great public servants. And I know Billi would be deeply proud of what we’re doing here tonight.

Let’s keep going. Thank you.