June 23, 2021
Page 13
CAREERS Special Edition
TriMet Names First Black GM
C ontinued FroM p age 3
Desue was named interim
TriMet leader in March after his
predecessor, Doug Kelsey, retired.
As interim GM, he has already
made huge strides to build back
trust and improve the agency re-
lationship with union leaders,
TriMet officials said.
He is credited with advancing
climate initiatives and champi-
oning safety, maintenance and
critical equity and social justice
policies. Desue has also begun
developing new strategies to man-
age TriMet’s recovery from the
COVID-19 pandemic and the as-
sociated economic impacts, offi-
cial said.
As recently as Monday, Desue
announced the agency’s move to
100% renewable electricity for the
MAX light rail system, TriMet’s
electric buses and all TriMet-
owned facilities. This move im-
mediately reduced TriMet’s car-
bon footprint by more than 25%
and will soon be followed by other
climate initiatives, officials said.
Desue has also led the largest
capital improvement project in
TriMet’s 51-year history, replac-
ing and upgrading track, switches
and the signal system across the
108-year-old Steel Bridge. He
has improved bus on-time per-
formance from 88% to 94% in
the past two years. He improved
MAX light rail safety by decreas-
ing rule violations 28%—the larg-
est decrease in two years.
Officials said under Desue’s
direction, TriMet maintained a
safe operating environment for
employees and riders through
historic challenges: protests, civil
unrest, wildfires, poor air quality,
an intense ice/windstorm and the
global pandemic.
Desue was instrumental in the
successful negotiation of TriMet’s
new Amalgamated Transit Union
757 contract, the seventh success-
ful union contract he has helped
enact in his transit industry career.
He has consistently led diverse,
inclusive and equitable work
groups and has a track record of
decreasing turnover, improving fi-
nancial management and boosting
employee morale, officials said.
Desue brings more than 27
years of public and private trans-
portation experience to the posi-
tion. He started his career in trans-
port as a bus operator for Gray
Line of Alaska.
Desue developed a strong
foundation for leadership during
his nearly 11 years of service
in the United States Army. As
a non-commissioned officer
and a leader in the military, he
was relied upon by senior com-
missioned officers to execute
complex tactical and strategic
operations, make intent-driven
decisions and operate in joint,
inter-agency, and multinational
environments.
Desue serves on the American
Public Transportation Association
(APTA) Board of Directors and on
the APTA Operations Committee.
He received his Master of Busi-
ness Administration (MBA) in
2006.
Desue is a dedicated MAX
Blue Line rider as well as a fre-
quent Line 17 rider. He and his
wife have two grown children and
enjoy spending time with family
when they’re not traveling and
exploring restaurants and coffee
shops in the Portland metro area.
Experienced Teacher Raises Achievement Bar
C ontinued FroM F ront
Schools educator in 1986, when
he was in his 20s.
“So, when I started teaching in
Portland and went to the first cou-
ple meetings, some of the legend-
ary names were in the room,” Ba-
con said. “Some of them became
sort of informal mentors. I knew
where to go if I needed anything.
More so than anything, it showed
me the possibilities of a career in
education in Portland.”
The Black mentors who were
there to help him included Dr.
Matthew Prophet Jr., who be-
came the PPS superintendent in
1982, served for 10 years, and
was named among the top 100
outstanding school managers in
North America. Some of the oth-
ers were Dr. Ernest Hartzog, who
worked in education for over 60
years, including a position as an
assistant superintendent for PPS.
Hartzog founded the national
chapter of Black School Educa-
tors in 1973, which now has 30 af-
filiates, and the Oregon chapter in
1975; Harriet Adair, who worked
for PPS for 47 years and retired in
2017 as an assistant school super-
intendent; Ken Berry, who worked
in education for 44 years, 20 as a
school administrator, before retir-
ing as an elementary school prin-
cipal in 2003 and Leila Roberts,
who worked in Portland Public
Schools for 40 years, both as a
teacher and as a principal.
For much of his career, Ba-
con was active in ORABSE. So
once he retired from education, he
wanted to infuse more energy into
an organization that had been so
instrumental in helping shape his
career.
“I really wanted to get on
the board because the focus of
ORABSE shrunk to just the schol-
arship banquet,” Bacon said.
“They were only doing that be-
cause they didn’t have capacity
to do more. It was all volunteer.
So, I decided to throw my hat in
to run for president and nobody
ran against me. It was one of those
things that nobody else had time
and/or interest to do.”
Since Bacon took over leader-
ship, the organization’s member-
ship has expanded from only 30
members to 120 around the state.
The group took on a new acro-
nym, switching from OABSE to
ORABSE to avoid confusion with
the Ohio chapter’s acronym and
designed a new website - https://
www.orabse.org, ORABSE be-
came a member of the Black Stu-
dent Success Network, an Oregon
Community Foundation Program,
and received almost $100,000.
The funds have been used to
hire the first part-time administra-
tive assistant and also will allow
ORABSE to provide profession-
al development and services to
member educators, develop a cul-
turally specific curriculum about
Oregon’s Black history, and hire a
Program Manager.
ORABSE also partnered with
the Oregon Department of Edu-
cation to organize three events in
May 2021 that featured Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Nikole
Hannah-Jones. It is also expand-
ing its partnership with other ed-
ucation-related
organizations,
including the Educator Advance-
ment Council.
Bacon also created several
committees to take on some of
the workload, and just complet-
ed a strategic planning process in
April where Black educators from
the Portland Metro area, Central,
Southern and other parts of rural
Oregon participated.
Bacon estimates Oregon has
about 1,000 Black teachers work-
ing in classrooms around the state.
But he is also aware of Black pro-
fessionals who are district admin-
istrators, counselors, educational
assistants or even employees at
colleges and universities.
He plans to expand ORABSE’s
services to include helping all
types of Black educators find job
opportunities, get connected with
legal or other advocacy resources
and have access to professional
development and curriculum re-
sources.
“We want to support the Black
educators; that’s first and fore-
most,” Bacon said. “And then we
want to be a part of helping su-
pervise the expertise of working
with Black students. There’s lot of
organizations working on that and
we want to do our part and bring
our expertise and lead the way in
educating Black students to make
sure our kids are getting what they
need.”
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