Steve Allen is the owner and operator of The Times-Journal. The Times-Journal is one of the longest continually running newspapers in Oregon. Founded in 1886, The Times-Journal is the newspaper of record for Gilliam, Wheeler and Sherman counties. Providing local news that is not available anywhere else, The Times-Journal is the voice of Oregon’s smallest frontier counties. Available in print and online at timesjournal1886.com.

Meet K’Lynn Lane, the passionate Executive Director of the Oregon Frontier Chamber of Commerce. With an impressive tenure of 11 years, K’Lynn has been instrumental in the remarkable transformation of the Chamber into a thriving rural regional hub, supporting 11 frontier rural communities across Gilliam, Sherman, and Wheeler Counties. Under her dynamic leadership, the organization now serves over 450 businesses and small organizations, making a significant impact in the region. Proudly known as the main street organization for 9 rural towns, K’Lynn’s dedication to community building and her unwavering support for the places she calls home continue to inspire and uplift the entire community.

Brad Attig has a passion for helping startups and small businesses. He launched Foundry Collective a nonprofit working to create sustainable “Main Street Innovation Labs” in small and rural communities. Foundry Collective operates Foundry at Corvallis, a 2500 sq. ft. innovation hub and currently supports hubs in Baker City, La Grande, Burns, Estacada, and soon, Coos Bay, all in rural Oregon.

With 20+ years of senior business experience with Macy’s, Target, Montgomery Wards, and Citibank Brad leverages his knowledge helping create exciting new businesses with triple-bottom line goals; social, environmental and financial. He’s passionate about social missions, rural economic development, local sustainable food supplies, and B Corporations. He serves on the board of the Corvallis Environmental Center focusing on creating a better and more resilient local community.

Brad is experienced in developing creative business strategy and digital marketing ideas for small and mid-sized businesses and has been a successful consultant for small businesses in areas of branding, online marketing, ecommerce, and retail for many years. He has mentored startup founders and teams at the Advantage Accelerator – Oregon State University, Eugene RAIN Accelerators, Fertilab (Eugene), and Hatch Innovation (Portland). This experience covers consumer goods, retail, light-scale manufacturing and SaaS and membership portals.

Joni Kabana has a deep love for the John Day River Territory and she loves to foster community via many avenues. Joni’s experience of owning a small business that centers on communications, marketing and visual creative direction gives her a great skillset to serve as Ambassador for Spray, Oregon. In addition to her small business and managing the social media accounts for the John Day River Territory and 1859/1889 Magazines, Joni is the owner of the Spray General Store, a community and art center that hosts workshops, events and gatherings.

K’Lynn Lane has been serving as the Chamber Executive Director since 2012. K’Lynn was born and raised in Condon and couldn’t be prouder to be home working for the community and businesses she grew up patronizing. K’Lynn also owns her own photography business specializing in portrait and family photography, she adores her sweet family; husband, Josh and children Kennedy and Johnnie Reno.

Brittany Dark, Sherman County Ambassador, hopes to foster a sense of community for natives and transplants alike. As a third generation business owner, Brittany, sympathizes with the weight these businesses bear and believes a strong support system is vital to the survival and the prosperity of our rural communities. The Oregon Frontier has a special place her heart, with its vast beauty, warm welcome, and cool creeks it’s hard to compare this region to any other,  “I want to see the territory we love so much, continue to flourish for years to come. We need to give our graduates a place of prosperity to return to and I’m excited to be apart of it.”

Alex Logan is a mother and a business owner.  Living In a small community I wanted to have things for my kids so I did it, I created events and attended everything. Now I get the opportunity to be involved with everything! Being an ambassador helps our communities evolve into more and be a place where everyone wants to visit. I am Happy to be a part of the future we want for our kids to call home and business that thrive.

Greg has 20 years of business development experience. He has founded and operated successful for-profit and non-profit companies in the renewable energy industry where he developed a first of its kind energy forecasting and reporting program. He has also worked in sales, marketing, policy, and many years in consulting. He earned his masters in business administration from Portland State University where he was also a part-time professor in the graduate school of business. He created and led the study abroad program focused on entrepreneurship, economics, and sustainable development.

Greg holds certifications from/in American Management Association, US Dept of Commerce; Export Strategies, Advanced Leadership and Community Development, Solar Energy International, AWS welding, and Animal Behavior College; dog training.

Eilene Flory currently holds the position of “The Center on Behavioral Health Justice Coordinator”. Eilene has worked in both inpatient and outpatient mental health units for more than 15 years. She eventually returned to school to study Criminal Justice and became an Adult Parole and Probation Officer (PO) in Deschutes County where she managed a caseload of people who had placed on supervision and had been convicted of crimes who also suffered from mental health issues. As a P.O., Eilene was a member of the Deschutes County CIT steering committee that developed a CIT program for Deschutes County and later Eilene accepted a position as the Deschutes County CIT Coordinator. She joined GOBHI in March of 2016.

Eilene is currently the chair for the Eastern Oregon Healthy Living Alliance. She has served on the Central Oregon NAMI board of directors, the Deschutes County Homeless Coalition as a co-chair, and as a voting member of the HHOPE board of directors.

She is married to a Sheriff’s Deputy Sergeant with Gilliam Co., is the mother of three adult children and five wonderful grandchildren.

​Chiyanna Brooks grew up on the White Butte Ranch outside of Mitchell, OR and is honored to be a Rural Ambassador for the Chamber. Growing up in Wheeler County was an amazing experience and now as a mother and wife in rural Wheeler County, she has a strong desire to help cultivate a community that her family and many others can come and enjoy. From helping with events to sitting down with small businesses to address their needs, she wants to build a strong support system for the community and let them know all the valuable resources and assistance that the Chamber has to offer. She’s so excited to be a part of the Chamber and working with others who are eager to see our rural communities grow and thr ive.