Jack McGowan, 2006 Spring Luncheon Keynote

Jack McGowan is the Executive Director of SOLV. SOLV was founded 37 years ago by Governor Tom McCall and other prominent Oregonians, and is now considered the largest volunteer non-profit in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to his duties at SOLV, Jack has served as on-air host for various special televised programs produced in Oregon. Prior to his position at SOLV, Jack worked as a correspondent for KGW-TV, and was station correspondent for various international special programs from Japan, Australia and the Amazon region of Brazil.

In the mid-1980s, Jack served as an assistant to Mayor J.E. Bud Clark of Portland, working as the Mayor’s liaison to the press and business communities. While representing the mayor on a mission to China, he initiated discussions with the government leaders of Suzhou which eventually led to creation of formal Sister City status with Portland. Jack also has been a partner in the Biggs-McGowan Company, a public relations firm where, along with his partner, he conceptualized and produced the first Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz. As the Public Relations Director for the Washington Park Zoo, he conceptualized and produced the “Your Zoo . . . And All That Jazz” concert series, the first musical series ever held in a zoological park.

He was the Director of Promotion/Public Affairs at KINK FM and worked at the New York Stock Exchange as a floor representative for various stock brokerage firms. Jack’s present and past affiliations include Board of Directors of the Providence Medical Foundation, Governor Kitzhaber’s Willamette Basin Taskforce, Willamette Restoration Initiative, Willamette Partnership, as a Commission Member of the 2009 Oregon Sesquicentennial and New Carissa Review Committee. He is also involved in various community-related causes around the state such as KPTV’s One Oregon project. In 2003 Jack was presented with the Oregon Business Association’s “Oregon Statesman of the Year” Award.

In 2003, SOLV also received the prestigious, national “Take Pride in America” Award and the President’s “National Award on Volunteerism,” in addition to receiving the “Outstanding Volunteer Organization” Award presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. In 2004, SOLV has received the sole non-profit award category under the esteemed “Oregon Ethics in Business Award” from Willamette University’s Atkinson School of Business.