Our Executive Board
Dr. Irvin Brown
Education Chair
Irvin was born and raised in the Pelican State of Louisiana. He is one of 7 siblings. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the United States Navy. After serving aboard the U.S.S. New Orleans, LPH-11 in San Diego, California, he was reassigned to the beautiful Pacific Northwest at Naval Station Everett, Washington. There, he served alongside the Judge Advocate General as a paralegal (NCO/E5 Aviation Warfare Specialist) until he earned an honorable discharge to pursue the field of education and politics.
He earned his BA from Eastern University and completed an M.Ed. at Lewis & Clark College. In his pursuit of being a lifelong learner, he became the first African American to earn a doctorate from the University of Portland.
As the former Legislative Director for Rep. Janelle Bynum (HD 51), his journey has now led him to the Bureau of Labor Industries | Apprenticeship and Training Divsion as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator. He enjoys collaborating with executive boards and teams in utilizing an equity lens centered in racial identity that creates employment opportunities for all those who call Oregon home.
Kristi & Don Negri
Legal Redress Co-chairs
Kristi Negri has a degree in piano pedagogy from the University of Oregon. She worked in the computer field for nearly twenty years, many of them as a self-employed consultant designing systems implementation for large companies. During the busy years of kid activities, she wrote, edited, and produced books, and for the past fifteen or more years, returning at last to her initial love of teaching music, she taught a full studio of students aged five to seventy-five. She and her husband, Don, co-chair the legal redress committee. She recently joined Don in retirement and is looking forward to their next chapter.
Don Negri is a retired professor of Economics at Willamette University. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan in 1986 and taught economics at Willamette from 1990 to 2021. He and his wife and fLegal Redress co-chair, Kristi, have four grown children and soon to be three grandchildren. Don has been active in water economics, climate change mitigation and joined the board of Salem Keizer NAACP in Decebmer 2020
Casey Kopcho
Communications Chair
Casey was born in Texas and has lived all across the country: everywhere from New Jersey and D.C. to Georgia and Arizona. Casey attended the University of Texas at age where he went on to become a first generation college graduate as he pursued his Master of Science in Accounting and Information Management.
Casey took his education and background with him to D.C. where he worked for the U.S. Government Accountability Office and professional services firm Deloitte & Touche, LLP before meeting his wife and relocating back to Texas. After evaluating their goals, Casey and his family finally found their home in Salem, Oregon.
As a Principal Auditor for the Oregon Secretary of State, Casey works to ensure government programs are efficient, effective, economical, and equitable. He also serves his community as a Salem Planning Commissioner, and has served on a number of other local boards and commissions.