Alliance Leadership

Alliance Co-Chairs

To contact the Alliance Co-Chairs, please email mid-willamette-valley@braverangels.org

Judi Saam

Blue Co-Chair
Judi retired from a career as an IT professional, working in both the private and public sectors. She now spends her time serving as the blue Co-Chair of the Braver Angels Mid-Willamette Valley Alliance, and trying to learn to play guitar.

A life-long blue, Judi has learned that the most fulfilling conversations are those in which people with opposing views are able to find areas of fierce agreement.

Keith Lembke

Red Co-Chair
Keith was raised on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1983. He served as a military officer until 2007, commanding various units in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the Sinai; and taught at Oregon State University. Post-retirement, Keith worked in aviation product development before deploying to Afghanistan from 2008 to 2021, where he advised Afghan defense forces and political leaders. He returned to the U.S. after Afghanistan's collapse and now works in the Greater Albany School District's Community Transition Program.

Keith leans red as a fiscal and political conservative.

Alliance Steering Committee

Mark Kaenel

Mark retired from his career profession in 2020 following 33 years as a commercial banker in southern California. He moved to Corvallis in 2021 and currently teaches business & personal finance at LBCC part-time, and is also a member of the Rotary Club of Greater Corvallis. Mark is an avid tennis player and member of Timberhill Tennis Club where he is also finishing up a 3-year term on its board and as club treasurer.

Mark is a true California republican who is fiscally conservative and socially moderate.

Mark Urista

Mark is a full-time Speech Communication faculty member at Linn-Benton Community College, where he has taught since 2010 and advises the Civil Discourse Program.

The son of a Red Hispanic father who served in the U.S. Army and a Blue Anglo mother who was an inner-city schoolteacher, Mark identifies as Purple.

Carolyn Mayers

Carolyn is a former insurance agent, proprietor of an organic farm and member of several non-profit boards. Once a long-time volunteer for the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center, she now serves on the Corvallis City Council, and enthusiastically supports efforts, including Braver Angels, that promote the seeking of common ground.

A moderate Democrat who thrives on bridging divides, Carolyn brings inquisitiveness and curiosity to every conversation, seeking not agreement but communication.

Suzanne Woods

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