About CUB

mission - staff & board of directors - contact information

Mission

Our mission is simple: to represent you, the residential utility customer. We know that utility customers have lives of their own; that's why we have devoted ours to making sure you are represented in the best way possible. The Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon is the only group in the state funded by Oregon ratepayers to challenge rate increases and other matters brought before the Public Utility Commission and State Legislature by the private utility companies.

CUB also understands that although money is a big concern, it isn't the only concern. That's why, in addition to fighting rate hikes, we fight for clean and efficient energy alternatives. In the years since 1984 when CUB was founded by voters through a ballot initiative, CUB has saved consumers over $3.6 billion and won important policy victories that have protected consumer privacy, the environment (particularly through our work on global warming issues) and low-income Oregonians.

Staff

Bob Jenks, Executive Director

Bob Jenks is the Executive Director of CUB and a national expert on utility-related issues.  Bob started working for CUB in 1991, and has participated in nearly every major Oregon Public Utility Commission case since that time, including dozens of cases dealing with utility mergers, rates, and deregulation. He also regularly represents ratepayers before the Oregon Legislature. Governor John Kitzhaber appointed Bob to a Blue Ribbon Panel on Low-Income Energy Issues, and Governor Ted Kulongoski appointed Bob to a Task Force on Telecommunications Law and Policy. Bob has on numerous occasions been flown across country to speak on utility issues before such groups as the California Legislature, the Northwest Public Power Association, and the Consumer Federation of America. Bob sits on the board of Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center, and is the Oregon representative of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA). Bob is a native Oregonian, and has an economics degree from Willamette University.

Jeff Bissonnette, Organizing Director

Jeff Bissonnette has served as CUB’s Organizing Director since June 1998.  Since coming to CUB, Jeff has led the Fair and Clean Energy Coalition to create progressive energy policy for the state of Oregon and has directed CUB’s legislative advocacy efforts.  He has been appointed by the Public Utility Commission to represent the Fair and Clean Energy Coalition on the Portfolio Options Committee, overseeing the utilities’ renewable energy products offered to customers.  Jeff also served on the Oregon Universal Service Advisory Board, ensuring that all customers have access to affordable basic telephone service. Jeff’s first political volunteer experience was in 1984 as a freshman student at the University of Oregon working to pass Ballot Measure 3, the initiative that created CUB.  Since then, he has dedicated both his work life and volunteer time to community organizing and advocating for public interest issues.  He worked for community groups and campaign organizations in Washington, DC, Illinois and New York before returning to Oregon to work for CUB. In his off-time, when he is not serving on the board of Portland Community Media or the Steering Committee of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters’ Multnomah County chapter,   Jeff enjoys gardening, hiking, camping and talking about politics.

Lowrey Brown, Utility Analyst

Before joining CUB in 2004, Lowrey worked as a consultant with KEMA-Xenergy in Portland on energy and energy efficiency issues. Between 1997 and 2001, she freelanced in Colorado for The Valley Journal, Solar Energy International, Energy Systems Engineering, and Resource Engineering providing writing and technical assistance. Lowrey holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Engineering from Stanford University.

Jason Eisdorfer, Energy Program Director

Jason Eisdorfer has served as legal counsel and energy program director of the Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon since joining CUB in 1994.  He has represented the residential consumer in numerous rate cases, utility mergers, resource planning processes and public policy dockets before the Oregon Public Utility Commission.  In 1996 he was appointed to the Steering Committee of the Northwest Governors’ Comprehensive Review of the Northwest Energy System.  In 1997, he represented CUB in the PUC's PGE/Enron merger docket, and was the public interest representative in work sessions of the Oregon Legislature's House Committee on Power Deregulation. He helped author Oregon’s electricity industry restructuring legislation of 1999, the Oregon Renewable Energy Act and the Oregon Climate Change bill, both of 2007. He recently served on the Governor’s Carbon Allocation Task Force and currently sits on the OPUC’s Portfolio Options Committee which oversees the utility’s retail energy options.  He sits on the executive boards of the Energy Trust of Oregon, the Northwest Energy Coalition and the Renewable Northwest Project. Prior to joining CUB, Jason was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of General Counsel, and served an appointment as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. Jason is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the University of Oregon School of Law with certificates of completion in Environmental Law and Ocean and Coastal Law.

Shannon Floyd, Business & Communications Manager

Shannon Floyd has been with CUB since August 2003. She writes the CUB weblog (CUB Online) and much of the material such as newsletters that members receive, and also manages the daily operational and financial aspects of the organization, as well as organizing special events. Shannon was the Administrative Director for the Oregon branch of progressive political consulting firm M&R Strategic Services, from 1998-2003. During that time, she managed grassroots organizing for various local and national environmental and social justice issues, in addition to actively supporting several statewide ballot measures. Before that, Shannon worked as Faculty Secretary at Northwestern School of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Music and Literature from the University of Oklahoma, and has been an Oregon resident since 1997.

Karen Jaffe, Development Director

(Portrait courtesy of Olive Eisdorfer)

Karen Jaffe has worked for CUB as Development Director since January of 2001. As such, she solicits and processes CUB donations, and serves as a liaison between CUB and its thousands of Oregon members. Before joining CUB, she worked in non-profit fundraising for Telefund, Inc and the Fund for Public Interest Research, working for groups like Save the Children, CUB, Sierra Club and candidates including Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). She graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia with a degree in History and Economics.

Contact CUB!

Email us at cub@oregoncub.org
Phone (503) 227-1984
Fax (503) 274-2956

Citizens' Utility Board of Oregon
610 SW Broadway, Ste 308
Portland, OR 97205