About Oregon APSE

To promote equitable, integrated employment of people with disabilities that recognizes their contributions as community members, we support the following tenets:

• Communities are enriched when everyone is included in the workforce.
• Meaningful employment including comparable work hours and compensation is possible for all who choose to work.
• Everyone has the right to a career path that supports their chosen lifestyle.

National APSE Website

APSE Vision:

All people with disabilities have competitive employment in an inclusive workforce.

APSE Mission:

Oregon APSE supports:

• Integrated individual employment defined as a job that meets the needs of the business community, pays competitive wages, provides comparable benefits and opportunities to fully engage with non-disabled coworkers, and for most people is at least 20 hours per week.

Therefore, Oregon APSE will:

• Build alliances with advocates, families, employers, providers, funders and local communities to promote integrated individual employment throughout Oregon.
• Advocate for policies, communication, and training that supports substantial improvement and measurable outcomes specific to integrated individual employment.

Want to become an Oregon APSE Member? Click Here!

Oregon APSE Board Members:

CJ Webb, President

CJ has supported people in many capacities for over 30 years. She is passionate about providing employment information, so people can live and work based on their skills, strengths, and gifts. She currently works at Vocational Rehabilitation, as a Pre-Employment Transition Services Program Coordinator. She is a Certified Employment Support Professional (CESP) and a Person-Centered Thinking Mentor Trainer, credentialed through The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices. She has been a Personal Futures Plan facilitator since 1996, and also facilitates other person-centered plans such as Essential Lifestyle Plans (ELP), PATH and MAP. One of her favorite excerpts is: Our jobs should help us take the vacations that help us live a full life. She loves to cook, bake, go backpacking, hiking, and seeing live music. CJ is currently the Oregon APSE Chapter President and newsletter, The Focus, publisher.

Glenn Bishop, Vice President

Glenn Bishop, MS, CRC is the Employment Services Manager at Dirkse Counseling and Consulting, Inc. where he has dedicated the last 21 plus years of his career working with employers and job seekers with disabilities to form meaningful and impactful job opportunities.

Michelle Furman

Michelle holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Sciences from Linfield College. She is excited for the opportunity to help move our communities and individuals forward into integrated employment in Central Oregon. She is a Certified Employment Support Professional with APSE and is a member of the Oregon APSE Board.  She is a strong advocate for integrated community employment and also serves as a member of the Oregon Employment Learning Network (OELN) Discovery Training team. Michelle enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors, camping and has plans on restoring her 966 Chevy truck which will be a family project!

Jenny Thomas, Treasurer

Jennifer Thomas is grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Oregon APSE Board. She was born and raised in Oregon and loves serving people. For the last 12 years she has had the privilege of working with adults with I/DD in various capacities at Partnerships in Community Living. She has been a Direct Support Professional, a job coach, and now serves in the hourly billing department. Jennifer and her husband both have siblings who experience I/DD so the work is very near and dear to her heart. She has been a member of APSE since 2015 and a presenter at multiple APSE Pacific Northwest Employment Forums. She had the honor of presenting at the National APSE Conference in Portland in 2017. From 2019 – 2021 she was the facilitator for the Marion County Employment First Network and created many long-lasting connections. She is a teacher by education, a proud graduate of Western Oregon University, and a natural extrovert. Creating presentations and communicating about topics that she is passionate about is one of her strengths. Since 2008 she has been a part of Toastmasters International, a public speaking and leadership organization. Jennifer says, “This organization has taught me so much about how to be a better communicator and leader. From Toastmasters International I have achieved several educational awards including Advanced Communicator Gold and Advanced Leader Bronze awards. In 2019 I was honored with the Division Director of the Year Award.” Jennifer looks forward to this new adventure as part of the Oregon APSE Board!

Paula Johnson

Paula has 40+ years of experience in job development, job analysis, career planning, marketing, staff training, and management.  During her nine-years at the University of San Francisco, McLaren School of Business, she directed California’s Supported Employment statewide training projects and led the California Corporate Initiative.  She served as the Senior Director of Best Buddies Jobs and led the expansion of ten employment programs across the US and Latin America.  Paula recently retired as a National Consultant with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital – Project SEARCH and assisted employers and agencies with the development of Project SEARCH training programs in the western US.  She served on the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) National Board as the Regional Delegate for the Northwest and Pacific region and the Treasurer for Oregon APSE.  Paula also serves on the Board of Directors for the Washington Initiative for Supported Employment (Wise), a Seattle based training and technical assistance agency that promotes community integrated employment for people with disabilities.  Her passion for equitable employment for people with disabilities grows with each passing year.

Liz Fox, Secretary 

Liz Fox is the Executive Director of Alternative Work Concepts, a nationally recognized supported employment agency in Eugene, Oregon. She works specifically with people who have multiple physical and intellectual disabilities creating individualized positions in the community based on their interests and abilities. Liz has a BS in Special Education from the University of Vermont. Since coming to Oregon in 1991, she has been involved with a variety of stakeholder groups most recently, the Oregon State Rehabilitation Council and the Executive Order Policy Group. She has been a member of APSE since 2013.

Ryan Farrow

Ryan brings years of experience in the supported employment field, supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live full lives and contribute to their communities through competitive, integrated employment.

In 2019, Ryan was enthusiastic to join CBRE and Nike’s partnership to nurture an integrative workplace by leveraging the skills and valued contributions of people of all abilities. Based at Nike World Headquarters, he works on global Disability Inclusion strategy.

Prior to joining CBRE in January 2019, he worked as a program manager, job coach, job developer, trainer, Highline College instructor and has an Assistive Technology Applications Certification through California State University Northridge.

Ryley Newport

Ryley Newport is the Communications Director with the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities (OCDD) in Portland, Oregon. He has worked for the past 10 years in the disability field primarily in the role of expanding the involvement of individuals with disabilities and their family members in social and policy change. Prior to joining OCDD, Ryley worked for the Oregon Self Advocacy Coalition (OSAC), the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE), U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, the Washington Initiative for Supported Employment (WISE) and Washington State’s Developmental Disability Council. When not working, he spends his time exploring and surfing in Oregon with his family.

Lisa Ochs

In 1993 Lisa graduated from Glencoe High school in Hillsboro, Oregon. Upon graduating, she held her first job as a drive through clerk at a fast food restaurant. After two years, she decided that fast food was not the job for her. Through employment services, she landed her second job in a sheltered workshop where she remained for almost 20 years. In 2016, Lisa embarked on her journey into integrated employment.  In 2018, Lisa began the first of her current jobs as a Customer Services Representative for the Hillsboro City Manager’s Office. Shortly after that the City added a second position working as a Customer Services Representative at the Hillsboro Brookwood Library. In addition to those jobs, in September 2019, Lisa became TVW’s first Client Services Associate. In this role, Lisa works to expand awareness and the benefits of supported employment to employers, community members, and her peers. In recognition of all her hard work, Lisa was one of two recipients of ORA’s 2019 Employee of the Year Award. Lisa enjoys spending time with family, friends, and her cat Moxie. She also enjoys camping, bowling, and attending Portland Trailblazer games.

Kathy Sewell

In the past thirty years Ms. Sewell has been the Executive Director of five different corporations including one two-state not-for-profit corporation and the CEO of her own consulting firm Dancin’ Trees. During her tenure with these organizations, she has utilized an innovative and experiential philosophy to enhance business and program development. Kathy has worked extensively with not-for-profits to enhance their growth potential and business attributes. She has been associated with the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Center for Adolescent Development, Idaho Women’s Network, and the American Cancer Society, among others. Kathy also utilizes her facilitation skills to do team learning with profit corporations, organizations, and government agencies.

In her most recent career, she has worked for Shangri La as the Community Employment Coastal Manager. Shangri La is an organization whose mission is to serve individuals with intellectual disabilities reach their potential. During her tenure with Shangri La she has also been the Board Liaison, Community Engagement Coordinator and Employment Specialist.

Nicholas Von Pless

Nicholas started at a very young age supporting people with disabilities in recreational activities, and since 2008 has been immersed in Supported Employment. Nicholas specializes in customized employment, seamless transition, program development, strategic planning, and training. In 2017, Nicholas launched Project SEARCH with the City of Portland, in partnership with late City Commissioner Nick Fish. Nicholas also consulted with companies retiring their 14(c) certificates (sub-minimum wage) to start high-quality community employment programs. In his spare time, Nicholas enjoys playing guitar, bicycling, and adventure seeking (near and far) with his family. Nicholas is past President of Oregon APSE.

Thomas Saucedo

After attending Western Oregon University and earning a bachelor of science in Psychology, Thomas was looking for a way to utilize his skills and his passion for helping people lead better lives. He spent four years working with the elderly who experienced various forms of dementia near the end of their lives, utilizing his skills as a geriatric wellness trainer to be a bright spot in their lives. Thomas loved the relationships he made during this time but the constant loss pushed him to find a new line of work where he could still help people live their lives to their fullest extent. In 2016 he found just the position where he could use his passion for helping others and make a positive impact in their lives as a job coach with TVW Inc. After meeting with his first client, he knew that he was hooked and that he would make it his life’s work to serve people who experience disabilities to find meaningful inclusive work in their community. He earned his ACRE certification from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2016, which allowed him to expand his role into the role of a job developer where he could match the skills and abilities of his jobseekers with inclusive employers throughout Washington County. Since becoming the manager in 2018, Thomas has helped to build TVW Inc’s Career Development Services department and expand the positive impact that the organization can make for people with disabilities and supported employment as a field. He has conducted training at multiple conferences and for multiple teams throughout Oregon for utilizing technology for video resumes giving people the opportunity to be seen for their skills and abilities during an interview when they might not be able to articulate it for themselves during an interview. He is delighted to join the Oregon APSE Board, where he can help with planning, training and expanding the utilization of technology for the people we serve.

Hannah Burgess

Hannah Burgess graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2016 where she focused primarily on the rise of industrialization and the labor movements that fought for reforming policies to make fair and safe workplaces for all. When Hannah learned about supported employment she knew that this was the field for her, helping people with IDD be successful in their communities through meaningful work. Shortly after graduation, Hannah was hired as a Job Developer in Eugene, Oregon and then went on to manage a Project SEARCH program for two years. In 2019 Hannah was hired at Albertina Kerr where she has been a Skills Trainer, Program Manager for job coaching services for Marion and Washington Counties, and is currently the Assistant Director of Pre-Employment Services. In her free time, Hannah likes to adventure with her kids and dog, check out new food carts, and finding new silly socks to wear.

Gavin Osegueda

Gavin Osegueda is the Supported Employment Director at Community Access Services (CAS). Whether in rural or urban communities, he assists job coaches and employment specialists provide quality services to CAS’ customers. Furthermore, he firmly believes that all people can thrive in the workforce, some institutions will need to undergo change to make that happen. 

Gavin is a Certified Employment Support Professional who also holds B.A. from Whitman College and an MPA from Arkansas State University. Outside of work, you’ll find Gavin at dog parks or an eating burritos (yes, plural) at a new taqueria.