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Gov. Tina Kotek nominated Rukaiyah Adams, former chief investment officer at Meyer Memorial Trust and past chair of the Oregon Investment Council, to the board of commissioners at the Port of Portland.
Adams’ appointment must be confirmed by the state Senate later this month. The nine port commissioners are unpaid volunteers who meet monthly. They serve for four years and may be reappointed once. Among their powers is appointing the port’s executive director.
Since January 2023, Adams has been chief executive of the 1803 Fund, a nonprofit endowed with $400 million from Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife, Penny, to invest in North Portland’s Albina neighborhood. The gift, made in April 2023, was among the 10 biggest in the U.S. last year, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Neither Knight nor Adams has said much about the 1803 Fund since its founding.
“1803 Fund seeks to grow shared prosperity, through investments in community-based organizations and through smart financial investments,” the fund says on its website. “We will prioritize investments in education, place, and culture and belonging. 1803 Fund is not a conventional investment firm, and it is not traditional philanthropy, though our work will include pieces of both. We think of ourselves as a private equity fund for the people.”
The fund is named for the year that York, “an enslaved American of African descent, was directed to join an historic journey to what would become the Oregon territory,” the fund says on its site.
Adams also is a member of the investment committee of the board of directors at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The fund was created in 1940 by the sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (John III, Nelson, Winthrop, Laurance and David) to coordinate their philanthropy.
The Port of Portland was created in 1891 to dredge a 100-mile-long shipping channel in the Columbia River from Portland to the Pacific Ocean. Today it is best known for running Portland International Airport. The port also owns four marine terminals, airports in Hillsboro and Troutdale, and six business parks.
Adams didn’t return a text message seeking comment on the port nomination. She is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., and holds both a law degree and an MBA from Stanford University.