Meet Our Board
We are a working board consisting of artists and community members passionate about reducing waste and finding creative possibility in what others see as “trash.” Most board members are also active volunteers at our retail store ReClaim It, at the dump, or at our pop-up events.
We’re always on the lookout for talented and conscientious new board members and committee members to help us strengthen our team. If you’re a dumpster diver at heart, are deeply committed to waste reduction and reuse, and have an eye for the artistic, we’d like to talk with you.
Tess Beistel
Co-founder, Board Member since 1998
Tess moved all over the place during her growing-up years and has nested in Portland for the last twenty-plus years. She earns her living as a garden designer and is nuts about having clients use garden art made from recycled materials. Formal education includes two master’s degrees, one in English Literature and the other in Public Administration.
One of the co-founders of Cracked Pots, Tess has served continuously on the Board since 1998. In addition to environmental activism, she is deeply interested in peacework, meditation, hospice volunteering, and enhancing the existing community gardens program in Portland. Her car is Sweet Pea, her cat is Olive, and her favorite color is green.
Jane Comerford
Secretary & Board Member since 1999
Jane is a 4th generation Oregonian who has been involved with Cracked Pots since 1999. She’s a graduate of U of O and Howard University (DC), and a happily retired community college administrator. When she is not dumpster diving, she tries to keep mentally and physically fit by reading (lots!), playing tennis, delving into local history, and hiking far and near. Jane lives with her partner Joan, two goats, and two cats.
Donna Deacon
Treasurer, Past President & Board Member Since 2018
Donna was born and raised in Illinois, attended Northern Illinois University, then lived with her husband in Ohio, California, and Georgia before setting down roots in Portland in 1981 to raise three children, who are now grown. She has volunteered and worked for various non-profits over the years, and in retirement focuses her time volunteering with organizations that understand the value and power of re-use and recycling. Cracked Pots is a perfect fit. Other passions are traveling, gardening, and her two grandchildren.
Christine Carlson
Past President & Board Member since 2013
Chris is a transplanted Ohioan and an environmental advocate. After law school, she worked for the Kettering Foundation and got involved in the field of conflict resolution and consensus building around public policy issues. She came to Portland to help found the National Policy Consensus Center at PSU. She is now a retired dilettante and spends her time reading, gardening, traveling, dabbling, and enjoying the good life.
Rachel Steffen
Board Member Since 2018
Rachel moved to the Pacific Northwest ten years ago after a lifetime of scheming how to get to here. Preserving the environment is a social justice issue and it's important for Rachel to find social justice in all of her primary activities.
Rachel earns her keep at an educational technology company. Her educational and professional background includes a degree in Comparative Literature, affordable housing development, bookselling, educational sales, and technology. Gardening, beachcombing, firegazing, and yoga fill out the rest of her time.
Miriam Hecht
Board Member Since 2018
In college, a long time ago at Northwestern University outside of Chicago, Miriam started recycling and went to her first estate sale. She immediately got hooked on both. “Waste” is not part of her vocabulary—”collecting” is. The stranger, the better. After many years with the Portland's Planning and Building Bureaus, Miriam spends her time as a docent with the Portland Art Museum, volunteering, and playing soccer. She finds that Cracked Pots and ReClaim It are a great fit to her lifestyle.
