Position 3 (Elected term ends 6-2027)
Kayla Calkins was elected to position 3 on the UFSWQD board in November 2024. Born and raised in Gresham, Kayla has spent 15 years at nonprofits, startups, and Fortune 50 companies. Kayla’s focus on community resilience grew from her background in insurance, where she saw the effects of increasing disasters on communities, the environment, and our economies. She received her master’s in public administration (2024) from Harvard Kennedy School, concentrating on climate policy and social impact strategy.
Kayla currently works at the Climate Resilience Fund as a wildfire resilience program officer and serves as a senior advisor to Insurance for Good. A Climatebase Fellow and Portland Neighborhood Emergency Team member, Kayla believes that strengthening our community bonds unlocks our ability to work on hard problems together as we prepare and adapt to increasing extreme weather. In her spare time, Kayla enjoys dyeing textiles, playing cribbage with her husband in their camper van, and the occasional roller skate night at Oaks Park.