Position 6 (Appointed term ends 6-2027)
Phil Ralston was appointed by Governor Kotek to position 6 on the board in November 2024. Phil has lived in Portland since 1980. He’s worked in environmental protection since 1976 at local, state, regional, national and international levels, in public and private sectors.
He served as the Port of Portland Environmental Director, and retired in 2019. While there, for a decade, he was also the Port’s representative to the legacy drainage districts (Sandy Drainage Improvement Company, Multnomah County Drainage District, Peninsula Drainage District #1) that became the Urban Flood Safety & Water Quality District. He was an early and active advocate for modernizing the flood management system along the south shore of the Columbia River in the Portland Metro area.
Phil has served on governing boards for a school, a non-profit law firm, and airport industry trade association environmental committee. He earned a BS in Biology from the University of Oregon. Family and friends, volunteering in the summer to the forest service, and singing in a community choir fill his life.