Kathy Hyzy

Nearly a native Northwesterner, Councilor Kathy Hyzy’s family moved to Washington state from the Midwest while she was still in high school, and she has called the greater Portland metropolitan area home for most of the years since. Not long after buying their first home in the Island Station neighborhood in 2016, she and her husband Colin became regulars at Neighborhood District Association (NDA) meetings and quickly learned how engaged and active a community Milwaukie can be.

Community service has been a big part of Kathy’s life, both professionally and as a volunteer. Right out of college, she served a year in Americorps in Portland. Much of of her professional work has been in the realm of renewable energy, an industry that values innovation, experimentation, and finding common ground in uncommon partnerships. She has worked variously in administrative, research, and project manager roles at non-profits before spending several years as the executive director of a small publishing and community outreach organization for Quakers (the Religious Society of Friends) in the West. She has also been a Volunteer Naturalist with Metro since 2008, and has served on a number of boards and committees for Quaker organizations.

Councilor Hyzy was elected to the Council in November 2018. Prior to her election, she served on the City's Climate Action Plan Committee (CAPC). During her service on the CAPC, she saw how Milwaukie’s citizens, businesses and city government can and do work together to develop a way forward through difficult problems. She was a voice for developing strong, measurable goals for the climate action plan, and for identifying ways Milwaukians can feel empowered to speak up and actively engage with the problem of climate change. She brings this same focus on both the practical and the visionary, and a deep appreciation for Milwaukie’s love of community participation, to her role as a councilor.

Councilor Hyzy was selected by Council to serve as Council President on January 19, 2021.