Bob Hamre
Bob Hamre has been a professional investigator for over 35 years, 16 of which were spent in the private sector with his own company and most of the rest with WCD. He is the senior field investigator in the Employer Compliance Unit. He is married with three grown children who all might someday be moved out of the house at the same time. He enjoys nearly every outdoor activity and nearly every activity indoors, as well.
Charity Steffen
Charity Steffen started in the Preferred Worker Program as a support specialist in 2013 and became a re-employment specialist in July 2018. She administers program benefits to workers and employers, a few of which include wage subsidy, premium exemption, clothing, transportation, and tools. Her hobbies include cooking for her friends and family, gardening, spending time with her dogs, and traveling.
Craig Hamelund
Craig graduated in 1993 from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., with a bachelor’s degree in industrial and environmental health management. Before moving to Oregon, Craig performed industrial hygiene work for a Michigan consulting firm and was a safety compliance officer with South Carolina OSHA. He began his career with Oregon OSHA in 1995 as a safety compliance officer in Medford. In 1998, Craig joined Oregon OSHA’s Public Education Section conducting safety and health workshops and training sessions for Oregon’s employers and employees. Craig became Oregon OSHA’s internal training specialist in 2006 providing safety and health training to all Oregon OSHA staff.
Donita White
Donita White has been with the Workers’ Compensation Division for over 21 years. She has been a reimbursement specialist for almost a year and was an auditor for several years, auditing the Employer-at-Injury Program (EAIP) and other claims processing audits. The reimbursement team reviews the EAIP reimbursement requests to ensure they meet the reimbursement requirements. The Reimbursement Team also review reimbursement requests for the Retroactive Program, the Re-employment Assistance Program, the Reopened Claims Program, the Second Injury Program, and Social Security Offsets. Donita enjoys spending time with her family, traveling with her husband, gardening, and spending time with her dog.
Jennifer Rice
Jennifer Rice is a worksite modification consultant with the Preferred Worker Program. She has worked in this position since February 2019. She assists workers in their return-to-work process by administering the worksite creation and worksite modification benefits. She meets with workers and employers at the job site to compare an eligible worker’s restrictions to the job, then works with both parties on coming up with solutions. She also assists with helping employers create positions for eligible workers. Prior to coming to WCD, she worked at the Department of Human Services as the job development orientation trainer, as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, and as a human services assistant. She earned a master’s degree in rehabilitation and mental health counseling from Western Oregon University and graduated in 2018. She feels she may have been a cat in an alternate timeline.
Todd Johnson
As a senior state relations executive, Todd Johnson is responsible for NCCI’s regulatory and legislative affairs, including rate filings, legislative pricings, rules and form filings, and residual market issues. He supports the Pacific Northwest states of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.
Prior to joining NCCI in 2017, Todd served as the director of workers’ compensation for a national third-party administrator specializing in public entities. He was also the managing director for all residual market servicing carrier operations with a national workers’ compensation carrier. Additionally, he led the claim operation for a workers’ compensation reinsurance company providing oversight of all licensed carriers, public entities, and self-insured companies.
Todd received his bachelor’s degree in law, criminology, and deviant behavior from the University of Minnesota. He is a chartered property casualty underwriter and has over 35 years of workers’ compensation experience.
Zoe Tacadena
Zoe Tacadena has had the pleasure of working for the Workers’ Compensation Division for three years where she has held a few different positions. Zoe has worked as a benefit consultant where she acted as a liaison between the public and the agency, corporation, business, and other entities to clarify issues and resolve disputes. She also educated injured workers on their right to file a workers’ compensation claim and other questions that might arise during the claims process. Zoe now works for the Preferred Worker Program where she helps administer program benefits to help remove barriers to employment for workers.
Caitlin Breitbach
Caitlin Breitbach has worked as the assistant small business ombudsman for workers’ compensation since 2019. Prior to her appointment, Caitlin worked at the Building Codes Division as a policy analyst and training coordinator for three years and at the Department of Administrative Services as a policy analyst specializing in performance metrics for four years. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in human resources, and a master’s degree in organizational leadership. In addition to her position as assistant small business ombudsman, she is also a re-employment specialist with the division’s Preferred Worker Program. She enjoys being able to help both employers and workers navigate the world of workers’ compensation. In Caitlin’s free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading and watching Harry Potter marathons.
Jaylee Hlad-Mosgrove
Jaylee Hlad-Mosgrove is the chief assistant ombudsman for the Ombuds Office for Oregon Workers. She serves as an advocate for injured workers and has been with the office since 2005. Jaylee first started with the Department of Consumer and Business Services in 1990 with the Workers’ Compensation Division. She has served as an office specialist, medical reviewer, and benefit consultant. Before coming to DCBS, she was a legal assistant for the special trial counsel at the Department of Justice.
Dan Schmelling
Dan Schmelling is a claims supervisor for SAIF Corporation. He has been with SAIF in his current position for over six years. Dan has spent almost 30 years in the workers’ compensation industry working for a variety of employers.
Sally Coen
Sally Coen was appointed the Workers’ Compensation Division administrator in August 2020. Coen began with the division in 1988 and has held several different positions. She worked in administrative and technical positions, managed the Sanctions and Field Audit staff, and was appointed the division’s deputy administrator in 2016. Coen also served as the acting administrator for the division from November 2019 until her permanent appointment. Coen has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Willamette University and serves in her hometown of Independence as a planning commissioner for the city.
Heather Williamson
Heather Williamson is the Modernization Program manager for the Workers’ Compensation Division. The Modernization Program was created to provide strategic leadership and oversight in process, system, and application improvements. Heather started in this role on April 1, 2021, and has been hard at work learning about all of the great contributions of the division and putting together the overall program plan. Prior to her work with the Modernization Program, Heather was a deputy division director and claims EDI coordinator for the Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation and worked for 10 years as a workers’ compensation insurance defense paralegal.
Tasha Fisher
Tasha Fisher began her career with the Workers' Compensation Division in 1995. As a sanction representative, Fisher reviewed individual requests for sanctions submitted to the division and achieved compliance through education and enforcement. She encouraged workers' participation with medical treatment and claims processing requirements. As a member of the Medical Resolution Team, Fisher facilitates the resolution of medical disputes and provides consultation, guidance, and training to external stakeholders and staff members regarding the medical, legal, and technical aspects of medical disputes and the administrative review and alternative dispute resolution processes.
Eddie Armadillo
Eddie Armadillo was born and raised in Oregon. He spent many years working for a nonprofit organization as an employment specialist where he assisted matching employment candidates for available positions. The connections made as an employment specialist led him to the Workers’ Compensation Division in 2015 where he is a sanctions representative in the Sanctions Unit. In his spare time he enjoys hanging out with family and friends, relaxing with a movie, or binge watching TV shows.
Cathy Ostrand-Ponsioen
Cathy Ostrand-Ponsioen is the legal issues coordinator for the Workers’ Compensation Division. Cathy joined the division’s Policy Team in 2000, and has held various positions, including rules coordinator, policy analyst, and manager. She is a graduate of Western Washington University and Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her teenagers and her dogs.
Robert Pardington
Robert Pardington is Managing Attorney of the Workers' Compensation Board. Robert is a graduate of Stanford University. He obtained his JD from Lewis & Clark Law School. Robert’s nearly 30 years of experience in Oregon workers' compensation law started when he was a student law clerk in 1993 at a Portland law firm, and continued through his associate attorney years there, until December, 1999, when Robert began his employment at the Board as a Staff Attorney. In 2003 he was appointed to be a WCB Administrative Law Judge, a position he performed for 18 years until August, 2021, when Robert accepted a rotation as acting Managing Attorney, Board Review. Robert has been an adjunct professor of law at Lewis and Clark Law School.