About Us
Steph Routh
Steph Routh has over 25 years of professional experience encompassing organizational development, policy research and advocacy, program planning and implementation, curriculum creation, strategic communications, and philanthropic development.
Steph has earned every gray hair, and she is just getting started.
Organizational Leader
Steph began her organizational leadership career in 2009 as the first executive director of Oregon Walks, a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that walking is safe, convenient, and attractive for everyone. During her tenure, the organization trebled its membership and developed partnerships with a broad spectrum of organizations to advance disability justice, racial equity, shared economic prosperity, and environmental conservation. More recently, she served as interim executive director with the Community Cycling Center and has chaired numerous nonprofit boards.
Throughout her career, Steph has helped navigate teams through challenging times and transitional moments. She has founded or co-founded multiple organizations, including Umbrella, which serves as a fiscal sponsorship organization for small- to medium-sized community projects. In the (literal) wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Steph worked as a skin dive support team leader for five months in southern Thailand, leading teams to clean up over 100 tons of debris from the coral bay and shallows. Some years later, she served as the co-director of the Portland Underground Graduate School before and through COVID, navigating the difficult change from in-person courses at a newly-leased brick-and-mortar (sigh) to an online community-based curriculum.
Storyteller
Steph is steeped in the power of storytelling in its many forms. She holds a dual degree in Theatre and Classical Music Performance. In her last year at college, Steph became the first Linfield graduate to win the coveted Irene Ryan Regional Acting Award and to be invited to perform at the Kennedy Center. She has since taught acting and scriptwriting in Brooklyn, NY in partnership with an off-Broadway theatre company and co-founded a theatre department at a public Thai high school in southern Thailand.
She has managed strategic communications for a number of organizations, including Green Empowerment, Oregon Walks, NTEN: Nonprofit Technology Network, Community Cycling Center, City of Portland’s Office of Community & Civic Life, Sightline Institute, and Khanh Pham for Oregon. From small business to city agency, from local campaign to international development organization, Steph is adept at and passionate about connecting community and purpose through the power of storytelling. Email marketing, digital advertising, printed publications, onstage performances, memorable event planning, they are all conduits for purposeful communication.
Facilitator
Active listening is Steph’s core strength, and she loves nothing more than bending her ear to better understand an individual’s story or a team’s needs and hopes. In a world defined by the attention economy, Steph understands the value and power of kind attention.
As a founder and former co-host of the podcast “Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About This?” Steph and her podcast colleagues facilitated a range of conversations related to justice and the built environment. She has moderated public conversations and interviews in many venues, including City Club of Portland’s Friday Forum. She has helped plan multiple conferences with mainstage and breakout sessions, including the YIMBYtown 2022 Conference, Nonprofit Technology Conference, and Oregon Active Transportation Summit.
Steph has over a decade of experience as a nonprofit coach and trainer. As co-director of Portland Underground Graduate School, she directed all course programming and regularly taught her own course on Nonprofit Board Fundamentals. As an adjunct professor at Portland State University, Steph has facilitated student learning on community organizing and community development through PSU’s Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning.
Let's Talk!
I would love to learn more about your organization and how we might work together.