Multnomah County, Ore. (March 25, 2025) — Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson announced today that Deputy Director Anna Plumb will take over as interim director of the Homeless Services Department (formerly the Joint Office of Homeless Services) on June 16.
Plumb will replace Dan Field, the longtime Kaiser Permanente executive who stepped forward in April 2023 to serve as the department’s first permanent director in 13 months, helping the County address the department’s unique funding, structure and governance challenges. Field, 62, announced his long-planned retirement after spending more than 40 years in healthcare and public service.
Field noted he committed to a two-year tenure when joining the County, serving as a “transitional leader’’ to:
- Stabilize the Homeless Services Department and deliver improved outcomes and address underspending
- Repair and strengthen relationships with the City of Portland and other key partners
- Help develop a comprehensive long-term plan to address homelessness in our community.
“Dan took on a role of critical importance to our community at a pivotal time and has led with determination, accountability, honesty and compassion,’’ Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in response to his retirement notice. “I am grateful for his leadership in delivering on his goals and moving the work so far forward.’’
Under Field’s leadership, the Joint Office oversaw work by a network of providers that rehoused and sheltered record numbers of individuals using Supportive Housing Services funds, while creating a long-awaited data dashboard that for the first time will track inflow into homelessness and also developing improved contracting practices that now serve as a model for the rest of the County.
The department also achieved a three-year intergovernmental agreement with the City of Portland on its shared governance model, addressed a range of critical action items in City and County audits, stabilized and developed a steady leadership and finance team, and helped develop the Homelessness Response Action Plan to produce specific measurable goals to track progress and assure accountability.
Plumb was named deputy director in August 2023 from a pool of 34 candidates seeking the position. A Human Resources director at the time, she had worked at the County for a decade, including building the County’s Evaluation and Research Unit that analyzed employee experience and workforce equity.
After pivoting to help manage COVID-19 shelters alongside other Joint Office employees in 2020, Plumb spent three years in County Human Resources, supporting the Department of County Management and the County’s nondepartmental offices, including the Joint Office before it became a full department prior to 2021.
She also served as a founding member of the Data, Outcomes, and Evaluation subcommittee of A Home for Everyone's coordinating board, and has more than 20 years of experience volunteering with homeless service providers in Portland and the Twin Cities. Plumb holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.
Plumb will lead a seasoned executive team comprising Senior Business and Operations Manager Antoinette Payne and Director of Programs Kanoelehua Egleston, among others.
“Anna stepped in at a critical time for the Joint Office,” Field said. “Over the past few years, she has played a huge role in stabilizing the team and advancing the work, particularly in sharpening our focus on measuring outcomes and ensuring effective spending.’’
“I am extremely grateful for Dan’s leadership. His vision of an accountable, transparent and improved Homeless Services Department has directly helped us end homelessness for thousands more people. But anyone looking outside can see our work is far from done. Thousands more people still need support, care and stability,” Plumb said.
“We’ve come a long way in the last two years by focusing on the basics — programming, contracting, data and relationships — and that won’t change. I look forward to standing alongside our entire leadership team to continue pushing that progress forward.”
Field will spend his remaining three months helping to steer the department through the County and the City of Portland’s FY 2026 budget negotiations. In part because of a significant drop-off in Supportive Housing Services and federal funding, homeless services programs funded through the County face a large spending gap. A $15 million deficit in the County’s general fund is also contributing to that shortfall.
While the Homeless Services Department has submitted its proposal for filling that gap, that plan is considered preliminary and serves to give the Chair and Board of Commissioners a range of options. Chair Vega Pederson will release her draft budget April 24, kicking off weeks of public hearings and department work sessions before the Board approves a final budget in June.
“It has been a highlight of my 42-plus-year career to serve in this role,’’ Field said. “I appreciate the Chair’s steady leadership in turbulent times and I extend my deep gratitude to the many smart, committed leaders and staff who work every day to make our community the best it can be.”
