Gainer Named To State Strategy Post

HSUs community econ head steps in during California's budget, housing crisis

By Sentinel Staff

ARCATA -- The top advisor to Humboldt State University president Rollin Richmond on local economic issues has been named to a top advisory body of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

Maggie Gainer, director of Humboldt State's Office for Economic & Community Development (OECD), has been appointed to California's Economic Strategy Panel.

The bipartisan California Economic Strategy Panel was established in 1993 to develop an overall economic vision and strategy to guide public policy.

The Panel engages in an objective and collaborative biennial planning process that examines economic regions, industry clusters, and cross-regional economic issues. The California Regional Economies Project is currently the lead mechanism for these efforts.

Gainer, a Bayside resident and local Democrat activist, has worked for the OECD since 2003 and previously served as the coordinator of the Center for Research and Creative Activities from 1998 to 2003.

From 1985 to 2003, Gainer owned Gainer and Associates, a community development consulting firm specializing in recycling economic development.

She is the founder and past-president of the Center for Environmental Economic Development Board of Directors and is a member of the Humboldt County Workforce Investment Board, Arcata Chamber of Commerce and the California Resource Recovery Association.

This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no salary.