Introducing Two New Board Members
By Janice Reid..
In the last newsletter, I reported Umpqua Watersheds was growing and introduced our newest member. We are still growing, and I want to introduce two new board members: Chris Lowe and Robert Taylor.
Chris Lowe Chris was born and raised in western Pennsylvania. He and his wife Julie moved from Maryland to Oregon in 2023, and they love it here. Chris is currently a 
Senior Director with Syneos Health, a clinical research organization, and an avid gardener and aspiring naturalist. Before joining Syneos in 2021, he worked 11 years in the Senior Executive Service for the US Department of Agriculture as an Associate Chief Information Officer and Security Officer, directing cyber security for all 36 USDA agencies and offices. Before that, he worked for over a decade in overseas disaster relief and several years as a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton. Inspired by the beauty of the Umpqua and its environment and impressed by the decades of work by UW members to protect and restore it, Chris brings a fusion of his passions for the environment; a background in information technology and management; and years of federal experience to support and grow our mission and care for his family’s home in the watershed. He received UW’s Volunteer of the Year award just this past year, so you can imagine we were thrilled he agreed to join the board.
Robert Taylor Robert serves his community primarily as a lawyer, joining the Oregon bar in 2018 after graduating from the University of Oregon College of Law. While in law school, he clerked with the Public Defender Services of Lane County and interned with the Umpqua Valley Public Defender’s office in Roseburg. After law school, Robert thru hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, and began work as an attorney specializing in criminal law, gaining experience as a defense attorney and prosecutor. Robert has also hiked over 2,100 miles of the Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Montana. While an avid backpacker and skier, he is working on his critter identification skills. He prizes biodiversity, habitat preservation and promoting community awareness of the wonderful fragile nature surrounding us.
