Linda Modrell, Benton County Commissioner, Vice chair

Biographical Summary

Linda Modrell, first elected to serve as Benton County Commissioner in 1999, was re-elected in 2002 and 2006.

Before running for elective office Modrell worked several years in the health policy field, including on the team that developed Oregon's Health Plan. Her health-related work included Family Health Insurance Assistance Program to help low-income working Oregonians gain access to health care; Oregon Health Plan's prioritization of health services; and research and planning for an employer health insurance mandate.

Prior to her work in health care, Modrell was a long-term employee of Oregon State University, working her way from secretary to become Extension Service's business services manager and then the College of Agricultural Science's director of administrative computing system. At OSU, Modrell earned a Master of Business Administration (minor in community health and gerontology) and a Bachelor of Science in accounting (minor in behavioral science).

Active in the community, Modrell was honored in 2005 as a Distinguished Alumna of Linn-Benton Community College from which she earned an associate of arts degree. Also in 2005, Modrell delivered a paper at Oxford University in England regarding the same sex marriage issue in Oregon.

At Benton County, Modrell's areas of major focus include transportation, health and governance issues - especially the transfer of service responsibility and funding from the state to the county levels and the attendant policy and program issues. In addition, Modrell was instrumental in forming the two-county Linn Benton Council for the Arts. She has served in many roles with the Association of Oregon Counties. Currently she leads a task force to develop a model for citizen discussion of "What do you want your government to do?"

List of Commissioners