2025 Award Winners
Kathleen Staks, Executive Director, Western Freedom
Kathleen Staks is the Executive Director at Western Freedom, an organization that is working to enable the delivery of low-cost electricity and energy freedom to the West through an efficient and integrated grid system. Kathleen has extensive experience in policy and strategic engagement on a broad spectrum of bipartisan energy issues in the public and private sectors. She has worked in house and as a consultant on government and public affairs for a variety of energy and natural resources companies. Kathleen served as the Executive Director of the Colorado Energy Office under Governor Hickenlooper where she worked to broaden the influence and impact of the office by developing and securing bipartisan support for long-term funding while expanding wide-reaching relationships across the energy spectrum. Prior to that, Kathleen was the assistant director for energy and minerals at the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, where she developed and implemented oil and gas and mining policy across Colorado in coordination with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety, and the Governor’s Office.
Kathleen also serves on the board of the Colorado Electric Transmission Authority, an independent special purpose authority that will prioritize and enable the development of transmission lines that will deliver clean energy to Coloradans and the region.
Pam Sporborg, Director of Transmission and Market Strategy, Portland General Electric
Pam Sporborg is the Director of Transmission and Market Strategy at Portland General Electric. Pam is responsible the Extended Day Ahead Market implementation, and oversees PGE’s federal regulatory engagement on wholesale markets, resource adequacy, transmission, and interconnection policy. Pam is an experienced regional leader, including Co-Chairing the Pathways Initiative, participating in the CAISO’s Governance Review Committee, and Chairing the WEIM Nominating Committee and the WEIM Regional Issues Forum.
Prior to her work at PGE, Pam was an Analyst in the Office of Energy Policy and Innovation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, DC. She was also a Presidential Management Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the Demand Response Team Lead at the Bonneville Power Administration.
Pam lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, Jeff, daughter, Adele, and a flock of chickens. Pam earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Mark Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. She volunteers on the Advisory Board of the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
Doug Still Memorial Community Organizing Award
Jim Morton, CEO, HRC Cottages, and former Executive Director of District XI Human Resource Council
Jim Morton was the long-time Executive Director of District XI Human Resource Council (HRC) that offers services to lower income households in the western Montana. As Executive Director he was involved in a variety of services HRC provides including installation of energy conservation measures in residential homes, workforce training, fuel bill assistance, home buyer down payment loans, and rent assistance. Since 1977 Jim has been part of the HRC team that has been advocating on behalf of residential customers in proceedings before the Montana Public Service Commission (MPSC). Throughout the MPSC proceedings the HRC team addressed utility issues that affect lower income customers and customer service, including unaffordability of energy costs for lower income customers. Jim is a dogged advocate for policies that encourage energy conservation and that advance the use of renewable energy sources.
Upon retiring from HRC, Jim became the CEO of HRC Cottages, a Montana nonprofit, that owns and develops affordable housing, both with new construction and preservation and rehabilitation of existing residential properties. Jim was present at the founding of the Northwest Energy Coalition and continues his involvement in state and regional energy policy.
After graduation from Hardin High School, Jim’s educational path included studies at Miles Community College, the University of Montana, University of Oklahoma, Tulane University and Bay Path University where he earned a Doctor of Education degree. As a licensed behavioral health professional, he is a staunch supporter of increasing access to behavioral health services and primary healthcare.
Emerging Clean Energy Leader Award
Natalia Ojeda, Policy and Outreach Specialist, Energy Trust of Oregon
Natalia Ojeda is the Policy and Outreach Specialist at Energy Trust of Oregon, where she has spent the past three years supporting the organization with legislative, policy and regulatory tracking and analysis. She holds a Master of Public Policy from Oregon State University (2023), where she cultivated a deep understanding of Oregon and the broader Pacific Northwest’s energy policy landscape.
Natalia is passionate about the intersection of legislative and regulatory frameworks in the energy sector—particularly as they relate to utility regulation, decarbonization and the active role that customers have in shaping an equitable energy transition. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, she moved to Oregon in 2020 (yes, right in the middle of the pandemic) and has since embraced hobbies like sourdough baking and running.
Aaron Menenberg, Idaho Policy Manager, Renewable Northwest
Aaron Menenberg joined Renewable Northwest in January of 2025 and serves as the organization's Idaho Policy Manager. In this role Aaron works closely with legislators and state leaders on advancing development in Idaho’s energy system. Aaron has over a decade and a half of experience crafting, shaping, and securing state and federal public policy through legislative engagement, executive branch outreach, state ballot initiatives, public persuasion campaigns, and election work. Most recently, he designed and oversaw a successful constitutional amendment ballot initiative in Nevada. His work is informed by deep pragmatism and a passion for pursuing the public good. Aaron is an avid wine enthusiast and author of the Good Vitis wine blog and loves spending time outside with his wife and two Basenji dogs.
Headwaters Award
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission coordinates management policy and provides fisheries technical services for the Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla, and Nez Perce tribes.
CRITFC’s mission is “to ensure a unified voice in the overall management of the fishery resources, and as managers, to protect reserved treaty rights through the exercise of the inherent sovereign powers of the tribes.”