Jonathan Blasher to Head Playworks in Portland

Oregon native and diehard Ducks and Trailblazer fan Jonathan Blasher has moved back to Oregon to head the Playworks’ Portland office. Blasher will head operations in the Rose City, including hiring and supervising school and office staff, building relationships with schools, districts and community and corporate supporters and overseeing fundraising efforts and initiatives. To date, eight Portland public schools have signed on to bring the Playworks program to their schools this fall.

Blasher takes the reins of Portland operations in his sixth year with Playworks. He started as a program coordinator with the organization in 2004, coordinating recess and play activities at Stege Elementary in Richmond, California. He then served two years as a program manager overseeing eight Playworks’ schools. In 2008, he was promoted to a program director, and managed a network of 24 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He led the recent Recess Roll-Out in Portland, and was the lead roll-out coordinator for Playworks’ debut in New Orleans in Spring, 2008.

Blasher was born and raised in Eugene and is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz.