August 4, 2023 3:00 a.m.

On Thursday, Governor Tina Kotek announced that Juliana Wallace will join her administration as Behavioral Health Initiative Director in the Governor’s Office.

A release said Wallace brings a combined two decades of experience as a clinical social worker, operational leader and educator to the role. For the first ten years of her career in Portland, Wallace worked with homeless youth at Outside In, developing and managing the StreetRISE Project, a federally-funded program providing housing and behavioral healthcare to homeless youth as they transition into adulthood. She later worked in leadership at Oregon Health & Science University before serving as the Director of Services at Unity Center for Behavioral Health.

The release said Wallace was most recently the Senior Director of Mental Health and Culturally Specific Services at Central City Concern. In addition, she worked as an adjunct professor at Portland State University School of Social Work for the last five years.

Kotek said, “Oregonians deserve a coordinated, accessible behavioral health system that meets them where are and matches them with the appropriate level of care that they need”. Kotek said, “We have a ways to go to achieve this vision, and I am grateful that Juliana is bringing her years of experience and expertise to help us move this critical work forward”.

Wallace starts in the Governor’s Office on September 5th.