Preparing for change
As the City of Portland transitions to a new form of government, BPS leadership is active in the process, collaborating with our new Community and Economic Development service area partners (Bureau of Development Services, Portland Housing Bureau, and Prosper Portland) to ensure a smooth conversion.
Staff are already taking advantage of and benefitting from this new organizational structure, which facilitates more fruitful working relationships, greater efficiency and better results for the community. We are taking deep breaths, rolling up our sleeves, and looking forward to exciting and meaningful changes to come.
To lead the service area, Commissioner Carmen Rubio tapped BPS Director Donnie Oliveira as Deputy City Administrator (DCA). Read more about DCA Donnie Oliveira.
Eric Engstrom, Interim Director
Eric Engstrom has been the bureau’s deputy director since June 2022. Upon Oliveira’s transition to his new role, Engstrom is assuming the duties of bureau director.
During his time at the City, Engstrom has worked on several high-profile and critical land-use and strategic-planning topics including infill development strategies, urban natural area protection, and zoning reform.
Engstrom managed the development of the Portland Plan, a strategic plan adopted by Portland City Council in 2012. He also served as the project manager for Portland's Comprehensive Plan Update, which was adopted in 2016.
Harmonee Dashiell, Equity and Engagement Manager
Harmonee Dashiell was appointed BPS Equity and Engagement Manager in January of 2024 after serving in the role on an interim basis in 2023, and being a valued member of the team since 2018.
Harmonee has an impressive and extensive background in community outreach and has a passion for working with youth. She grew up in Portland and began her career with the City of Portland at 15 years old in Portland Parks and Recreation as a lifeguard, swim instructor, coach, pre-school teacher, at risk youth coordinator, and site supervisor. This experience has helped shape her work in serving Portlanders that have historically been overlooked, and has led to many years of professional and personal work applying equity and prioritizing communities that need it most.
Outside of work, Harmonee can be found having adventures with her three sons and volunteering for various community organizations.
Patricia Diefenderfer, Chief Planner
Patricia Diefenderfer joined BPS as Chief Planner on March 2, 2022.
Diefenderfer brings over 22 years of municipal planning experience, including current and long-range planning, neighborhood and downtown planning, transit-oriented district planning, transportation and streetscape planning, historic preservation, and community development.
She has extensive experience leading teams on wide-ranging efforts in two of the country's most diverse cities: Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. Additionally, her values are aligned with the City’s core values of anti-racism, equity, transparency and communication, and represent the way in which she has approached her work as a planner.
Vivian Satterfield, Chief Sustainability Officer
Vivian Satterfield joined BPS as Chief Sustainability Officer on Feb. 1, 2023.
Prior to BPS, Satterfield served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Verde, a Portland-based non-profit whose mission is to build environmental wealth by investing in climate resilience through social enterprise, outreach, and advocacy, especially for frontline communities. A biracial, first-generation Chinese American, Satterfield was born and raised in the city of Chicago where she lived until relocating to Portland in 2008. For more than a decade, Satterfield has worked in Portland’s frontline communities at the intersections of environmental, racial, and economic justice delivering a track record of success at the municipal, regional, and statewide level in securing policy wins and programmatic investments.