Norm, Kathy and their son, Spencer, have an abiding connection to the cultures, places and residents of the Salish Sea. They have owned property on Whidbey and San Juan Islands. Spencer and Norm are active alumni of Camp Nor’wester on Lopez and Johns Islands. Kathy and Norm are active boaters and have been regular visitors and contributors to the region for decades.
Norm joined the San Juan Island Community Foundation board in 2015. He is President Emeritus of The Ford Family Foundation (TFFF) in Roseburg, OR, and is a Senior Fellow at the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, WA. He is a Director of Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company in Enumclaw, WA, a past board chair of Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington and a former board member of Philanthropy Northwest in Seattle.
Prior to joining TFFF for sixteen years as its first CEO, Norm spent thirteen years as an executive in the Law and Government Affairs division of AT&T in Portland, Denver and San Francisco. He has been an Oregon attorney since 1972 (Colorado Bar, Inactive) with eleven years of federal and private practice in Washington, D.C. and Portland, OR. Norm also served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Willamette University College of Law.