About
Mara’s career is centered on building collective strategies for equitable policies and programs. She prioritizes fostering strong, authentic relationships to advance shared priorities. As an analytical problem-solver with a legal background, her skills include finding pathways through complex challenges, improving systems, and developing organizational strategy.
Since 2020, Mara has consulted with mission-driven organizations providing on-call services and as an Interim Executive Director. She is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with thoughtful, committed people to support just, healthy, and sustainable communities.
Mara Gross (she/her)
Principal Consultant
Raised in the Bay Area by a second generation Oregonian, Mara went to Wellesley College and UC Berkeley School of Law. She quickly discovered that she was more interested in the systems and policies that created people’s legal challenges than in practicing law itself. As a result, she shifted focus to public policy and nonprofits, and moved to Oregon twenty years ago.
Mara first worked on electoral campaigns to protect state funding for basic services, and then as the legislative aide to Oregon Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown. She spent eight years as the policy director and then executive director at the Coalition for a Livable Future, a nonprofit focused on equitable regional planning. She also spent several years doing communications for a regional clean energy nonprofit. Her work has crossed multiple sectors, including public health, transportation, climate, land use, health care, foster care, emergency services, and racial, environmental, and gender justice.