Meet Colm

Colm Willis is an Oregonian. He is a husband, a father, and a small business attorney in Stayton, Oregon. Some of his favorite memories as a child include spending Christmas Eve every year at Mt. Angel with his family and hiking the Timberline Trail around Mount Hood during the summer.

After high school, Colm attended Boston College in Massachusetts. When he graduated, Colm took a job in the U.S. Senate as an aide to the Joint Economic Committee during the economic collapse of 2008. He staffed congressional hearings with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and helped economists analyze data. However not long after he was hired, Colm left Capitol Hill, feeling disillusioned with members of both parties’ decision to bail out investment banks and major corporations with taxpayer dollars instead of giving the taxpayer money back to working people.

He came back home to Oregon at the end of 2010 and while working full time, Colm attended Willamette University College of Law. In 2015 he earned the Civil Rights Award and graduated first in his class as valedictorian. He went on to practice as a small business attorney.

In 2018 Colm was elected to the Marion County Board of Commissioners. As a commissioner he has focused on economic development, housing, public safety, health care and addressing homelessness in our community. In 2020 he was chosen by his fellow commissioners to serve as the Chair of the Marion County Board of Commissioners and led Marion County through the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the Beachie Creek Wildfire response and recovery effort.

Colm believes that Marion County should be a place where a good education, a good job, a good home and a secure retirement are available to every resident.