Newberg Downtown Coalition names new executive director

The Newberg Downtown Coalition has new leadership now that Branden Andersen has been named executive director.

Andersen, 33, replaces former executive director Aubrey Nichols, who according to a release, “returned to her education career.”

“It’s been an absolute whirlwind getting started (in early June), but I hope to build on Aubrey’s efforts while providing a strong drive for purpose, effectiveness and organization,” Andersen said in the release.

The native of Salem — with stops in Bellingham, Washington, and Hickory, North Carolina — returned to Oregon in 2009 to attend the University of Oregon in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications. After graduation he moved to Bend, then Portland, then married and moved to Newberg in 2021.

As the executive director position at the NDC is part-time, Andersen is also owner/operator of Maker Bee Consulting, a small business marketing consulting agency. He also shepherds Newsberg, a local online news and events site.

Andersen described his duties as NDC executive director “as a central point of communication and organization to ensure our board initiatives are completed in a timely fashion.”

“We consistently have several things happening around town — both public facing and behind the scenes — and it takes some organization to make sure we're not letting things fall off,” he added.

He added that he is also the primary fundraiser for the organization, seeking grants, donations and memberships. The organization currently is made up of 15 downtown Newberg business members, down in numbers following the pandemic.

“We're now going through a huge fundraising round with our former and future members right now, and I expect that number should jump significantly before the end of the year,” he said.

Andersen said he sought to become the coalition’s top honcho because he missed the “small town feeling of connectedness” with neighbors and neighborhoods when living in Portland.

“When I moved to Newberg, I pretty quickly found there was a lot of opportunity to help improve our small corner of the planet with a little effort and participation,” he said. “There are a lot of ways I hoped to work and help and the executive director position kind of fell into my lap, providing an opportunity to supercharge my existing efforts and really have an opportunity to be a part of this town.”

The position also allows him to employ skills learned in posts as a journalist and in sales and marketing “to our organizations who were working hard to provide a great living and visiting experience,” he said.

Andersen sees the primary goal of the NDC as brightening and enlivening the downtown core.

“We view downtown Newberg as the town's beating heart — when downtown thrives, Newberg at large thrives from the farms to the wineries to the industry to the housing market,” he said, adding that the organization seeks to meet that goal through events, physical improvements and collaboration with industry and government.

“When enterprises want a more engaging downtown experience for their employees, or businesses want to draw more people downtown during peak and off-peak seasons, or locals want to connect with and support their neighbors — that's where NDC comes in.”

Andersen says the NDC “has their hands in most things that happen around town,” including the Newberg Wednesday Market, Tunes on Tuesday, First Friday Art Walk, Holiday Market and Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony and more. The NDC is also the parent organization for the Newberg Public Art Council, which has installed a number of art pieces around town, as well as the Camellia Trail Project, an effort where community members contribute to paint mini murals destined for exterior walls downtown.

“Our latest initiative is organizing a monthly downtown clean up with our partner organizations, which helps remove pounds of trash and debris from Newberg's downtown streets every month,” he said.

Andersen’s goals for the NDC are ambitious.

“First off, I want to unite most if not all of the downtown businesses to create a full downtown coalition,” he said. “There are far more than 12 businesses operating downtown and I want to ensure they all have a say in our direction and lend their unique perspective on what makes downtown Newberg great and — more importantly — how downtown Newberg can improve. This will take a lot of physical work, but I believe it's nothing short of necessary.”

He also wants to strengthen NDC’s mission through communication with members and undertake work on initiatives that support that mission.

“NDC has been in operation for almost 15 years and over time many organizations stray and broaden their net, accumulating a sort of energy debt that stretches limited resources thin,” Andersen said. “We have a very small team and limited funds and we need to be sure every dollar spent and every hour of work brings us closer to our members' needs.”

Outreach and communication with the general public represents his final goal.

“There is a lot of work happening pretty consistently and a lot of beloved local events are actually run by NDC in partnership with other organizations,” he said. “However, we consistently get the question, 'So, what does NDC do?' I see that as a messaging failure and something we're working to remedy as quickly as possible.”