Matthew W. Donegan was appointed to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education in June 2009, and was elected President of the Board in 2011. A resident of Portland, Matt Donegan is co-president and co-founder of Forest Capital Partners, a private forest landowner and leading producer of sustainable forest products. Forest Capital is Oregon'’s second largest forest landowner, with offices in Portland, La Grande, Joseph, Medford and Monmouth, as well as being one of America’s largest private landowners with management of 2.1 million acres.

In Oregon, Donegan currently serves on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest, the Oregon Global Warming Commission, the Oregon Business Council and the Oregon Innovation Council. Until recently he served on the board of the Oregon Forest Resources Institute. In 2007, he was named the Portland Business Journal’s “40-Under-40.” In 2006, he served on the steering committee of Measure 26-80, a successful bond initiative that raised $227 million for Portland-metro area parks.

At the national level, Donegan serves as the founding chairman of the board of the National Alliance of Forest Owners, the nation’s largest organization representing private landowners – with over 75 million acres in 47 states. He also serves on the board of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and on the national council of the National Park Conservation Association.

Donegan earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees from public universities. He is a professional forester who graduated from the University of Florida’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation in 1990 with a B.S. in Forestry. He was awarded that college’s outstanding alumnus of the year in 2009. In 1992 he earned an MBA with concentrations in forest industries management and finance from the University of Tennessee.

His term expires in 2013.

Committees:  Elected Board president 2011, Governance and Policy Committee; OHSU Board