Mary Lou Hennrich, BSN, MSN, provides Board leadership as the Founding President of the Billi Odegaard Scholarship Fund.  Her decades-long career as a nurse, public health administrator and health/healthcare leader began in Multnomah County after graduating from the University of Portland in 1969. 

             She credits much of her fulfilling career as a nurse and public health leader to her good fortune of being assigned to her first nursing position on a public health team led by Billi Odegaard, RN, MSN.  Serving as a district public health nurse in Northeast Portland, OR, Mary Lou served a portion of the predominantly Black neighborhoods known as Albina, designated a Federal Model Cities Community.  Home visiting, school nursing, and community organizing exposed her to many individuals, families and community leaders who did not “look like her.”  These experiences on the front lines of racial and economic injustice ignited her passion to work for equity and justice throughout and beyond her career.

            Billi Odegaard inspired the need for continuing cultural learning and respect that Mary Lou carried forth as she became a public health leader in such roles as initiating Oregon’s first School-Based Health Center, Founding CEO of CareOregon, and her ten-year role as Executive Director of the Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI). She is currently an active Board Member of Healthcare for All Oregon (HCAO) and recently served as their Interim Executive Director.

            Mary Lou has been instrumental in establishing the Billi Odegaard Nursing Scholarships as a way to honor her mentor. Diversifying the pool of registered nurses to more closely mirror Oregon’s population demographics and improve healthcare and health outcomes for marginalized and underrepresented individuals and families is a fitting capstone to her lifetime work. 

           Mary  Lou divides her time between western and eastern Oregon, with homes in Portland and Cove, located in Union County, experiencing the unique challenges facing urban and rural healthcare access firsthand.