The Team

The work at 1803 Fund is deeply personal and collaborative. Our team understands that and reflects the authenticity of our mission.

Rukaiyah Adams and others from the 1803 community meet at the Fund's office in Northeast Portland

Rukaiyah Adams and others from the 1803 community meet at the Fund's office in Northeast Portland. Photo by Juma Sei.

Staff

Rukaiyah Adams

Chief Executive Officer

Rukaiyah has been preparing for this role her entire life. She leads 1803 Fund with the perspective of a child who grew up in subsidized housing, the clarity of a lawyer who immersed herself in housing and urban development issues, and the acumen of an investment professional who understands the power of real assets to build community prosperity and belonging. Every day, she inspires our team to do things differently and never compromise on our ambition to create the future Black Portlanders deserve: one that is deeply connected to place, rich with opportunity, and full of joy.

Cobi Lewis

Chief Operations Officer

Cobi Lewis is a dynamic leader focused on community empowerment and operational excellence. With a deep understanding of organizational challenges, she leads with a strategic approach that drives economic growth, scalability, and innovation. Throughout her career that spans from banking to philanthropy, Cobi has led across sectors, driving meaningful change and uplifting communities. A proud Portland native, her strong local connections and family legacy fuel her passion to create lasting impact. Cobi is committed to thinking bigger, acting bolder, and relentlessly pursuing progress, inspiring those around her to work toward a more inclusive and thriving future.

D’Artagnan Caliman

Vice President, Philanthropy & Partnership

D’Artagnan has dedicated his career to forging relationships built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to community. Since joining 1803 Fund in February 2023, he’s led our efforts to engage organizations in Portland’s Black community in a collaborative effort to create a new place for Black Portlanders and a brighter future for Black children.  From supporting youth in foster care and experiencing homelessness to advancing economic justice, educational equity, and cultural resilience for Black Oregonians, D’Artagnan has always worked to lift communities up by bringing people together.

Cyreena Boston Ashby

Vice President, External Affairs

Cyreena’s career in the public sector spans nearly twenty years, inspired by her time as a support specialist in public schools. Cyreena has strategized for national and local electoral campaigns, including her own candidacy for the Oregon Legislature in 2008. She has also advised diverse and first-time candidates in Oregon, worked for the DNC, Obama for America, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber. As an executive, Cyreena has led Imagine Black, Oregon Public Health Institute and Hilltop Public Solutions. Most recently, Cyreena was the CEO of Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest. Before all of this though, Cyreena grew up in Gresham and Portland and attended St. Mary’s Academy. This set the foundation for her powerful and sprawling education–from Spelman College to Harvard Business Schoool–and career.  

Heidi Nielsen

Strategic Business Advisor

Heidi is an entrepreneur and a systems thinker with an uncanny ability to sort through complexity, see a path forward, and bring everyone along with her. She’s built, led, and grown several businesses in the for-profit sector—most recently a communications agency of 45 people that grew  265% in just four years. Heidi joined 1803 Fund in July 2023 to oversee day-to-day operations and help translate our strategic vision into plans we can act on, initiatives we can build from, and real-world impact we can be proud of. 

Vikram Murthy

Acting Chief Financial Officer

Vikram serves as a strategic advisor to 1803 Fund, ensuring our work to break new ground in community investment is supported by sound financial practices. He joined 1803 Fund in September 2023, bringing experience managing hundred-million-dollar tech equity investment  portfolios, serving as a strategic consultant for large development projects across Europe and North America, and providing strategic advice to underserved small businesses. Vik brings the combination of rigor and compassion our work requires, developing financial policies and procedures, overseeing reporting and audit functions, and managing cash reserves and daily liquidity to set us up for the long term.

Tom Cody

Real Estate Partner

The child of a biologist and a classics professor, Tom has spent a lifetime thinking about how thoughtful development of built environments can drive positive community impact. A native of Los Angeles and a chosen Portlander, Tom brings both a deep understanding of how to serve our community through the acquisition of real assets, and a long record building some of Portland’s most catalytic projects through creative problem-solving. Tom has almost three decades of experience innovating as a developer, including 15 years creating the Portland-based Project^. He has a bachelors in Planning and Development from the University of Southern California and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Development from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He is a former Chairman of Oregon Ballet Theater, and a founder and trustee of Albina Vision Trust.  

Camille Idedevbo

Director of Community Strategy & Evaluation

Camille brings a breadth of experience in cultivating community,  strengthening organizations from the inside out, and applying the power of design for social good. She joined 1803 Fund in July 2024 to launch our cohort model for strategic partnerships. In this role, she’ll help design capacity-building programs to support our community partners while bringing them together to learn, innovate, and achieve shared outcomes.  Her work will help 1803 Fund develop a community of partners, working  together, lifting each other up, and creating lasting value for Black Portlanders.

Tory Campbell

Interim Director of Culture

In August 2024, Tory joined the 1803 Fund to help launch our Culture grantmaking portfolio. Tory's roots in Portland run deep, with a career that includes roles at the Black United Fund, Prosper Portland, as a pastor in Northeast Portland, and as part of the extended family that ran the beloved Campbell's BBQ in Southeast Portland. At the 1803 Fund, he'll work with Black-led and Black-serving organizations to help expand the rich tapestry of arts and cultural experiences that bring joy to and celebrate the resilience of Portland's Black community.

Curtrina Huff

Finance and Accounting Manager

Curtrina joined 1803 Fund in January 2024 after 10 years of working in Portland nonprofits. She manages 1803 Fund day-to-day financial operations while also providing support to our chief financial officer. Previously, she served as the director of finance for the Black United   Fund of Oregon, one of the only Black-led foundations in the state. There, she managed financial operations, fiscal sponsorships, grant awards, and scholarship distributions. She was also instrumental in supporting distributions for the Oregon Care Act, a $64 million initiative created by BIPOC Portland leaders to provide COVID relief for Black communities. 

Chanta Chhay

Grantmaking and Sponsorship Operations Manager

Chanta joined 1803 Fund in June 2024 after over 15 years of experience in private foundation grantmaking and nonprofit fundraising. At Meyer Memorial Trust, she played a critical role in developing, maintaining, and managing grantmaking procedures to distribute over $40 million in annual funding to grantee partners working toward racial, social, and economic justice in Oregon. Along with overseeing 1803 Fund grantmaking, Chanta also manages our brand and our event sponsorships, bringing community organizations across Portland together to support our work. 

Juma Sei

Communications Manager

Juma first started telling stories at home in Portland, learning from family-talk in a Sierra-Leonean household. He refined this passion for warm, authentic communication at Yale, studying what it means to be Black in America. He focused on how 20th-century heavyweights like James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer and James Baldwin answered that question for themselves. Before joining 1803 Fund in 2024, Juma told stories on the radio. He covered politics, education and culture for NPR in Washington, D.C., and at member stations in Detroit and Atlanta. He’s grateful to be home again, now telling stories of pride and permanence for Black folks in Portland. 

Priscilla Gray

Program Associate, Community Partnership

Priscilla feels a personal stake in the work of 1803 Fund, and it shows. She provides invaluable support to 1803 Fund leadership and board members, ensuring everyone has what they need when they need it.  And, she’s a point of contact for so many of the people 1803 Fund is building core relationships with—community members, leaders, elders,  and artists who are all working toward the collective goal of creating a place where Black Portlanders can thrive.  

Brittany Braxton

Executive Administrative Manager to CEO

Brittany has over 15 years of executive operations experience. She thrives in dynamic environments where organizational efficiency is a constant game of Tetris. Brittany is especially proud of her record founding and leading Employee Resource Groups that allowed her coworkers to participate in mentoring, professional development and networking opportunities. Prior to joining 1803 Fund, Brittany led a global team of executive assistants (EAs) at Block, Inc., collaborating with other Executive Operations Managers to create efficiencies designed for the success of her EAs and Executive Clients. Brittany holds a bachelor’s degree and two masters degrees with a focus on integral counseling psychology. She plans to open her own wellness practice, centering Black mental health.

Board of Directors

  • Larry Miller (Chair)

    CHAIR OF NIKE’S JORDAN BRAND

  • Rukaiyah Adams (Secretary)

    CO-FOUNDER & CEO OF 1803 FUND

  • John Donahoe (Treasurer)

    FORMER PRESIDENT AND CEO OF NIKE, INC.

Investment Committee

  • Antoinette Chandler

    PORT OF PORTLAND, CFO

  • Ivan Gold

    RETIRED LAWYER AND BUSINESS EXECUTIVE

  • Anyeley Hallová

    ADRE CEO AND FOUNDER

  • Chris Nelson

    PRINCIPAL OF CAPSTONE PARTNERS LLC

We invest in and for our people, seeking both social and financial return. Broadly, we see our work as “place-making,” through investment.

WHAT WE DO