Project Access NOW Staff

The heart of any organization is its staff. These are the people who take the vision and mission of the organization and make it real.

Leadership Team

Linda Nilsen, MPA – Executive Director

Linda, a native of rural Michigan, has had diverse experience in the world of health care, starting with public health community organizing in Central America with a non-governmental organization called Outreach International.

After moving to the Portland area in 1993, she spent 12 years working for Washington County, most of that time in the Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked as a Health Educator and Program Manager for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening program.

Immediately prior to her work with Project Access NOW, Linda managed the Essential Health Clinic, a free urgent care clinic in Washington County.

Janet Hamilton – Deputy Director

Janet’s title of Deputy Director provides cover for her actual role as Fomenter of Chaos. At Project Access NOW, she combines removing barriers for our awesome staff and volunteers to effectively serve our clients with finding new opportunities to make those services as comprehensive as possible. She is passionate about winning the War on Poverty, which by the way, has not yet been won.

A recovering Californian, Janet fell in love with the Pacific Northwest in the early 1990s when she traveled here regularly for her work as a healthcare information systems consultant, a profession she has yet to fully shed despite various career forays as a coffee shop/specialty grocery store-owner, organizational development consultant, mediator, and even one day of law school.

When not at work, you can find Janet coaxing her tomato plants through the spring gloom, overspending at a farmers market, or paddling on one of Portland’s fabulous waterways.

Marianne Baca – Director of Finance and Operations

Senior Staff