Former state senator and recent Clark County commissioner candidate Craig Pridemore has landed a new job as the chief executive officer of Columbia River Mental Health Services.
The nonprofit is one of the county’s largest providers in the region of mental health services. In the past, Pridemore has served on its board of trustees and as its interim director.
“He has a lot of familiarity with the organization and the issues,” said Jamie Howsley, president of the board of trustees. “The board wanted someone with a strong financial background and also strong ties to the public and political world.”
He said the nonprofit is facing changes that will likely impact how it is funded, and Columbia River Mental Health Services needed a “forward-thinking, strategic person that could not only forge relationships within the organization but outside” to face those challenges.
Howsley said the whole system of mental health funding is undergoing changes. The nonprofit currently relies on money that comes from the state and is then sent to the county, which doles out contracts to providers. Howsley said that could change, though, and there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding what the new funding structure will look like.
Pridemore, who accepted the position last month, declined to comment for this article.
The Democrat lost to Republican Jeannie Stewart in November in the race for a Clark County councilor’s seat. Counciors were called commissioners until this year. Pridemore also served as a state senator and ran unsuccessfully for state auditor.
He served as a Clark County commissioner from 1999 to 2004 and was elected to the state Senate in 2004.
Before he entered politics, Pridemore was an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army and later a finance manager for the Clark County Department of Public Works.
