Carla Kelley enjoying the new retirement of part-time work - Young at Any Age

From her glass-walled conference room perch, Carla Kelley has the world at her feet—well, at least Portland.  Portland, where she came for love, found that her true love was Portland itself.  Now in the position of Senior Counsel at a major Portland law firm, Carla actually retired from full-time employment several years ago.  But her experience and skills made her an attractive candidate to work in the firm’s business group.  She now works part-time and, at age 71, is a woman on the go with a “rolodex” any mover and shaker would envy.

Carla came to the practice of law fairly late in life.  After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Madison, she did not go to law school.  Instead, she did research on her dissertation in London.  She also taught English in Japan.  Eventually, she arrived in Portland and worked in public relations.  “I wasn’t very good at it, though,” she maintains.  At 38 she decided to go to law school.  “I felt like I was fairly old to enter a four-year program but realized I was going to be four years older whether I went to law school or not,” she laughs.  And it turned out that she loved law school.

She worked for Northwest Natural Gas as their in-house counsel for 12 years.  She initially worried that working for a utility might be boring—dealing with endless rate cases--- but it was the age of Enron and there was a lot of political activity and national policy work.  From there she landed the position of General Counsel for the Port of Portland where she supervised 13 people.

“The work at the Port was fascinating, “Carla said.  The Port is one of the most important entities and the

biggest industrial landlord in Portland.  Working on a project to dredge the Columbia from 40 feet deep to 43 feet deep, she found her forte was dealing with the many different agencies and jurisdictions involved in the project.  She smiles when she says, “I love dealing with infrastructure.”

When asked how she is transitioning to retirement (part-time work aside), she says she “doesn’t know how to transition to retirement.”  Carla is currently serving as secretary of the board of the Oregon Repertory Singers where she is also a member of the adult choir.  She is also a member of the City Club of Portland and chaired the Friday Forum Committee for three years.  That committee works tirelessly to find participants for the Friday Forum that airs on Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Carla recently took on a new task when she saw the need.  As someone who worked as a general counsel, she realized over breakfast with a friend who was a general counsel that there were few networking opportunities for people employed in that capacity.  She started the group as a small gathering, and now the group meets four times a year and attracts up to 40 general counsels at its events at Miller Nash Graham Dunn.

She wants to travel more, and when she’s ready to leave her view of Portland, Carla will have the time to pursue that goal and discover what’s next.

Young at Any Age is a collaborative project with the AARP Oregon Volunteer team of Carlos Romo, Steve Carter, Joyce DeMonnin, Sam Jones and Debbie Cahill. Send in suggestions to oraarp@aarp.org for outstanding Oregonians 50+ who prove that age is just a number.

[Photo courtesy of Carla Kelley]