As the City Budget Director, Jessica Kinard leads a 16-person team focused managing the budget process, supporting Council budget decision-making, and providing unfiltered information and analysis to elected officials, bureaus, and the public.

Jessica joined the City Budget Office as a Principal Financial Analyst in 2015. She came to Portland from the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Public Policy and Finance, where she served under the late Mayor Ed Lee, helping to balance the City and County’s then $8+ billion budget. Jessica helped develop and advise on budget and policy issues on a range of topics, with a focus on human services, aging and adult services, and children’s programming and policies. 

Before beginning her career in city government, Jessica worked in the non-profit sector. She managed the launch and growth of Experience Corps Oakland, an intergenerational tutoring and mentoring program that placed and supported older adult volunteers in several Oakland, California elementary schools. Her passion for finding and implementing lasting solutions to poverty led her to study social and urban policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and transition to a career in public service. She believes in the importance and promise of local government to provide services that are effective, efficient, and which support equitable outcomes for all communities. 

Jessica holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. She lives in Southeast Portland with her husband and two children.