Officers

The 2012-2014 members of the OSCF Board were elected at the 7th Annual OSCF State Championship in Seaside, Oregon, on April 28, 2012;  the 2013-15 members were elected at the 8th Annual OSCF State Championship on April 13, 2013.  To reach the board, use this form – we look forward to hearing from you!

Jeff Dobbins, President (2012-14)
Jeff  is a law professor at Willamette University. He’s been the coach and advisor for the Rieke Elementary chess club for five years, and in the last two years has also taken on responsibilities for the Robert Gray Middle and Wilson High School chess teams. He’s been to every OSCF State Tournament with his son and, in recent years, his daughter. He has assisted with TDing at many tournaments and is working to help bring OSCF qualifying tournaments to every corner of the State.

Katrina Halverson, Vice President (2013-15)
Katrina learned the game of chess as a child by watching her mom play.  Her oldest son started playing chess when he was in kindergarten.  Like many scholastic chess coaches, she became the chess coach for his school when no one else stepped up. Katrina started as a volunteer tournament director/floor judge in the Game in 45 room in 2008 at the OSCF State Championship and moved to the Game in 30 room in 2010, the year Kate Taylor passed away.  Kate’s shoes cannot be filled, but Katrina continues to advocate what was important to Kate: good sportsmanship, a good handshake, and having fun.  Katrina is a native Oregonian who grew up in Portland.  She currently works as a part time accountant.  She is the mother of two teenage boys and has been married over 25 years.  She believes that playing chess teaches skills that last a lifetime: When you play chess you have to take it one step at a time, still looking a few steps ahead, while not becoming overwhelmed by the whole game.

Steven Cousineau, Treasurer (2012-14)
Steve is a power resource scheduler with Iberdrola Renewables. He sometimes moonlights as the bookkeeper for his wife’s law practice. He has four children who enjoy playing chess as an antidote to wrestling. He has assisted in coaching the Charles F. Tigard chess team for the past 3 years. In addition, he runs rated tournaments through the Tigard Grange. When he’s not encouraging children to play a fair and thoughtful game of chess, he can often be found running on the trails around his neighborhood.

Yuchen Huang, Member at Large (2012-14)
Yuchen is an engineer and a chess mom. All three of her sons play chess, the two older sons are active Oregon chess players, and the youngest five year old son plays chess at home with his brothers and her. Yuchen sees chess as not only a good recreational game for life but also a tool to train youngsters in building strong character, to act calmly and move with efficiency under pressure, and to handle winning and losing with grace. Yuchen’s goal as an OSCF Board member is to bring chess to more schools, especially to high schools where the numbers of chess players are significantly less than that of elementary and middle schools, and to increase collaboration with OHSCTA (Oregon High School Chess Team Association), to create more playing opportunities for scholastic players, and to contribute to the success and vision of OSCF. Yuchen was born in Shanghai, China. She has a bachelor’s  and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. She has worked at Intel Corporation for the past 18 years where currently as a senior staff engineer with Intel Architecture Lab she leads a cross-divisional engineering team.

Dr. Roza Kotlyar, Member at Large (2012-14)
Roza is a Staff Research Scientist at the Logic Technology Development of Intel. She is doing physics modeling of electronic transport in transistors. Roza has been playing chess competitively since age 5. She became the Junior Girl Champion of the Latvian Open Girl Championship in 1985. As a graduate of a State Chess Sport School, Roza was certified as a Tournament Director in the USSR. She came to New York in 1990, where she studied at the NYU. While a graduate student, she played for the University of Maryland Chess Team. After moving to Oregon, having her son Seth, and working for Intel, Roza has rekindled her interest in chess. Recently, to expand opportunities for kids in Portland to play chess, Roza has become a USCF certified Club Level TD and has been co-running Sunday Chess Quads ChessWorks Tournaments at the Portland Chess Club. As an OSCF board member, Roza is interested to continue organizing opportunities for rigorous scholastic chess tournaments, as well as for fun chess.

April Lutz, Member at Large (2013-15)
April is the chess coach for Forest Park Elementary School where she has been coaching for the last five years. In addition, she has been advising East and West Sylvan Middle School, working with the PTA and principals to build a successful chess program that benefits all players. Her goal is to build a pathway from elementary school through high school so chess players can feel successful in their individual growth. In addition to volunteering in the chess community, she often volunteers at Forest Park and at West Sylvan where she is an active member on Site Council. April is also the team manager for one her daughter’s soccer team. She grew up in Southern California and earned a BS in marketing from the University of Oregon. After graduating she became a pharmaceutical representative for a fortune 500 company. She has been married for 18 years and has three children.

Dan Mancuso, Member at Large (2013-15)
Dan is First Vice President of Investments, Financial Advisor for JHS Capital Advisors in Portland. He is a chess dad and has personally seen his son grow and learn life-long benefits experienced through the OSCF program. He can provide ideas to the board as seen through the eyes of a new parent involved in competition chess. His son is in his second year of participation with the Happy Valley Elementary Chess Club.

Elizabeth Sheiman, Member at Large (2013-15)
Elizabeth is a social worker who has worked with children and families. Some of her past clients have struggled with issues of poverty and substance abuse. Elizabeth sees chess as a great resource for gaining confidence, and the learning of chess is a great educational boost. She was the past coordinator of the West Sylvan Middle School Chess Club for 3 years and helps with the Access Chess Club currently. She admires all the amazing people with OSCF and other organizations that work so selflessly with chess and the families of the children that compete in these tournaments.