Oregon Public Broadcasting

President Obama hosted over one hundred business leaders at the White House Thursday to talk one thing – jobs.

And while attendees came from across the country, Oregon came up a lot.

Ethan Lindsey reports.

Some people worried the conference would produce few tangible results, especially for troubled states – states like Oregon, with its 12-percent jobless rate.

And yet, Oregon companies and jobs were discussed at length.

In a roundtable on infrastructure, Oregon’s rail and transit industry was mentioned multiple times.

Chandra Brown is the president of United Streetcar, the manufacturing arm of Oregon Iron Works.

Chandra Brown: “Oregon and Portland came up repeatedly in many of my conversations. Because we are higher profile and more well-known and respected on a national level, than even many of our citizens know.”

Brown told the President her company was hiring, and building more streetcars, and Obama seemed interested.

President Obama: “Well, I’m looking forward to riding on one of them. Anytime!”

Jeld-Wen vice president and one-time candidate for governor Ron Saxton got a few minutes alone with Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

And in the interest of full disclosure, Saxton is a member of OPB’s board.

Klamath Falls window-maker Jeld-Wen is the largest private company in the state.

Saxton is a Republican. Several conservatives, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have criticized the conference as too much big government.

But Saxton says the conference was relatively non-partisan.

Ron Saxton: “I think it was productive if it was the beginning of a good conversation. It certainly wasn’t the end of one. What we did was float a lot of ideas and now there needs to be some work about which ones will work and what the mechanisms are."

Saxton spoke directly to the President about how Jeld-Wen’s business benefited from the stimulus plan, and the energy efficiency investment it encouraged.

The President mentioned that expanding green energy tax credits is one policy the administration is strongly considering.