Mike Marshall is the Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance (USAPA). He brings more than 30 years of change making, policy advocacy and civic organizing experience to this role.
A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, Mike spent the early years of his career learning grassroots organizing within the ranks of the Democratic Party. When the Berlin Wall came down, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) recruited Marshall to travel to Romania to build a national civic participation organization called Pro-Democracy Association which helped insure that country’s first free and fair election. He has since traveled to more than 20 countries, to assist in the creation of election monitoring, voter education and civic engagement organizations as well as advise political parties on winning campaign strategies.
In 1999, Mike played a leading role in the creation of the marriage equality movement, culminating in a national victory 15 years later. As a consequence of the impact of his early leadership, OUT Magazine identified Mike as one of the top 100 most influential LGBTQ+ Americans. In subsequent years he led critical campaigns for change that fought to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, promote urban greening and demand environmental restoration.
Upon moving to Oregon in 2013, Marshall served as Campaign Manager for Oregon United for Marriage and then successfully stewarded Governor Kitzhaber’s 2014 reelection campaign. In 2017 he co-founded Oregon Recovers, a statewide movement of people in recovery committed to ending Oregon's addiction crisis. As executive Director of Oregon Recovers, he played an instrumental role in the creation of the Oregon Alcohol Policy Alliance (OAPA), the Recovery Network of Oregon and the Recovery Community Summit. Mike lives in Portland, Oregon with his husband Rob and is a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum of Oregon.