More About Gary Farnsworth
Professional Overview
Gary has spent 39 years building things that outlast a single administration — transportation programs, public trust, and the working relationships that get hard projects actually delivered. As ODOT’s Region 4 Manager, he led roughly 400 staff across planning, project delivery, operations & maintenance, and public engagement for the central third of Oregon. Earlier, as Area Manager, he oversaw up to $100 million a year in program delivery, while also serving as a key leader, point of contact, and public engagement collaborator with cities, counties, and state and federal agencies across most of Region 4.
Today, as Owner/Operator of GCF — GrowCreateFollow, LLC, he brings that same trust-building approach to public agencies, nonprofits, and civic leaders across the Pacific Northwest: Paying Attention, Co-Creating Trust, Bringing Attention — all along the way. He’s a licensed Professional Civil Engineer, a Leadership Circle® Profile-certified coach, and a Portland State University Senior Fellow focusing on community engagement. Though his #1 credential is about spending a career being the person who makes the softest voices in the room matter, and he brings that same steady, walking-alongside leadership presence to every partnership.
Career Highlights
Gary’s successes of working with many teams spans some of Central Oregon’s and Tacoma, Washington’s most visible infrastructure projects — from leading construction of Cascades East Transit’s Hawthorne Station Safety Improvements (Bend) and planning for the Bend North Gateway Mobility Hub, to a nine-year run with $13 million of investments on the US 20 corridor in Sisters, over $15 million to 10 roundabouts on the Region 4 Highway system, to leading the delivery of the ~$180 million US20/US97 Bend North Corridor Project, to leading the creation and launching of a ~$1 billion Interstate 5 (I-5) reconstruction program through Tacoma.
He created a long-standing playbook — led the authoring of ODOT’s Operational Notice establishing a Community Involvement standard practice for Public Participation in Transportation Projects — and built the right kind of teams in Region 4 team to run it, for example creating two dedicated community engagement/liaison positions: one permanent, region-wide role, and one limited-duration position for the Sisters/Cascade Avenue construction phase. He was on-point in bringing nationally recognized trainer, Hans Bleiker, into Central Oregon, co-created and co-led a twelve-hour Building Healthy Communities workshop for 60 regional leaders, and have spent my career translating community input into delivered projects and policy that actually reflect what people said.
Education & Credentials
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Iowa State University (1985); Master of Science in Traffic Engineering/Transportation Planning, University of Washington (1992); Licensed Professional Civil Engineer, State of Oregon; Leadership Circle® Certification, per International Coaching Federation.
Beyond the Résumé
Gary grew up in the Chicago suburbs, where he met his wife Roschell in 1978. He headed to Iowa for college — Graceland University, then Iowa State — before spending 1986 to 2000 in Washington’s Puget Sound area with WSDOT, and settling in Bend, Oregon in 2000, where he and Roschell have lived ever since. They have two adult daughters, Chelsea and Claire. When Gary’s not working or spending time with family, he’s usually somewhere near or in water with a fly rod in hand — steelhead, specifically — chasing the same patience, resilience, and passion for life that shows up in his collaboration efforts with others.
