Meet Our Leadership Team
Brent Canode, MPA
Co-Founder + Vice-Chair
Brent has worked as Executive Director of the Alano Club of Portland for the past decade, growing the organization into the largest non-clinical recovery support center in the United States. The Club serves as a national model for a modern, multi-dimensional recovery community organization, applying the latest evidence-based supports within a community center service delivery structure. More than 10,000 visitors utilize the Club every month for recovery support groups spanning the continuum of mutual aid pathways, peer support services with Certified Recovery Mentors, yoga and meditation classes, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction & Relapse Prevention training, health and wellness seminars, exercise-based recovery groups, recovery skills workshops, advocacy projects and large-scale sober social events.
Brent’s impact on the recovery landscape extends to the national level, where he holds leadership positions with the organizations Facing Addiction (National Action Council; Legislation Committee), Faces and Voices of Recovery (Public Policy Committee) and the Association of Recovery Community Organizations (Recovery Research Committee.) Brent has also been a contributor and resource for online recovery sites and articles and has been a featured guest on top-rated recovery blogs.
Additionally, Brent has been recognized for his advocacy work by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Institute For Recovery Advocacy and Viacom’s Here to Listen Campaign. In 2015, Brent served as Oregon Organizer for the UNITE to Face Addiction rally on the National Mall in Washington D.C., the largest recovery rally in the history of the United States. Brent was also on the ground in Philadelphia in the summer of 2016, helping organize the first Caucus For Addiction Solutions at the Democratic National Convention. Over 200 hundred delegates, elected officials from Mayors to US Senators and policy experts attended the historic, standing-room-only event.
In Oregon, Brent has been a visible champion for recovery as a board member of the Oregon Consumer Advisory Council, Multnomah County Recovery Support Services Procurement Review Panel, Oregon Substance Use Disorder Advisory Committee, Hands Across the Bridge Project, Partnership for Safety and Justice and the Safety and Justice Action PAC. He also chairs the Alano Club of Portland’s Advocacy Committee and spearheaded the effort in 2016 to produce the first-ever Recovery Voices Count! Voters Guide in Portland, OR. Most recently Brent co-founded the Oregon Recovery High School Initiative, a coalition of recovery advocates, educators, health system professionals and business leaders committed to launching a “gold standard” recovery high school for students impacted by substance use disorders.
Prior to working in the recovery field, Brent held senior positions with nonprofits, public agencies and elected officials from City Hall to the U.S. Senate. Brent has a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from University of Oregon, where he was recognized for his academic achievement with a competitive Teaching Fellowship in the Graduate School of Planning, Public Policy and Management. Brent’s proudest accomplishment is simply being an individual and father in long-term recovery.