06/15/2026
Meet Tory Stinnett, Executive Director of the Greater Eastern Oregon Development Corporation and a member of the Biz Harney Opportunity Collaborative.
In her role, Tory works across six counties, 36 incorporated cities, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Burns Paiute Tribe—helping rural and frontier communities stay connected to local, state, and federal partners.
“The job is part strategy, part stewardship, and part advocacy,” Tory says. “I work to make sure rural and frontier communities have a strong voice.”
Tory’s path to economic development has moved through psychology, hospitality, child welfare, victim intervention, and small business support—experiences that shaped the way she thinks about people, place, and resilience.
That perspective is part of what drew her to the Biz Harney Opportunity Collaborative table.
“What makes it work is the table itself,” she says. “Local government, nonprofits, tribal economic development, and small business support all sitting down together to figure out what Harney County needs.”
For Tory, collaboration is practical, place-based, and rooted in the people who know their communities best.
“The strength of this region has always been its people,” she says, “and that’s what makes this work worth doing.”
To read more about Tory, head here for the full People Who Collaborate article: https://tinyurl.com/4ukzzt6z
