Jake Cornett

Executive Director & CEO

As executive director of Disability Rights Oregon, Jake Cornett leads a team of lawyers and advocates who help lift barriers preventing Oregonians with disabilities from reaching their full potential.

Jake brings to this role deep experience in policy-making, coalition-building, communications, and management.

Jake’s career has been devoted to advancing the civil rights of people with disabilities, people of color, women, LGBTQIA+ people, religious minorities, older people, and immigrants to the United States. Before leading Disability Rights Oregon, he was senior advisor to U.S. Senator Patty Murray, the Assistant Democratic Leader of the U.S. Senate. Jake advised her on civil rights and directed disability policy for the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

In the Congressional fight for people with disabilities to earn fair wages, he reshaped the debate about paying people with disabilities less than minimum wage, stopped legislation that would weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act, and defended Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Jake worked to reform special education services and supports to be inclusive and integrated.

Jake is a member of the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities, co-chair of the Fairview Community Housing Trust at the Oregon Community Foundation, member of the Board of Advisors for the Center on Brain Injury Research and Training at the University of Oregon, and member of the Board of the National Disability Rights Network in Washington, D.C.

Jake holds a Bachelor degree from Western Washington University and a Master’s degree in special education from the top-ranked University of Kansas. In his free time, Jake enjoys hiking, gardening, traveling, watching Jayhawk basketball, and cooking for friends and family.