Dave Sullivan is the founder and president of Oregon Advocates for School Trust Lands (OASTL), an organization established in August 2021. He has been instrumental in leading the long effort to hold the State of Oregon accountable for its handling of the Elliott State Forest and the Common School Fund, working to ensure that school trust lands are protected and that the trust's beneficiaries — Oregon's public schoolchildren — are made whole.
Dave brings a wealth of professional experience to his role. He holds a PhD in Industrial Administration (Systems Science) from Carnegie Mellon University and an emeritus appointment from the College of Business at Oregon State University, where he spent twenty-five years teaching and researching information systems. He has authored numerous textbooks and holds two patents for innovative software tools.
Earlier in his career Dave served as Division Finance Manager and Accountant at Tektronix, where he provided financial oversight and participated in management planning. In addition to his work with school trust lands, he has served on the boards of both the Corvallis School Board and the Oregon Small Woodlands Association — roles that put him inside both the K-12 governance system and the forest-management community his trust-lands work now spans.
As OASTL President, Dave leads the Oregon chapter's research, publication, and advocacy program; as an ex officio member of the ASTL national board he carries Oregon's circumstances into the national conversation. His posture is documentary and persistent: establish the record, name the duty, and keep both visible until the trust is restored to its beneficiaries.