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In this episode of Bend Don’t Break, Aaron Switzer sits down with Amber Thacher, Interim Executive Director of City Club of Central Oregon. Amber shares her inspiring journey from Boston to Bend—reflecting on her time as Senior Director of Executive Education at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she developed programs on economic development, policy implementation, crisis leadership, and behavioral science.

Amber also discusses her earlier career in international education, her passion for creating meaningful learning opportunities, and the importance of community-building in Central Oregon. Tune in for an insightful conversation about the power of education, civic engagement, and Amber’s vision for City Club’s role in shaping a stronger, more connected community.

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This article appears in Source Weekly May 29, 2025.

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LISTEN: Bend Don’t Break with Amber Thacher 🎧

by The Source Staff, The Source - Bend, Oregon
May 29, 2025

<h1>LISTEN: Bend Don’t Break with Amber Thacher 🎧</h1> <p class="byline">by The Source Staff, The Source - Bend, Oregon <br />May 29, 2025</p> <p>In this episode of <em data-start="112" data-end="130">Bend Don’t Break</em>, Aaron Switzer sits down with Amber Thacher, Interim Executive Director of City Club of Central Oregon. Amber shares her inspiring journey from Boston to Bend—reflecting on her time as Senior Director of Executive Education at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she developed programs on economic development, policy implementation, crisis leadership, and behavioral science. </p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full aligncenter aligncenter"><a href="https://www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bend_don_t_break_-_amber_thacher_-_digital.webp"><img src="https://www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bend_don_t_break_-_amber_thacher_-_digital.webp" alt="" class="wp-image-4809" /></a></figure> <p> Amber also discusses her earlier career in international education, her passion for creating meaningful learning opportunities, and the importance of community-building in Central Oregon. Tune in for an insightful conversation about the power of education, civic engagement, and Amber’s vision for City Club’s role in shaping a stronger, more connected community.</p> <p>LISTEN NOW </p> <div class="wp-block-group newspack-embed-container align"> </div> <p> WATCH NOW </p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.youtube.com/embed/ql9vJ7YZF5E </div> </figure> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/news/listen-bend-dont-break-with-amber-thacher-23241321/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com&quot;&gt;The Source - Bend, Oregon&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cropped-Untitled-design-4.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=4807&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.bendsource.com/news/listen-bend-dont-break-with-amber-thacher-23241321/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bendsource.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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