Bernard (Ben) J. Westlund II was born in Long Beach, Calif. on Sept. 3, 1949, and raised in Lake Oswego. He attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where he earned a degree in education and history. He worked as a business analyst in Portland before moving to Central Oregon, where he helped start a successful mining venture and then became a rancher and agribusinessman, selling cattle genetics through his company, High Country Herefords.

Westlund was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Republican in 1996, where he served from 1996 to 2003. He was a state Senator from 2003 to 2008, and was elected as State Treasurer in 2008. He switched parties to Democrat in 2006.

As a legislator, Westlund oversaw development of the state budget as co-chairman of the Joint Ways and Means Committee and was a leading voice for fiscal reform, including creation of the School Stability Fund and state rainy day fund, which improved Oregon’s bond rating and saved tax dollars. He also pushed for financial literacy, corporate accountability and mortgage industry reforms, the Oregon School Bond Guaranty Act and helped create and expand the Oregon 529 College Savings Network.

Westlund championed innovative ways to make Oregonians’ lives better and more secure, such as the Oregon Cultural Trust, the Oregon Fallen Officers Fund, tax credits to bolster renewable energy development and the state’s Domestic Partnership registry.

He and his wife, Libby, live near Bend. They have two children.