Equality State Policy Center Staff

Dan Neal, Executive Director

Public policy, open government, and citizen involvement have been at the center of Dan’s professional life for nearly 30 years. He worked as a reporter in Pullman, Washington, then continued his journalism career at the Riverton Ranger in Riverton, Wyo. After writing about oil theft on the Wind River Indian Reservation in 1980, Dan moved to Casper where he joined the Casper Star-Tribune as its city reporter covering the community as it moved from that big energy boom into a bust that left the town desperate. He worked at Wyoming’s statewide newspaper until Spring 2004, serving as state editor, city editor, editor of the outdoors section, assistant managing editor and for four years, editor. That experience taught him about Wyoming, its independent people and the open landscape they love. He learned about the issues that dominate Wyoming politics, including natural resource extraction, tax policy, and social concerns. Dan joined the ESPC in 2005 after working on a statewide congressional race and the constitutional amendment fight over tort reform in 2004. Dan also serves on the board of directors of the Western States Center. He resides in Casper with his wife Judy. They have three children.

Sarah Gorin, Research Director

Sarah Gorin, past board chair, is one of the founders of the Equality State Policy Center and served as its chairwoman until December 2007. Long active in Wyoming politics, she has worked on numerous candidate and issue campaigns at all levels of government. She was the first lobbyist for the Wyoming Chapter of the Sierra Club, and served as the political director for the Wyoming State AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education. She supervised the ESPC’s most recent research project, which resulted in the publication of “The State of Working Wyoming” in February 2008. Gorin holds an M.A. in political science from the University of Wyoming, where she has taught political science courses, and an A.B. from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Laramie, Wyoming, where she volunteers at a street clinic for the low-income uninsured. She and her husband Bern Hinckley have two children.

Barb Rea, Development Director

Barb Rea of Casper, Wyoming has been instrumental in developing innovative programs that put local talents to work improving communities. She founded and directed the Children’s Advocacy Project, a program of the Community Health Center in Casper. The project coordinates all the local professionals likely become involved in investigations of child abuse, ensuring that children and families get access to medical and mental health care as part of their investigations. This collaborative effort was awarded the first Robert Wood Johnson Local Initiative Funding Partners Grant awarded in Wyoming. Barb was also a leader in the creation of the Youth Empowerment Council, the Natrona County (Wyoming) Suicide Prevention Task Force, Women’s Health Day and the Natrona County Breast and Cervical Cancer Awareness Team. She was the founding chairperson of the Wyoming Nonprofit Support Initiative studying the feasibility of a statewide association dedicated to helping nonprofits meet their important missions. In 2006, Gov. Dave Freudenthal appointed her to the Wyoming Healthcare Commission. She serves as its consumer representative. Rea has a degree in anthropology and linguistics from the University of Montana. She is married to Tom Rea, a freelance writer, and they have three brave and interesting children.

The Equality State Policy Center’s Executive Board

The ESPC operates under the direction of a 30-member board that meets three times a year. A four-member executive board enables the organization to advance its work when decisions are needed quickly.

The Rev. Bob Spencer, Chair

A native of Pennsylvania, Bob grew up outside a town of 1200. He graduated from Marietta College in Ohio and Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va. Prior to attending Seminary, Bob worked in Retail Management in Washington, D.C. He served churches in small communities in South Carolina, Idaho, and Wyoming as well as urban churches in those same states, including 20 years as a Hospital Chaplain in Idaho and Wyoming. He retired in 2003. Bob remains active in community activities related to mental health currently serving on the Wyoming Mental Health Planning Council, the Wyoming HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Council, the Cheyenne Community Clinic and the CRMC Hospice Board. He is the Social Change Coordinator for Wyoming Equality. He also continues to serve churches in small communities in Wyoming at the pleasure of the Episcopal diocese bishop. He has two sons and five grandchildren living near Boise, Idaho.

Marcia Shanor, Vice Chair

Marcia Shanor is the executive director of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, a position she has held for the past 15 years. She earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in microbiology from the University of Wyoming. After teaching anatomy, biology and other science courses at Laramie County Community College and Eastern Wyoming College, she worked as the director of the Platte County Chamber of Commerce and, later, as the Wyoming Wildlife Federation's executive director. Her experience with nonprofit organizations also includes lobbying and working with the governor's office and numerous state boards and agencies. Shanor is the Immediate past president of the National Association of Trial Lawyer Executives and serves on the boards of Wyoming Conservation Voters and the ACLU. She and her husband Roger live in Laramie.

Harold Bovee, Treasurer

Harold works for the Wyoming Education Association as a field representative and for the past seven years has represented the WEA on the Equality State Policy Center board of directors. He taught industrial arts, technology education, and mathematics for 23 years at Torrington High School in Torrington, Wyo. Harold’s awards as an educator include the Goshen County Teacher of the Year, the Wyoming Technology Teacher of the Year, and the Wyoming Education Association Gold Key award. Originally from Laramie, he holds a Masters of Science Teaching and a bachelors degree in Education, both earned at the University of Wyoming. His experience with nonprofit organizations also includes several terms on the WEA board of directors. Currently, he is president of the Wyoming Education Association Staff Organization. He and his wife Debbie have a son and daughter and two grandchildren.

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