An independent voice for Wyoming people
About UsBoard, Staff and Volunteers
Equality State Policy Center Board Officers, Staff and Volunteers
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.
Linda Burt, Treasurer
Linda Burt is currently the Executive Director of the Wyoming Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. She has held that position since March of 2000. Ms. Burt was born in Denver, Colorado and attended Metropolitan State College and the University of Colorado. She received her J.D. from the University of Wyoming Law School. Ms. Burt has worked in private practice and as the Executive Director of Southeastern Wyoming Legal Services. Linda Burt came to Superior, Wyoming in the boom years of the ‘70’s and settled in Cheyenne in 1983.
The Equality State Policy Center’s 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 journalist in Washington state before moving to Wyoming in 1980. He later joined the Casper Star-Tribune where he worked for nearly 25 years, including four years as 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. He 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.
Cristina Colling, Field Organizer
Cristina Colling joined the ESPC as a part-time organizer in 2006. She became a full-time staff member in 2009 and coordinates the ESPC’s VOTE Project work in communities around the state and on the Wind River Reservation. An immigrant from Mexico, education and work experience includes Special Education, Mediation, and Immigration. Colling has worked for the University of Wyoming and as a social worker in Nebraska. She has four children, including two serving in the U.S. Navy, and one serving in the U.S. Air Force.
Barb Rea, Consumer Health Issues
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, where she served as its consumer representative from 2006-2009. She now serves as a consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. 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.
ESPC Board Members by Member Organization,
(alternates are in parentheses)
AFL-CIO, Wyoming State
Kim Floyd, Cheyenne, WY
American Civil Liberties Union, Wyoming Affiliate
Linda Burt, Cheyenne, WY
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
Erik Molvar, Laramie, WY
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
Cory Runion, Cheyenne
(Lawrence Kemper, Gillette, WY)
Cheyenne Professional Firefighters, IAAF Local #279
Jon Narva, Cheyenne, WY
(Joe Fender, Cheyenne, WY)
Construction and General Laborers Union, #1271
James Hansen, Cheyenne, WY
Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Hilary Eisen, Cody, WY
Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance
Cindy Harger, Jackson, WY
Northwest Carpenters Council, Wyoming Chapter
Tim Wells, Rock Springs, WY
Operating Engineers, Local 800
Scott Norris, Casper, WY
Powder River Basin Resource Council
Kevin Lind, Sheridan, WY
Sierra Club, Wyoming Chapter
Connie Wilbert, Laramie, WY
Sierra Club, Western Regional Office
Steve Thomas, Sheridan, WY
Southwest Wyoming Central Labor Council
Tony Herrera, Rock Springs
United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters of America, Local 192
Dennis Hemenover, Cheyenne, WY
United Steelworkers Union Local13214
Monte Morlock, Rock Springs, WY
(John Hastert, Green River, WY)
United Transportation Union
Stan Blake, Green River, WY
(Billy Montgomery), Gillette, WY
Utility Workers Union of America, Local #127
John Kenfield, Glenrock, WY
(Harold Giberson, Casper, WY)
Wyoming Association of Churches
Dee Lundberg, Casper, WY
Wyoming Building and Construction Trades Council
Doug Thomas, Rock Springs, WY
Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
Suzan Pauling, Laramie, WY
Wyoming Conference of Electrical Workers
Charlie Dockham, Casper, WY
Wyoming Conservation Voters/ Wyoming Conservation Voters Education Fund
Kate Wright, Cheyenne, WY
Wyoming Education Association
Ken Decaria, Cheyenne, WY
(Ron Sniffin, Cheyenne, WY)
Wyoming Equality/United Gays and Lesbians of Wyoming
Bob Spencer, Chair, Cheyenne, WY
(Joe Corrigan, Cheyenne, WY)
Wyoming Outdoor Council
Laurie Milford, Laramie, WY
(Richard Garrett, Lander, WY)
Wyoming Public Employees Association
Betty Jo Beardsley, Cheyenne, WY
(Bob Kuchera, Cheyenne, WY)
Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association
Marcia Shanor, Vice Chair, Thermopolis, WY
Wyoming Wilderness Association
Liz Howell, Sheridan, WY
Wyoming Wildlife Federation
Walt Gasson, Cheyenne, WY
(Joy Bannon, Lander, WY)
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