2009 Board of Directors

James GeringerJames Geringer (Co-Chair)

Governor of Wyoming, 1994 to 2002

Former two-term Wyoming Governor Geringer is Director of Policy & Enterprise Solutions for Redlands, Calif., based GIS software developer ESRI — a leading authority on the use of GIS data and systems in Western state governments. He is a past chair of Western Governors' Association, and has participated extensively in policy development for all levels of education. He was chairman of the Education Commission of the States, was appointed to Senator John Glenn's National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, the National Commission on Service-Learning, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, and continues as charter member of board of trustees of the Western Governors University, which certifies competency based education.

Governor MinnerRuth Ann Minner (Co-Chair)

Governor of Delaware, 2001 to 2008

Governor Minner was Governor of Delaware 2001 until 2008. Ruth Ann began in politics stuffing envelopes, then worked as an aide in the state legislature and as receptionist to then-Gov. Sherman Tribbitt. She was elected to four terms in the state House of Representatives beginning in 1974, to three terms in the state Senate beginning in 1982 and to two terms as Lieutenant Governor in 1992 and 1996.

Diane Kenty (Secretary / Treasurer)

Director of Court ADR (CADRES) Maine

As Director of the Office of Court ADR in Maine, Diane administers and serves on statewide mediation rosters for domestic relations matters, small claims, land use/environmental/ disputes and civil litigation, as well as rosters for early neutral evaluation and arbitration of civil cases. She has hundreds of hours of mediation training, including from the Program of Instruction for Lawyers at Harvard Law School, the Office of Attorney General of Massachusetts, the Association for Conflict Resolution, and the Master Mediation Seminar of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR). She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Maine Law School, where she co-teaches a survey course on ADR.

Ralph Becker

Mayor, Salt Lake City

Ralph Becker has been Mayor of Salt Lake City since 2008. For 11 years he served in the Utah House of Representatives, including five years as Democratic Leader. Ralph’s work has included serving as the State Planning Coordinator and Deputy Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget under Governor Matheson.  In 1985, he co-founded Bear West, an environmental, planning and policy consulting firm. He graduated from and now teaches courses as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah in environmental planning, policy and law, environmental assessment, public involvement, and public lands.

Manley Begay

Director, Native Nations Institute, Udall Center, University of Arizona

Dr. Begay, Jr. serves as both Director of the Native Nations Institute at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and as Senior Lecturer in the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona. He teaches courses on nation building, curriculum development, and indigenous education. He also is Co-Director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. His extensive research and consulting experience has focused on projects about and for Native Nations in the promotion of strong and effective institutions of governance and leadership.

Jim Clinton

Executive Director, Southern Growth Policies Board

Jim Clinton serves as Director of the Southern Growth Policies Board, a North Carolina-based think tank providing public policy expertise to 13 Southern states and Puerto Rico. Southern Growth Policies Board is a multi-state compact whose mission is to help create economic opportunities throughout the region. Jim previously was president of the Louisiana Partnership for Technology and Innovation and President of Gulf South Research Institute. He has served in a variety of state government positions in Louisiana and was lead author of the plan that reorganized Louisiana's executive branch from more than 250 governmental units into 20 principal departments.

Frank Dukes

Director, Institute for Environmental Negotiation, University of Virginia

A mediator, Dr. Dukes directs the Institute for Environmental Negotiation at the University of Virginia. He has worked at local, state, and federal levels on projects involving environment and land use, community development, education, and health. He founded the Community-Based Collaboratives Research Consortium and is co-founder and core faculty of the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute. His Resolving Public Conflict: Transforming Community and Governance describes how conflict resolution can assist in strengthening democracy. He is also co-author of Reaching for Higher Ground in Conflict Resolution, which describes how diverse groups and communities can create expectations for addressing conflict with integrity, vision, and creativity.

Beverly Gard

Senator, Indiana Senate

Indiana State Senator Beverly Gard is a former biochemist and long-time advocate for public health, particularly as it relates to the environment. She is chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Environmental Affairs, as well as the chair of both the Senate Public Health Subcommittee and the Environmental Quality Service Council. Senator Gard also sits on several national committees, including the National Conference of State Legislatures Advisory Committee on Energy and the Council of State Governments Energy Task Force. Having served in the Indiana State Senate since 1988, Senator Gard has authored numerous bills to address the environmental needs of Indiana. She has been nationally recognized for her environmental expertise.

Peter Groff

Senator, Colorado Senate

 Colorado State Senator Peter Groff currently serves as President of the Colorado Senate and is the first African American in Colorado to hold that post and only the third in the nation’s history to hold the post of state Senate President. During his legislative career, Senator Groff has passed landmark legislation prohibiting racial profiling, requiring booster seats for young children, creating visionary education reform measures, securing tens of millions of dollars to combat health disparities and crafting Referendum C, which generated billions of dollars for critical state needs and infrastructure. Senator Groff is the founder and executive director of the University of Denver Center for African American Policy, a non-profit organization whose mission is to work for and achieve a positive change in the present and future lives of African Americans through academics, the arena of public discourse, community and public service.

Robert M. Jones

Director, Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium

Bob Jones has served as FCRC Director since 1990. He works with representatives from state and local government, the private sector and citizen and community groups in Florida to design and implement collaborative consensus building and dispute resolution approaches to public issues. He has facilitated more than150 public policy projects, including 40 statewide policy forums in Florida, and has mediated land-use, development and environmental disputes. As a trainer in negotiation and mediation skills, he has conducted workshops for state and local government staff and elected officials and has taught graduate level course on dispute resolution for planners.

Michael H. McCabe

Director, Council of State Governments, Midwest Office

Michael H. McCabe is the director of the Council of State Governments, Midwestern Office. Mike oversees the efforts of a twelve-member team that provides research and staff support services to several groups of state officials, including primarily the Midwestern Legislative Conference and the Midwestern Governors Association. Prior to assuming his current duties, he served first as a policy analyst and later as the assistant director of the Midwestern Office. Before joining CSG, Mike worked as an attorney with a private law firm in Des Moines, Iowa. A graduate of Iowa State University, he earned his law degree at the University of Illinois.

Roger D. Moe

Former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader

Roger Moe was elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 1970, representing Northwestern Minnesota's 2nd Senate District. He was the longest serving Senate Majority Leader in Minnesota history. His legislative achievements include a measure to streamline state higher education though creation of the Minnesota State Colleges and University System (MnSCU), championing quality K-12 education and high standards, the Midwest Higher Education Compact, and was author of the Environmental Trust Fund. He was Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor in 1998 and for Governor in 2002.

Lana Oleen

Former Kansas Senate Majority Leader

Lana Oleen was first elected to the Kansas Senate in 1988, and served four terms. As Senator of the 22nd District, she represented Riley and Geary Counties. She was elected by her colleagues to serve as Senate Majority Leader in 2000. Oleen served as Chair of the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations and the Senate Confirmation Oversight Committee. She also served on the Senate Education, Judiciary, and Assessment & Taxation committees. Lana was Vice-Chair on the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) Standing Committees, and was elected Chair of the Midwestern Higher Education Compact. She also served on numerous committees and boards and was Vice President of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States.

Jim Souby

President and CEO, Park City Center for Public Policy

Jim Souby is President and CEO of the Park City Center for Public Policy, a non-profit organization that designs and tests economically efficient solutions to public policy challenges and creates practical models that can be implemented by governments, businesses and communities. For 13 years, Jim served as Executive Director of the Western Governors Association. Prior to that, he was executive director of the Council of Governors' Policy Advisors, a national association of state policy directors, and was director of policy development and planning and coastal policy chairman for the Governor of Alaska.

Jan Summer

Executive Director, Center for Public Policy Dispute Resolution

After earning her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, Jan Summer served as briefing attorney for Chief Justice Joe Greenhill of the Texas Supreme Court. She practiced law for 11 years in Austin, representing the University of Texas System in land, real estate, and other legal matters in the Office of General Counsel. She was chair of the Standing Committee on Alternative Methods of Dispute Resolution of the State Bar of Texas.

Ex-Officio

Lawrence Wallack

Dean, Portland State University College of Urban and Public Affairs

In addition to his role of Dean at PSU's College of Urban and Public Affairs, Dr. Wallack is Professor Emeritus in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He was founding director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group, an organization conducting research and training in the use of media to promote healthy public policies. Dean Wallack is one of the primary architects of media advocacy--an innovative approach to working with mass media to advance public health. He has published extensively and lectures frequently on the news media and public health policy issues.