I am a senior fellow on the Energy and Environment team at American Progress, based out of Bozeman, Montana. I have a Bachelor of Arts in economics (1994) and a Master’s Degree in geography (1999), both from the University of Colorado. Prior to my current position, I worked as a researcher and economist for more than a decade at Headwaters Economics, where I oversaw a robust research portfolio focused on rural economic development, natural resource economics, and state and local government fiscal policy. I have over 25 years of research and policy analysis experience working in academic and not for profit environments.
Throughout my career I have worked as a nonpartisan expert committed to presenting robust research findings and practical solutions to difficult economic and fiscal challenges at the local and state government level. I have special expertise in policies regarding energy, land use planning, federal and state public lands, and economic development in urban and rural settings. Locally, I have helped build economically viable private land conservation programs around Yellowstone National Park. I have served on local government planning, transportation, and water boards and commissions, have been an invited expert to advise state legislatures in multiple states, sat on legislative committees in Montana, and testified to the United States Congress at the invitation of both Democrats and Republicans in these areas of my expertise.