Board, Staff & Volunteers

The Equality State Policy Center Executive Board

The ESPC operates under the direction of a board of directors that meets three times a year. Each member organization has a seat on the board. A three-member executive board, assisted by the executive director, enables the organization to advance its work when decisions are needed quickly.

Marcia Shanor, Chair

Marcia Shanor

Marcia Shanor is the executive director of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, a position she has held since 1993. 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 a past president of the National Association of Trial Lawyer Executives and serves on the board of Wyoming Conservation Voters. She and her husband Roger live in Wind River canyon.

Cory Runion , Vice-chair

Cory Runion

Cory L. Runion is the Wyoming State Legislative Board Chairman for Wyoming’s Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET).  In his capacity as chairman he has worked to coordinate  BLET  divisions and strives to educate their members about laws and safety issues that affect the occupation of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

Brother Runion hired out on the Union Pacific Railroad as a brakeman in North Platte, NE and was promoted to Locomotive Engineer in 2000.  Being an active union member he was inspired to become a Division Legislative Representative, and subsequently attend the Legislative  Training Workshop in Washington D.C. while he served as Wyoming’s 1st Vice-Chairman.

Mr. Runion was born in Sidney, NE and is a college graduate from The University of Northern Colorado. A true son of the labor movement, Cory’s father is a retired Maintenance of Way employee and his mother is a retired union telephone operator.  He believes in the union’s role of providing good paying jobs and quality health benefits.  This is a lifestyle that he aspires to provide for his membership, his children and future generations.

Mr. Runion lives with his wife and two children in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Chesie Lee

Chesie Lee , Treasurer 

Chesie Lee is the executive director of the Wyoming Association of Churches. She is an attorney and has worked with nonprofit organizations in Wyoming for more than 25 years. She has 2 cats and enjoys traveling, writing and reading.

The 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 more than 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 landscapes 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 and has continued his Wyoming political education, devoting much of his time to civil rights, social oppression, and labor issues, particularly job safety and health. 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.

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, her 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.

Nancy Geldien, Administrative assistant

Nancy Geldien joined the Equality State Policy Center as a part-time administrative assistant. A Wyoming native, she was born in Laramie and grew up in the state. She graduated from Mile-Hi Reporting College and worked as a freelance court reporter for 25 years. She has worked for a Casper law firm and at Casper College. She currently resides in Casper.

Sarah Gorin, Research Director volunteer

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 has supervised the ESPC’s research for its publication, “The State of Working Wyoming” and research on tax and other issues. 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 now works as the executive director of the Downtown Clinic, a street clinic for the low-income uninsured. She and her husband Bern Hinckley have two children.

Barb Rea, Consumer Health Issues volunteer

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 to 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. She also was 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. They have three brave and interesting children.

Jeralee Salmon, Practicum Student

Jeralee is an intern with Equality state through the University of Wyoming/ Casper College Center Social Work Program this school year. She has several interests including both social justice issues and working with institutional oppressions. Along with her work here she serves as President of the Round Table Honor society on the UW/CC campus.

ESPC Board Members by Member Organization

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

Cheyenne Professional Firefighters, IAAF Local #279
Joe Fender, Cheyenne, WY

Construction and General Laborers Union, #1271
James Hansen, Cheyenne, WY

Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Barbara Cozzens, Cody

Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance
Louise Lasley, 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
John Hastert, Green River, WY

United Transportation Union
Stan Blake, Green River, WY

Utility Workers Union of America, Local #127
John Kenfield, Glenrock, 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 (IBEW)
Charlie Dockham, Casper, WY

Wyoming Conservation Voters/ Wyoming Conservation Voters Education Fund
Kate Wright, Cheyenne, WY

Wyoming Education Association
Ken Decaria, Cheyenne, WY

Wyoming Equality/United Gays and Lesbians of Wyoming
Bob Spencer, Chair, Cheyenne, WY

Wyoming Outdoor Council
Laurie Milford, Laramie, WY

Wyoming Public Employees Association
Betty Jo Beardsley, Cheyenne, WY

Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association
Marcia Shanor, Vice Chair, Thermopolis, WY

Wyoming Wilderness Association
Liz Howell, Sheridan, WY

Wyoming Wildlife Federation
Joy Bannon, Lander, WY