Senior Program Manager, CDR Associates

I have worked as a facilitator, mediator and trainer for CDR Associates, Boulder, Colorado, since receiving my MA. My professional area of focus is environmental streamlining and negotiation in the water and transportation sector. I design and facilitate multi-stakeholder collaborative processes to address public policy disputes.

In the transportation arena, I work with both transit and highway projects, facilitating ‘streamlining’ processes with federal, tribal, state and local agencies. An exciting project that I worked on is the joint Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) workshops on “Linking Planning and NEPA.” These workshops, with transportation and planning agencies, focus on bringing human and natural environmental considerations earlier in the transportation planning phase, and making ‘decisive decisions’ during planning so that efforts are not duplicated in the environmental phase (NEPA).Internationally, I have consulted with the Korean and Japanese governments on the implementation of two controversial highway projects, discussing various approaches to stakeholder engagement and negotiation.

In the water sector, I work with Western US states on water allocation issues, focusing on conjunctive management (surface and groundwater). While Western water disputes are numerous and growing, as an increased number of water users vie for limited supply, collaborative problem solving efforts have helped to develop agreements among water users to manage this resource. I facilitated the Nebraska Water Policy Task Force, which includes 49 diverse water users, and has resulted in passage of new law for managing and addressing surface and groundwater conflicts. The Task Force is now addressing the issues and challenges of implementing this new water law. Another controversial project that I am facilitating is the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA) management plan in Idaho . This multi-year stakeholder negotiation process is working to best manage hydrologically connected surface and groundwater.

Outside of work I love to ski, run and bike with my family in the mountains of Colorado . Juliette and I have two children Justin and Gabriella that keep us focused on the ‘real’ priorities of life – storytelling, laughter and meaning!

This profile was last updated March 21, 2014