DANIEL KEMMIS

Daniel Kemmis, Director of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West, is the former Mayor of Missoula, and a former Speaker and Minority Leader of the Montana House of Representatives.

Mr. Kemmis serves on the Boards of Directors of the Northwest Area and Kettering Foundations, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, the Institute for Environment and Natural Resources, and the Bolle Center for People and Forests.  He serves on the Advisory Boards of the Western Governors’ Association’s Enlibra Project and of the Brookings Institution's Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy.

Mr. Kemmis is the author of Community and The Politics of Place and The Good City and the Good Life.  His newest book, This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing the West, was published by Island Press in June of 2001.  He has had articles published in national and regional magazines and journals on public policy in the West, democratic theory and practice, community and community building, and bioregionalism, and he is frequently invited to speak on these and related topics at regional and national conferences.  He was recognized by the Utne Reader in 1995 as one of its "100 Visionaries."   In 1997, President Clinton awarded Mr. Kemmis the Charles Frankel Prize for outstanding contribution to the field of the humanities.  Also in 1997, he was the recipient of the Society for Conservation Biology's Distinguished Achievement Award for Social, Economic and Political work.  In 1998, the Center of the American West awarded him the Wallace Stegner Prize for sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West.  In the fall of 1998 he was awarded a fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics.  In February, 2000, he was invited to Washington, D.C., to deliver the Pinchot Distinguished Lecture.  In 2002, his book This Sovereign Land was the top choice for the Interior Department's Executive Forum Speaker Series.

Mr. Kemmis is a graduate of Harvard University and The University of Montana School of Law.

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SUZANNE M. MILLER

SuzAnne M. Miller, a native of Butte, Montana, has over 35 years of experience in biometric, biological, and social science research, project administration and management, and state, federal, and international government service. She attended the University of Montana and graduated from the University of Washington, where she did graduate work in biomathematics. Collaboration and partnerships have been a central part of Suzanne’s career; she has initiated and supported numerous multiparty cooperative agreements, research collaborations, stakeholder groups, and partnerships involving government, private, and non profit entities to address a wide range of public polity issues. SuzAnne has an extensive background in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Her career focus has been on integrating scientific information into public policy discussions and development.

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Lynda Bourque Moss

Lynda Bourque Moss is the executive director of the Foundation for Community Vitality, a supporting organization of the Montana Community Foundation.  The Foundation’s focus is programmatic and directed toward the conservation and preservation of landscapes in the Yellowstone region of Montana and Wyoming. 

Previous to her appointment to the Foundation for Community Vitality, Ms. Moss worked in museums for more that twenty years, including a 14 year tenure as executive director of the nationally recognized Western Heritage Center in Billings, Montana.  Her academic background is in fine art and she received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Montana State University.   Moss has served on the Montana Governor’s Tourism Advisory Council, the American Association of Museums Board, AAM Museum Assessment Program Advisory Council and the Greater Yellowstone Regional Committee of the Montana Community Foundation.  She also served two terms on the American Association of Museums/International Council of Museums Board.

Moss is the author of several articles on museum management and received an Award of Merit from the American Association of State and Local History in 1995.  In 1996, Moss received a national Conservation Hero Award from the National Park Service’s National Center for Recreation and Conservation and in 1998, she received a Brass Lantern Award from the Montana Wilderness Association.  In 2001, for her work at the Western Heritage Center, Moss was awarded the Governor’s Humanities Award by Montana Governor Judy Martz and the Montana Committee for the Humanities.

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MATTHEW McKINNEY

Matthew McKinney is the Director of the Public Policy Research Institute at The University of Montana.  The Institute was created by the Board of Regents in 1987, and is designed to help citizens and leaders shape public policy to sustain communities and landscapes.  Prior to his current position, Matthew served as the founding director of the Montana Consensus Council for 10 years.  During the past 18 years, he has designed, facilitated, and mediated nearly 50 public dialogues, including citizen participation and multi-party negotiations on issues related to federal land management, water policy, fish and wildlife, land use planning and growth management, public health and human services, tax policy, and campaign finance reform. 

Mr. McKinney received a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Policy and Conflict Resolution from The University of Michigan.  He has published numerous articles in journals and books, and is co-author of The Western Confluence: A Guide to Governing Natural Resources (Island Press, 2004).  Matthew teaches workshops, seminars, and courses on natural resource policy and public dispute resolution.  He is a Senior Lecturer at The University of Montana’s School of Law; a faculty associate at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy; a partner with the Consensus Building Institute; and executive director of the Western Consensus Council.  Matthew was a research fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in 2000 and 2002.  Mr. McKinney lives with his wife and three daughters in Helena, Montana.