Staff & Board

Scott Guenther
Executive Director

Scott Guenther, Bozeman, Montana, is a Visiting Professor in Political Science at Montana State University with a focus in American Politics and Policy. He has previous taught courses at the University of California, Berkeley, Georgetown University, and Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. Before taking up the science of politics and policy at the University of California, San Diego, receiving his Masters and PhD, Scott served for nearly three years on the staff of former Montana Senator Max Baucus in Washington, DC. He is father to two boys and husband to his one and only, Sara.

Lilly Wolfe
Fellow

Lilly Wolfe is a senior at Montana State University studying Criminology and Political Science. After graduating, she plans to attend law school to become a public defender. During her time at the Wheeler Center, she has facilitated events surrounding local policy issues, such as food security, elections and voter information, and the complexities of the TikTok ban. Lilly grew up in Bozeman and previously worked as a legal assistant, which has informed her interest in housing and criminal justice policy.

Aubrey Tuss
Intern

Aubrey Tuss, Bozeman Montana, is a Senior at Montana State University studying Political Science and Business with a focus on Policy. She is originally from Anaconda, Montana. Aubrey enjoys playing tennis and golf, being out on the water, and snowmobiling. She plans to pursue a career in policy and public affairs after her graduation from Montana State.

Chuck Tooley
Chairman of the Board

Chuck Tooley retired undefeated as the longest-serving Mayor of Billings, Montana, and went on to lead The Urban Institute at MSU-Billings. His company, Tooley Communications, Inc., offers consulting services in strategic communications and public policy. He was a gubernatorial appointee to the Montana Arts Council and the Montana Human Rights Commission and has served on the boards of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, Rocky Mountain College, U. S. Conference of Mayors, The Population Institute, and others. A U.S. Army veteran of the Cold War in Europe and the Vietnam War, Tooley speaks widely on citizenship and leadership.

McKee Anderson
Treasurer

McKee Anderson, Dillon, MT, is a rancher and President and Executive Director of The Montana Food Distributors Association. He obtained a Business degree from Washington State University, with postgraduate classes in Personnel Management and Statistics. A licensed high time instrument pilot, he is a successful businessman in agriculture, energy production and sales, insurance, and real estate, with continuing interests in managerial finance. His recreational interests include working on the ranch, flying, traveling and hunting.

Cathy Conover
Secretary

Cathy has a background in manufacturing operations, with both the General Electric Company and Avon Products. In 1981, she moved from New York City to Montana with her husband and two sons. She enjoyed a 30 year career with Montana State University. She served as the director of Labor Relations and Personnel Services, and later University Relations. As the Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, she served as the lobbyist and media spokesperson for MSU. University Marketing, Web Communications, Publications, News Bureau and Montana PBS were also in her division. Cathy has a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in Russian Studies and a Masters in Higher Ed from MSU. She has taught courses in the MSU College of Engineering and the College of Business.

Bradley Snow
Vice Chair

Bradley Snow, Livingston, Montana, is a former Wheeler Center board chair and the great-grandson of Senator Wheeler. He teaches history at Montana State University. His book, Living with Lead: An Environmental History of Idaho’s Coeur d’Alenes, 1885-2011, was published in 2017. Kathryn Morse of Middlebury College wrote: “Bradley Snow presents a case study of the trifecta of American modernity, which allows us to understand modernity at a deep and meaningful level.”

Robin Wheeler Azqueta
Board Member

Robin Wheeler Azqueta of West Palm Beach, FL, and West Glacier, MT, is the great-granddaughter of Sen. Wheeler. She holds an MBA and is a marketing consultant. She is President and General Manager of Advantage Wireless Communications, Inc. She is married with two children.

Philip Brittan
Board Member

Philip has started multiple companies from scratch and is a tech product innovator, patented software inventor, advisor, writer, investor, CTO and CEO. He has run businesses within Bloomberg, Google, and Thomson Reuters, managing large globally distributed teams of thousands of employees with multi-billion-dollar budgets and revenue. He is a Certified Financial Risk Manager and has personally raised over $100m in investment funding from angels, VCs, and strategic investors. Born in Silicon Valley (Palo Alto), Philip grew up on a ranch in Montana and has a degree in Computer Science from Harvard University. He loves writing, making music, and having outdoor adventures with his wife, family, and friends.

Zachary Brown
Board Member

Zach Brown is a Bozeman High and University of Montana graduate. He lives in Bozeman with his wife, Alice Buckley, and their two dogs. He serves in elected office as a Gallatin County Commissioner, and Alice serves in the Montana House of Representatives. Prior to Zach’s election as a County Commissioner, he served three terms in the Montana House of Representatives and worked for various community NGO’s, including One Montana, the Human Resource Development Council, and the Montana Nonprofit Association.

Waded Cruzado
Board Member, Ex Officio

Waded Cruzado, Bozeman, MT, serves as the 12th president of Montana State University, a position she has held since January, 2010.  In addition, President Cruzado currently serves on the boards of the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS), TIAA-Cref Hispanic Advisory Council, International Student Exchange Program (ISEP), US Bank, as well as the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

Marc C. Johnson
Board Member

Marc C. Johnson, Manzanita, OR, is the former president of Gallatin Public Affairs and is now “of counsel” to the firm. He is the former chief of staff to Idaho Gov. Cecil D. Andrus, and past president of the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University. Marc is the author of the widely acclaimed biography, Political Hell-Raiser -The Life and Times of Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, released in 2019.

Bill Jones
Board Member

Bill Jones is a fourth generation rancher from Harlowton. His family’s Twodot Land & Livestock Co. was founded in 1908 and is now in its sixth generation of ownership. The former Executive Director of the Gallatin History Museum in Bozeman and Past Governor of the Montana District of Kiwanis, Bill believes that, “Volunteer service is the rent you pay for the space you occupy in your community.”

Dave McAlpin
Board Member

Dave McAlpin has spent most of his working career as a public servant.  He is presently an Administrative Law Judge serving as the Chairman of the Montana Tax Appeal Board, presiding over tax appeal hearings, testifying before the Legislature, and supervising the agency.  Prior to that, he was hired by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to lead the smokeless states initiative to prohibit smoking in Montana bars, restaurants and public spaces. He was Chief Deputy Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court from 1995-1998, and before that worked as congressional staff in Washington, DC and Montana for Cong. Pat Williams and Sen. Max Baucus. McAlpin has a BA from the University of Montana and grew up on the family dairy farm near Polson.

Holly Michels
Board Member

Holly has been the head of the Montana State News Bureau for Lee Enterprises since 2020, supervising a team of reporters and coordinating with newsrooms around the state to cover state government, the legislature, and politics. A graduate of the
University of Montana School of Journalism, she has served as Managing Editor of the Helena Independent Record, City Editor of the Billings Gazette, and as business and general assignment reporter for the Montana Standard. Holly has also worked for the Ravalli Republic in Hamilton and the National Center for Appropriate Technology in Butte in editorial positions. A Montana native, Holly lives in Helena with her husband and young son.

Mark Parker
Board Member

Mark D. Parker was born in 1955 in the hospital room next to the room his mother was born in.  His dad was born in Fishtail, Montana.  Mark graduated from the University of Montana in 1977 with a degree in economics and received his law degree in 1980 from the University of San Diego.  He is the former President of the State Bar of Montana, admitted to practice law in Montana, California and Nevada.  He is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and winner of the 2021 Montana Jameson Award for Lifetime Achievement in the law. He has practiced law in Billings, Montana for 42 years.  He is married to Carlene Taubert, with two children–Monica and Stan.

Ian Snow
Board Member

Ian K. Snow is the chief executive officer and a co-founding partner of Snow Phipps Group, LLC, a private equity firm. Prior to the formation of Snow Phipps in April 2005, Mr. Snow was a managing director at Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C., a private equity firm, where he worked from its inception in 1995 until March 2005. He currently serves as a director of each of the following private companies in which Snow Phipps holds an equity interest: Blackhawk Industrial Distribution, Inc., Brook & Whittle Limited, Cascade Environmental LLC, DecoPac, Inc., ECRM, LLC, Electric Guard Dog, LLC, FeraDyne Outdoors, LLC, HCTec, Inc., Ideal Tridon Holdings, Inc., Kele, Inc. and Teasdale Foods, Inc. From 1996 until 2007, Mr. Snow served as a member of the board of directors of Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.  Mr. Snow earned a B.A., with honors, from Georgetown University.

Frederica Wheeler
Board Member

Frederica Wheeler Johnson grew up in Washington D. C. and graduated from Vassar in 1963 with a degree in International Relations and a minor in French. She did graduate work in Political Science at the University of Virginia. Frederica worked for the U. S. Department of Commerce for 23 years. She was in Washington from 1972-1973 and 1980-1995, and San Francisco from 1973-1980. During much of that time she served as an International Trade Analyst.

Kendall Wheeler
Board Member

Kendall Wheeler, Aiken, SC, Palm Beach, FL and West Glacier, MT, is the granddaughter of Sen. B. K. Wheeler, for whom she was named and with whom she enjoyed a special relationship as they shared the same birthday. She started her own small business and ran it successfully for twenty years.