Staff & Board

McKee Anderson
Board Member

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.

Robin Wheeler Azqueta
Secretary

Robin, of West Palm Beach, FL and West Glacier MT, is the great-granddaughter of Senator Wheeler. She attended Montana State University as an undergraduate, later receiving her BA with Honors from Middlebury College in Political Science and Spanish, and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management with a focus in Spanish and Marketing. Robin was the Brand Manager for DEWAR’S Scotch Whisky for the U.S. while working for Bacardi, and spent more than 15 years in sales and marketing in the liquor industry.  Robin was the General Manager of Advantage Wireless Communications for 10 years.  Robin is a mother to two sons and enjoys travel, public policy, open water swimming, all things Montana, and the American West.

Philip Brittan
Treasurer

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 two dogs. He serves in elected office as a full time Gallatin County Commissioner. 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.

Amy Carlson
Board Member

Amy has been the Director of the Legislative Fiscal team since 2009 as a non-partisan leader of financial and data analysis for Legislature. This role and her previous roles in the Governor’s Office of Budget and Program Planning have developed an interest and knowledge of communicating public policy from all angles. Amy is a fifth generation Montanan raised in both Superior and then Belgrade. Amy received her B.S. in Economics from MSU Bozeman and her MBA from Seattle University. She and her husband Dave reside in Helena and have three grown children. When not working or spending time with her family she hikes and backpacks in Montana and as many other interesting places as possible.

Rosalie Sheehy Cates
Board Member

Rosalie Sheehy Cates has 30 years experience in community development financing and impact investing. She currently helps foundations to develop community investing policy, and to make portfolio decisions. From 1989-2010 Rosalie operated a community development loan fund, providing small business loans and New Markets Tax Credits in western Montana. Prior to that she was as an organizer for family farms and sustainable agriculture, working for the Wisconsin Rural Development Center. She also helped with her family’s small cattle operation. Rosalie lives with her family in Missoula where she is active in local politics, hiking, and a book club.

Darrell Ehrlick
Board Member

Darrell Ehrlick is the founding editor of the Daily Montanan. Prior to that, he was a journalist and editor in five different states before joining States Newsroom. His stints include the editor of his hometown newspaper, The Billings Gazette, the state’s largest. He has also served as the executive director of a medical training non-profit that focused on rural healthcare. He taught journalism at the university level and authored several books. He’s served on several other boards including the St. John’s Foundation, Zoo Montana and the Billings Education Foundation. He is the past recipient of the VFW’s highest honor for any journalist for his coverage of Vietnam veterans. Ehrlick graduated from Concordia College with honors, and attended Emory University and Bennington College for master’s studies. He lives in Billings with his partner, Cassy, and their three children, two cats and entirely too many books. 

Doug James
Board Member

Doug James is a retired Montana attorney, writer, and advocate for smart public policy. He believes politics is too important to be left to the loudest voices in the room. Drawing on decades of legal experience, he writes thoughtfully about politics, law, democracy, and the future of Montana. Through his work, Doug seeks to elevate civil discourse and encourage practical, principled solutions to the challenges facing his state and nation.

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.”

Chris King
Board Member

Chris King grew up on the family ranch southwest of Winnett.  He graduated with an engineering degree from MSU, where he met his wife, Gari.  Chris served nine years on the local school board, and fifteen years as a county commissioner.  He is also a founding member of the Winnett ACES.  Chris and Gari raised a daughter and son who now work on the ranch with them.  They have four grandsons.

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.

Bradley Snow
Vice-Chair of the Board

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.”

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.

Brock Tessman
Board Member Ex Officio

Montana State University President Brock Tessman pictured Bozeman, Mont. MSU photo by Kelly Gorham.

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 ground war in Vietnam, Tooley speaks widely on citizenship and leadership.