Welcome 2008 Consumer Issues Conference

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Speaker Biographies


	Tiger Adolf has more than 18 years experience working with state and federal agencies; academic institutions; investor-owned cooperative and municipal utilities; and the private sector in energy development and energy conservation. She obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University of Wyoming and is a licensed attorney. She holds a BS from Colorado State University, and an AAS from Northeastern Junior College. Tiger is the Executive Director of Wyoming Energy Council, Inc., a multi-faceted energy resource conservation focused nonprofit corporation. WEC is headquartered in Laramie, Wyoming, with a branch in Cheyenne. While at WEC, Tiger launched a state-wide Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program (www.wyominghomeperformance.com); increased crew-size, raised qualification standards, and increased production in the weatherization program; achieved Building Performance Institute Affiliate status; and transformed critical operations; and transitioned from low-tech, paper-only job tracking to high-tech, nearly paperless job tracking, energy analysis, and financial systems.

	Eric Arnould joined the University of Wyoming faculty in fall 2007 to foster new initiatives in sustainable business practice. He has pursued a career in applied social science since receiving his BA in 1973. While enjoying the challenges of working as a consultant in agricultural, marketing systems and natural resource management in more than a dozen West African nations between 1975 and 1990, he earned a PhD in Economic Anthropology with a minor in Archaeology (1982), and pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in the Marketing Department (1982-1983), all at the University of Arizona. Eric’s research on development, services marketing, consumer culture theory, and marketing channels in developing countries appears in over 90 articles and chapters in major social science and managerial periodicals and books, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Human Organization, and Journal of Marketing Research. He serves on the review boards of several journals and is an Associate Editor of Journal of Consumer Research.

	Felicity Barringer was appointed national correspondent (environment) for The New York Times in September 2003. Previously, Ms. Barringer had been United Nations bureau chief since February 2003. Before that she had been a media reporter at The Times since April 1998, covering stories such as the Los Angeles Times-Staples Center controversy and the merger of the Tribune Company and Times Mirror. Before that she was the founding editor for the Monday Business Day section, which launched in May 1995 with a special focus on news about the media and technology sectors. She took that job after 18 months as the deputy editor of the Week in Review section. From 1989 until 1993, Mrs. Barringer covered demographic and social policy from Washington. Mrs. Barringer joined The Times as a contributing correspondent in Moscow in 1986. For about three years she filed stories about the political and cultural upheavals of the early Gorbachev era. In addition to her coverage of Soviet culture, her subject matter ranged from the Chernobyl disaster to the Soviet space program. Before joining The Times, Mrs. Barringer worked as a reporter and editor on The Washington Post’s metropolitan and national staffs from 1976 to 1985. Earlier, she worked at The Record in Bergen County, N.J., and the Philadelphia Bulletin.

	Michele Beck was appointed as Director of the Utah Committee of Consumer Services in November 2006. The Committee of Consumer Services is the state agency responsible for representing the small consumers of Utah in utility regulatory cases and other policy forums. Ms. Beck’s experience includes over twelve years in the energy field, including five years as a ratepayer advocate in Minnesota as well as five years in transmission and resource planning in a large generation and transmission electric cooperative. Ms. Beck received her undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University, where she studied political science and economics, and pursued graduate studies in applied economics at the University of Minnesota.

	Michael Bowman is a fifth-generation Colorado native, born and raised on the family farm in eastern Colorado. He serves on the National Steering Committee for “25x’25” (www.25x25.org) served as Chair of Colorado’s New Energy Future in 2006 and was co-chair of Governor-elect Bill Ritter’s transition team for energy policy. He was a member of the 2005 Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on Climate Change and was active in Colorado’s “Amendment 37” campaign, the nation’s first citizen-initiated renewable portfolio standard. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Conservation Voters, is a steering committee member of the Colorado Apollo Alliance and a member of the Colorado Climate Action Plan steering committee where his efforts were focused on creating public policy encouraging low carbon biofuels and sustainable methods of agricultural production. Michael is a founding board member of the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance (www.fuelresponsibly.org) and chairs the Colorado Farm-to-Cafeteria Coalition. He is a steering committee member for Mayor John Hickenlooper’s “Greening the DNC” committee and is active with the Denver Rescue Mission’s capital campaign for its Larimer County “Harvest Farm”.

	Tim Burkink is Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean of the College of Business & Technology at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has eight years of industry experience in wholesale distribution and brand management. Dr. Burkink teaches consumer behavior, personal selling, and marketing management and his research focuses on issues related to food marketing and to rural economic development. He has published articles in over ten national and international journals and presented at numerous national and international conferences.

	Dave Bunn, a Laramie native, has always been in love with nature. In 1996, he began his own company, promoting efficiently built homes and creating better living environments. For twelve years he effectively researched and applied many building techniques to create a more sustainable future through building. His company, Green Build Technology, LLC™, has blossomed into many things over the years. He has helped our community grow, whether it is educating people about green living to building communities with efficient homes and remodels.

	Mary Byrnes was appointed to the Wyoming Public Service Commission by Governor Dave Freudenthal in 2005 for a term that ends in March 2009. Prior to being appointed to the PSC, she was a senior analyst to the Wyoming Legislature, primarily on K-12 school finance for 10 years, (1996-2005). She has also been an economist to the State (1984-1991), administering the state’s economic research and statistics division and represented the executive branch as co-chair of the state’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group. She is a member of the numerous committees of the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners: Energy Resources and the Environment, Clean Coal Ad Hoc and International Relations. In addition she serves on the New Mexico State University Advisory Council of the Center for Public Utilities. Her interests at the PSC include promoting cost effective energy efficiency and proper resource pricing through rate structures to encourage and ensure the most efficient use Wyoming’s renewable and non-renewable resources and protection of Wyoming’s economic and physical landscapes. As State and federal agencies and regional state coalitions develop climate change policies to manage carbon emissions, it is critically important for regulators to position consumers and utility companies in ways that provide the best market based solution choices. She is committed to providing and protecting the equitable access of services for all of Wyoming’s citizens, particularly the challenges discovered on the Wind River Reservation and in other remote areas of the State.

	Cale Case is a Wyoming State Senator, an economist and president of Case and Company, a firm specializing in economic and regulatory consulting. He is also the CEO of Sink and Rise, LLC which owns and operates the Inn at Lander and Peaks Conference Center. Cale earned his doctorate in natural resource and public utility economics in 1986 and has served as industry and regulatory advisor to telephone companies, electric utilities, and municipal, state and national governments. He has assisted several nations in the establishment of regulatory agencies, energy, and telecommunications policy issues. Prior to forming Case and Company, Cale was the Director of Economics and Finance at Palmer Bellevue, a division of Coopers & Lybrand, LLP. He joined Palmer Bellevue after serving as the Manager of the Policy Division of the Illinois Commerce Commission, a multi-sector public utility regulatory agency and earlier as Director of the Commission’s Telecommunications Program. While at the Illinois Commerce Commission, Cale served on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Staff Subcommittee on Telecommunications. Cale is a frequent speaker on natural resource policy, utility and telecommunications market and is past chairman of the Wyoming Telecommunications Council. He is Chairman of the Senate Corporations Committee and was a principle author of the 1995 Wyoming Telecommunications Act as well as the 2007 Telecommunications Act. He was first elected to the Wyoming House in 1992.

	Michael Ceballos, in his 27th year with Qwest, assumed the position of President for Wyoming in July 1998. Mike has a broad base of experience in telecommunications having worked in the network provisioning area, retail marketing, product and market management, human resources, and legislative/regulatory relations. One of the main focus areas for Mike, as Wyoming’s President, has been the development of creative partnerships to expand telecommunications in the state. The Wyoming Equality Network and the joint fiber build with several independent telcos are examples of those partnerships. Mike serves on the boards of the Wyoming Business Alliance (chairman), Cheyenne LEADS (the local economic development organization), the University of Wyoming’s College of Business Advisory Council and the Wyoming Taxpayer’s Association. In addition, Mike is a member of Leadership Wyoming’s class of 2001, the Telephone Pioneers, HOPE (Hispanic Organization for Progress and Education) and several K-16 education initiatives. Mike received a Master’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado in 1997 and a Bachelor of Science degree in business accounting administration from Northern Arizona University.

	Curt Cramer is Associate Dean and Professor Emeritus in the College of Business at the University of Wyoming, where he has 38 years of experience. His specialty is public utility economics, concentrating on natural gas, electric power, and telecommunications. Curt is currently Chair of the Telecommunications Board for the City of Fort Collins. He received his PhD and BS from the University of Maryland..

	Anthony Denzer is Assistant Professor of Architectural Engineering at the University of Wyoming. He holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles and an M.Arch. from the University of Kansas. His primary expertise is as an architectural historian, specializing in 20th century American architecture and social issues. His book entitled "Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary" will be published by Rizzoli in September 2008, and his next major research project involves the history of the solar house. He has six years of experience in architectural practice, and several articles published about current practices in green architecture.

	Beth Federici is an independent filmmaker, media educator and activist. She recently served as the Executive Director of Columbia Access Television, the public access television channel and studio in Columbia Missouri, established in 2004. Federici is currently Co-Producing/Directing Neither Here Nor There, a feature-length documentary about a Bosnian widow, Fatima Selimovic, and her children. The Selimovic family resettled in Missouri, in the heartland of America, after the Bosnia war ended but they are still searching for their home. In addition she is Co-Producing/Directing an independent documentary titled Ant, a film about the 1970s art collective, the Ant Farm. She also holds a Masters of Public Affairs from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

	David Hunt, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Wyoming. David’s research interests lie at the intersection of consumer behavior, macromarketing, and public policy. His current research includes work in the areas of community development, social marketing, and deceptive negotiation in consumer exchange. At the University of Wyoming David teaches courses in Advanced Marketing Management and Business, Society, and Government. David is married to Lisa Hunt. The couple has an eleven month old daughter and two Labrador retrievers.

	Rob Hurless is the Energy and Telecommunications Advisor in the Office of Governor Dave Freudenthal. Prior to this position, Hurless was the Chairman of the Wyoming Public Service Commission. From 1979 to 2003, he was the publisher of the Casper-Star Tribune, Wyoming’s only statewide newspaper. He also served as a Lt. Jg. in the US Navy, USS Quapaw, ATF110 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii from 1972-1975. He received his BS in Chemistry and BA in History from Montana State University, an MBA from Harvard University, and an MA in Applied Economics from Stanford University

	Joel Kelsey is a federal and international affairs policy analyst for Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports. Working out of the New York and Washington, D.C. offices Joel advocates on communications policy issues and manages the grassroots component of Consumers Union’s media reform and telecommunications work. With CU, Joel works to promote a fair and just marketplace by empowering consumers to fight for better and more affordable telephone, cable and Internet services or equipment. He is responsible for working closely with state and federal policy makers, community leaders and citizen activists throughout the country.

	Linda Kiisk, AIA LEED AP. Linda has degrees in art and architecture. Prior to joining the Facilities Planning staff at the University of Wyoming, she served as a professor while maintaining an architecture practice specializing in the use of natural materials. She designed three hybrid straw bale structures which have been constructed outside Laramie. One of the projects is net-metered and utilizes both passive and active solar systems. Prior to coming to Laramie, she was the associate director for a sustainability institute at Colorado State University. In this position she produced satellite broadcasts and web based training manuals for the National Park Service. Her broadcast video on deconstruction won an International Telly Award. At CSU, she conducted classes for universities, professionals and government agencies on sustainability. In 2004, she was nominated by CIES for the position of a Fulbright International Chair in Sustainable Development and Heritage Tourism. She took her expertise to Panama, where she taught design and conducted research on Kuna Indians and their indigenous ways of building. In her current position as the Associate Director for the University of Wyoming’s Facilities Planning department she is responsible for ensuring that the campus’s buildings meet LEED requirements for sustainable design and construction. Linda is committed to creating places which enhance the human spirit through a thoughtful connection to the natural environment.

	Carole J. Makela. Dr. Makela’s appointment is in the School of Education at Colorado State University. She teaches in the graduate research methodology program, coordinates the doctoral Interdisciplinary Studies Program, and explores state policies in the senior capstone courses for family and consumer sciences students. Her interest in consumer issues has included past editor of the Journal of Consumer Affairs, service on Colorado’s Division of Insurance Producers Advisory Council and on the Board of Directors of the Credit Counseling Service of Northern Colorado-Southeastern Wyoming. Currently she is editor of the Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences and a trainer of educators for Population Connections–where resources and energy are frequent issues.

	Mark Northam is the Director of the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming. He comes to the university after a year and a half with Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia where he worked as a Research Science Consultant in the Research and Development Center. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco, Mark worked for over twenty years at Mobil and ExxonMobil. He held a variety of positions during that time, including: Technical Coordinator/Business Advisor in Geoscience Research at ExxonMobil Technology Consultant in the Office of the Chief Technology Officer for Mobil Oil Corporation Technology Manager for Mobil Exploration Norway, Inc. Manager of Tectonics and Sedimentology Manager of Basin Analysis Manager of Organic Geochemistry for Mobil R & D Exploration/Operations Geologist for Mobil E&P in New Orleans Research Scientist – Organic Geochemistry for Mobil R&D Mark earned a PhD in Organic Geochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Wake Forest University. He is originally from Virginia.

	Chris Petrie is Secretary and Chief Counsel to the Wyoming Public Service Commission. He previously served as a staff attorney for the PSC, Senior Counsel for the Wyoming Office of Consumer Advocate, and Senior Assistant Attorney General in charge of consumer protection. He received a BA in Political Economy and a Juris Doctor from the University of Wyoming.

	Dee Pridgen is Associate Dean and Professor of Law, at the University of Wyoming’s College of Law. Her subjects include Consumer Protection, Contracts, Antitrust, Communications Law, Constitutional Law, and Internet Law. She received her Juris Doctorate in 1974, from New York University, and a B.A. in 1971, from Cornell University. Pridgen's publications include two treatises aimed at practicing attorneys, Consumer Protection and the Law, and Consumer Credit and the Law, both published by Thomson/West, and updated yearly. She is also a coauthor of a law school casebook entitled Consumer Law: Cases and Materials (Thomson/West 3d edition). She has written articles and reports on consumer law, and has given presentations at international consumer law meetings in Helsinki, Finland and Auckland, New Zealand. She has also presented at and been the co-chair of the Consumer Issues Conference held yearly at the University of Wyoming since 2001.

	Terri Rittenburg is an associate professor of Marketing and adjunct associate professor of International Studies at the University of Wyoming. Terri received her PhD in Marketing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1988. At UW since 1989, she teaches primarily international marketing and international business courses. Her research focus is in business ethics and macromarketing issues. Recent work has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Macromarketing, and Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. She serves on the editorial policy board for the Journal of Macromarketing. She is advisor to the Global Business Club at UW and teaches a regular study-tour course that takes students overseas. A former Faculty Senate chair, she serves on the Social Justice Research Center advisory committee as well as the Faculty Dispute Resolution Panel.

	José Antonio Rosa is professor of marketing and sustainable business practices in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Wyoming, where he teaches marketing related courses to graduate and undergraduate students. He received his PhD in Business Administration and Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1992. Among his current research interests are subsistence consumer hope and innovativeness and implications for personal and community welfare, energy consumption and sourcing being among the factors that influence consumers. Rosa has also studied the role of body knowledge in creative imagination, both in the US and among consumer in Latin American countries, and the role of body knowledge in creative imagination by professionals involved in problem solving and product development tasks. In addition to the work on innovativeness, he is involved in research into the use of coupons by ethnic minority groups and the life strategies applied by subsistence consumer merchants in Asia to manage the competing demands of family, customers, and suppliers, how low-literacy and low-numeracy consumers navigate retail environments that are geared to medium to high levels of literacy and numeracy skills, and the role of commitment and relationships in the sustainment of micro-enterprises in developing economies. Rosa has conducted research into the commitment and motivation exhibited by members of network marketing organizations, product markets as socio-cognitive phenomena, body knowledge in consumer and managerial sensemaking and purchase behaviors, and the influence of prior-purchase satisfaction on buying groups attitudes and decisions. His research has been published in marketing and management journals, including Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Business Research, and the Academy of Management Journal. In addition to a PhD, Rosa holds a Bachelor in Industrial Administration degree from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University), a Master in Business Administration degree from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and a Master of Arts in Psychology degree from the University of Michigan.

	Tim Schram was elected to the Nebraska Public Service Commission in November, 2006. He is currently a member of the Mid-America Regulatory Commissioners (MARC) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). On the local and state level, Commissioner Schram served for twelve years as a member of the Sarpy County Board of Commissioners, having been elected in 1994 and re-elected in 1998 and 2002. eHe Mr. Schram also served on the Nebraska Beginning Young Farmer Board, Nebraska Road Classifications and Standards Board, Sarpy County Planning Commission, Alegent Midlands Hospital Advisory Board and the University of Nebraska President’s Advisory Council. In addition, Commissioner Schram has volunteered many hours of service to the Gretna Optimists, Sarpy County Fair and Rodeo and benefit auctions for the Heart Association; Cancer Fund, Diabetes Association, Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Commissioner Schram is a graduate of the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics.

	Nikki Shears comes from the hills of Eastern Kentucky. Ms. Shears obtained her BSEE from Virginia Tech and began working for the Federal Communication Commission’s Mass Media Bureau upon graduation. After three years with the AM Branch, she transferred to the FCC’s Denver Field Office. Minus a stint with a broadband provider in 2000-2001, Nikki has worked with the Denver Office since 1994, enjoying the people and work within Denver’s six-state territory.

	Treva Sprout is a lifetime Wyoming native, receiving both a BS and MS in Family and Consumer Sciences, and a BS in Molecular Biology from the University of Wyoming. Currently, she is an assistant lecturer in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, teaching courses in interior and applied design, housing, and sustainable design of interiors. She also is involved in part-time private practice as an National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) qualified interior designer. Her main area of interest in green design is finding and evaluating eco-friendly solutions in the marketplace that are truly sustainable and beneficial, rather than just "green-washed".

	Sadrul Ula is a Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Wyoming. His interests lie in energy efficiency and solar power. Sadrul received his PhD from the University of Leeds.

	John Tschirhart received his B.S. from Johns Hopkins University in 1970 and his MS and PhD from Purdue University in 1972 and 1975, respectively. He is currently Professor of Economics at the University of Wyoming, was chairman of the Department of Economics from 1982 to 1985, and was co-director of the Public Utility Research and Training Institute (PURTI) at UW from 1988-1999. Tschirhart’s research has been funded by the U. EPA, the US Geological Survey, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories, NSF, NMFS, the American Water Works Association and the US Information Agency. He has published numerous articles in professional journals and was coeditor of PURTI Research Summaries, a publication that summarized academic research on public utilities for noneconomists. His book with Sanford Berg, Natural Monopoly Regulation, has been used at numerous universities and regulatory agencies. Tschirhart was chairman of the Transportation and Public Utility Group of the American Economic Association. He has consulted for the US DoE, Mathematica, Inc., the EPRI, Ameritech, US West, the seven Regional Bell Companies, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the NFL Players Association, Saskatchewan Telecommunications, the UN Development Program in Kazakhstan, the World Bank in Bolivia, and US AID in Russia.