Staff Directory
Executive Director - Caitlyn Pollihan
Phone:303-445-4363
Email:C.Pollihan@colostate.edu
Caitlyn Pollihan is the Executive Director of the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC). The WFLC is a state and federal partnership whose members consist of the western state and island foresters (the Council of Western State Foresters) and the western regions, research stations and Forest Products Laboratory of the US Forest Service. Pollihan was hired as the WFLC/CWSF Governmental Affairs Director in 2007 where she was instrumental in the passage of the FLAME Act. She was promoted to Executive Director for the WFLC/CWSF in 2009. In her current role she manages both state and federal staff members and facilitates the 34-person membership to develop and meet their strategic goals and agendas. Pollihan also serves on several national coalitions and committees such as the Wildland Fire Management Cohesive Strategy Oversight Committee and the State & Private Forestry Board. Prior to joining the WFLC, Pollihan served as the Staff Vice President for Government and Environment Affairs for the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Contemporary Media and Journalism/Public Relations from the University of South Dakota and a Master of Arts in Organizational Communication from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Administrative and Business Manager - Bob Carnes
Phone: 303-445-4362
Email: bcarnes@fs.fed.us
Bob Carnes serves as the Business Manager for WFLC. Before joining the staff in 2002 he had a career in telecommunications in Indiana and Colorado where he was a corporate expert witness for AT&T, Mountain Bell and US West in regulatory litigation matters for 14 western states. Bob joined the U.S. Forest Service on the Arapaho National Forest in Colorado in 1996, and transferred to the Rocky Mountain Region's Headquarters in 1999. Temporary assignments with the Forest Service have included the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, the Arapaho National Recreation Area in Colorado following 9/11, and the Washington, D.C. USFS headquarters during the end of the Clinton administration assigned to the Roadless Areas Project as writer-editor for the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Carnes is a native of Indiana, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree from Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Program Manager - Dana Coelho
Phone:303-445-4364
Email: dcoelho@fs.fed.us
Dana Coelho joined the WFLC in January 2009, coming from the US Forest Service Cooperative Forestry/Urban and Community Forestry staffs in Washington DC. Having just completed a Presidential Management Fellowship, she is busy developing new relationships and skills by working with the WFLC members, affiliated staff, and partners on issues such as the Statewide Forest Resource Assessments and Strategies and the WFLC Threats to Western Private Forests strategic initiative. Dana has a Masters of Science in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Maryland. Her bachelors is in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia.
Marketing and Communications Director - Diane Denenberg
Phone: 303-445-4365
Email: diane.denenberg@colostate.edu
Diane Denenberg became Marketing and Communications Director for the WFLC in 2003. Diane began communicating about the environment by bringing inner-city youth to the mountains near Denver. Diane left Denver Public Schools to become the Education Marketing Director for the Western Dairy Association, with a focus on Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture. She then moved to a private label organic dairy company as their Consumer Communications Director and operated an Organic Dairy Farm and Education Center in Maryland. Diane holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan and a Master of Arts and Teaching Degree from the University of Colorado.
Governmental Affairs Director - Brent Keith
Phone: 303.445.4366
Email:brent.keith@colostate.edu
Brent Keith joined the WFLC in May 2010 from Schroeder Law Offices, P.C. in Portland, Oregon. Prior to being admitted to the Oregon State Bar, Brent served as the environmental law clerk in the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. Brent also clerked for the General Counsel to Seneca Sawmill Company in Eugene, Oregon and served as a judicial extern to a United States Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of New York. Brent holds a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources Management from the University of Idaho and a Juris Doctor with a Certificate of Concentration in Environmental Law from Pace University School of Law. As an undergraduate, Brent worked as an intern with the National Association of State Foresters and Senator Larry Craig. He also held seasonal forester positions with the Oregon Department of Forestry, Plum Creek Timber Company and the US Forest Service as a wildland fire fighter.
