Every year, we hold Board seat elections at our Annual Conference. This year, our Conference, Pollinators, will be held on August 24 at Colorado Mesa University Meyer Ballroom. On even-numbered years, we elect a Chair and Treasurer. Our candidates this year are Kevin Williams (who is running for Chair) and Dee Wernette (who is running for Treasurer). Read more about these candidates below!

Kevin Williams

Kevin grew up in a small town in upstate New York surrounded by family farms, which instilled in him a deep connection to people who work the land and a strong work ethic.

Kevin migrated west in 1980 to attend the University of Idaho where he met his spouse Brenda. “I could not have come this far in life without her love, support and counsel.” As he was completing his MS degree in Forest Resources, he applied for a community organizer position with Western Colorado Alliance. “Teresa Erickson hired me sight unseen after I interviewed with her sister Lill in Boise, Idaho. That was 1984, and the rest is history.”

Kevin’s daughter Hannah was born and raised in Montrose, and has traveled the world. She cares deeply about the dignity and rights of refugees and immigrants and has been a major influence on Kevin and Brenda. In their spare time, Brenda and Kevin enjoy hiking in the San Juans, walking their rescue dog Zorro, and gardening, swing dancing, and traveling.

Kevin also serves on the Board of Directors of Delta Montrose Electric Association, one of the more forward thinking rural electric cooperatives in the state and nation. (See “The Importance of Rural Electric Cooperatives,” page 1.) Kevin says, “I am honored and humbled to be nominated as Alliance chair, and will do my best to listen, learn, and lead. When we organize and undertake issue campaigns for equity, justice and democracy, we can and will change our communities, states, nation and world. To quote Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings, ‘there’s some good in this world… and it’s worth fighting for.’”

Dee Wernette

Dee Wernette is our candidate for Western Colorado Alliance’s open Treasurer board seat, as Bill Wellman steps down after reaching the end of his term.

Dee moved to Grand Junction in 2023, after living most of his life in Michigan and Illinois. He retired in 2007 after 25 years as a sociology professor at a Chicago-area university. He also conducted applied social research on environmental justice, public involvement, and related topics at nearby Argonne National Laboratory there. His first project at the laboratory in the late 1970s involved analyzing and mitigating potential boomtown effects in Colorado’s Western Slope.

Here, he enjoys hiking and biking with his wife and extended family in our beautiful natural environment. He also enjoys reading, attending concerts, films, and New Dimensions classes, and involvement in Restore the Balance and Western Colorado Alliance.