Western Leaders Network

Jessica Pace has been the program coordinator of Western Leaders Network since 2017, overseeing the organization’s communications and engaging local, tribal, and state officials in critical climate, conservation, and democracy issue campaigns. As the program coordinator, she has worked with network leaders across the Interior West to advocate for federal and state methane safeguards, reforms for the hard rock mining industry and oil and gas sector, initiatives to protect democracy, national monument designations, and other federal protections for public lands, air and water. Prior to joining WLN, she worked as a news journalist for publications in Colorado and her native Tennessee, covering issues such as county government, the state legislature, water policy and infrastructure, the energy industry, tribal issues, and real estate.

Kianna Pete is Diné (Navajo), originally from the Navajo Nation and raised in Farmington, New Mexico. She is a student at Columbia University, obtaining a B.A. in Political Science and Ethnicity and Race Studies with a specialization in Indigenous/Native Studies. At the university, she works in undergraduate admissions and serves as the Native American Council President. Prior to Western Leaders Network, she interned with her tribal nation Chapter in Newcomb, NM, for Senator Ben Ray Luján, and the Association on American Indian Affairs. Most recently, she has conducted psychological research at the University of Michigan to study the political discrepancies between tribal communities and the US government. Motivated by the matriarchs within her family, she hopes to pursue a career in politics that preserves the sovereignty of Indigenous communities.

Elise Jones is a former two-term Boulder County commissioner, first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. She spent 13 years as executive director of Colorado Environmental Coalition in Denver, and prior to that worked as a Senior Legislative Assistant for Rep. Elizabeth Furse (D-OR), directed the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund in Boulder, and was a project coordinator for National Wildlife Federation. She is currently Executive Director of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.

Lauren Pagel is the Policy Director at Earthworks, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the adverse impacts of mineral and energy development. Lauren joined Earthworks, then Mineral Policy Center, in August 2002, after previously assisting with their 2001 campaign to stop the Bush administration from rolling back important rules to protect public lands from mining. Before joining Earthworks, Lauren helped the Union of Concerned Scientists organize their campaign to reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock. Before her time at UCS, Lauren was a part of the legislative team at Friends of the Earth, working on a variety of issues ranging from the Farm Bill to trade issues. Prior to Friends of the Earth, she worked on the field team at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. During her time at Earthworks, Lauren has testified in front of Congressional committees, represented Earthworks on the steering committee for the Western Mining Action Network and been quoted in publications such as the New York Times and Time Magazine. Lauren graduated from Vassar College in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

Don Schreiber along with his wife, Jane, run the Devil's Spring Ranch in northwest New Mexico's Rio Arriba County. In 2008, they pioneered the Open Space Pilot Project with BLM, industry and Holistic Management International to cut the numbers of new oil and gas well locations on and around the ranch by 90%, and to apply advanced construction and rehabilitation practices to all of the 122 oil and gas wells existing within the project area. 

Victor Snover is the former mayor of Aztec, New Mexico and a JROTC teacher at Aztec High School. He was born and raised in rural upstate New York where he volunteered to serve in the U.S. military upon graduating high school in 1988. He served 22 years, including four separate deployments during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991 and drug interdiction operations. After recruiting for the military for many years, he retired from service in 2012 and began his second career teaching Army JROTC in public school. He serves on the board of directors for New Mexico's Economic Council Helping Others, the Aztec Airport Advisory Board and the New Mexico Workforce Solutions State Board. Whenever possible, he explores the beautiful natural attractions of northern New Mexico and the American Southwest with his wife of 20 years, four adult children and three grandchildren. He enjoys camping, hiking, eating good food, exploring his expansive high desert backyard and mountains, and working to protect these natural treasures.

Juanita Vero is a Missoula County Commissioner and fourth-generation partner of the E Bar L Ranch in Greenough, Montana. In addition to running her family business, she has served on numerous community conservation-focused boards and committees, including as chair of Montana Conservation Voters, Missoula County Open Lands Committee, Big Blackfoot Chapter Trout Unlimited, Swan Valley Connections and Sunset School Board. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She enjoys horses, snowboarding and backcountry wandering after game with her husband and his llamas. She used to play lacrosse, rugby and ultimate frisbee, but is now relegated to spending more time on her yoga mat. In June 2019, Juanita was appointed to fill the remainder of Nicole Rowley’s term, which ended December 31, 2020. She ran and won the open seat in the November 2020 election.

Daniel Corona was elected Mayor of West Wendover, Nevada, in 2016 becoming the youngest and first openly LGBTQ+ mayor in the state of Nevada's history. Daniel, a fourth generation resident of the Wendover area, was inspired to run after meeting with voters in his neighborhood who were frustrated by the lack of transparency and access within City Hall. Daniel also works as the Senior Center Director at the West Wendover Senior Center. When he isn't fulfilling his duties as mayor or at the Senior Center, Daniel enjoys taking his dogs Maxine and Lily for hikes in West Wendover's surrounding mountain ranges and, when weather permits, spending weekends backpacking sections of Nevada's Ruby Mountains. A lifelong outdoorsman, Daniel is a passionate advocate for protecting Nevada's public lands and never shies away from taking tough stances on conservation issues, even if it means standing up to Nevada's powerful mining industry.

Amber Torres is a tribal citizen of the Walker River Paiute Tribe in Schurz, Nevada. She has served on the Walker River Tribal Council since 2010 and held the role of Tribal Chairman since 2016. She worked for the Walker River Tribal Health Clinic in Purchased Referred Care for 13 years and has three daughters: Kylie, Elizabella and Brynn Torres. She currently represents Nevada tribes by serving on the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada Executive Board, Equity Cabinet created by Congressman Horsford, serves as Chair for the Congressionally Mandated Intergovernmental Executive Committee, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona Steering Committee, National Indian Health Board, Tribal Leaders Diabetes Committee for IHS/SDPI, IHS Director’s Workgroup on Improving Purchase Referred Care, IHS Director’s Advisory Work Group on Tribal Consultation, Native Farm Bill Coalition, USDA Tribal Leaders Consultation Workgroup (FDPIR), a Co-Chair for Indian Health Service National Budget Formulation Committee, Western Nevada Leaders Committee and a former Western Regional representative for National Congress of American Indians. She has been nominated to serve on these boards as the Phoenix Area Representative, which represents the Arizona, Nevada and Utah tribes.

Shelly Fyant is Bitterroot Salish and resides on the Flathead Indian Reservation in what is now western Montana. She served on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council for eight years, most recently as the chairwoman from January 2020 to December 2021. During her tenure, CSKT’s water compact passed through the state and federal processes and was the largest settlement at $1.9 billion and nearly four decades of negotiations. It included restoration of the former National Bison Range to tribal hands. Shelly graduated from the University of Montana in 1989 with a B.S. in Business Administration. Her spare time is spent in the mountains with family, which includes four adult sons, seven grandchildren and one great granddaughter. She is resuming her food sovereignty work focusing on increasing access to locally grown, healthy foods in the Jocko Valley.

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk was born and raised in southwest Colorado and is an enrolled member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Towaoc, Colorado. She earned degrees at Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana, and the American Intercontinental University in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. She formerly worked for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and in October 2013 was elected to serve as a tribal leader for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. She served on various committees and boards including the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs and was co-chair of the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition. From an early age, Lopez-Whiteskunk has traveled throughout the country advocating for the land, water, air and animals, and educated others on Ute culture through song, dance and speeches.

Lena Fowler has served as a Coconino County board supervisor in Arizona since 2009 and was selected as one of 25 female elected leaders to participate in the Women in Government Leadership Program Class of 2018. In 2011, she became the first Diné chairwoman of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors. As an elected official, she is working toward shuttering the Navajo Generating Station and diversifying the Page-Lake Powell economy. She is from Tonalea-Red Lake, Arizona, and lives in Tuba City.

Rudy Soto was the Indigenous leaders organizer of Western Leaders Network and recently accepted an appointment to the Biden Administration to lead USDA Rural Development for the State of Idaho. He was born and raised in Nampa, Idaho, and is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and the son of a Mexican immigrant. Soto is a veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard. He has worked in policy and community engagement positions at the National Indian Child Welfare Association, the National Council of Urban Indian Health, the National Indian Gaming Association and as a legislative assistant for U.S. Representative Norma Torres (D-CA). Rudy staffed Rep. Torres for her work on the Natural Resources Committee; Federal Lands Subcommittee; Water, Power, and Oceans Subcommittee; and Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee. Rudy was elected the Democratic Nominee for Idaho’s First Congressional District in 2020, but did not succeed in winning the general election. He's proud of the positive campaign he ran, which was centered around amplifying the voices of rural and reservation communities and working class families across Idaho. The first in his family to graduate from college, Rudy is a proud Portland State University alumnus.