Mayor Jeff Silvestrini
Millcreek City
Commission Chair
Jeff Silvestrini is the mayor of Millcreek, Utah’s newest city, formed in December, 2016. In Millcreek’s first two years, Jeff led the effort to form a lean, transparent and collaborative city government.
Millcreek is the namesake of the mountain stream which flows through the town. The Millcreek boundary extends from the alluvial fan of Mt. Olympus in the Wasatch Range on the east to the Jordan River bisecting the Valley of the Great Salt Lake on the west. Home to some 62,000 water drinkers and canyon recreationalists, Millcreek has a great stake in preserving the watershed as well as the natural beauty of the Wasatch Range. As the only city bordering Mill Creek Canyon, it has a special interest in preserving it as a refuge and working to solve the transportation issues affecting it, so it does not get “loved to death.”
Jeff has been a practicing lawyer for 39 years until he was elected to serve the people of Millcreek. Jeff pledges to continue using the advocacy skills he learned in his career to zealously guard and protect the values we all enjoy in the mountains in our backyard, to insure they remain a resource for water, recreation, solitude and natural beauty for us and generations to come.
Commissioners
Mayor Erin Mendenhall
Salt Lake City
Commission Co-Chair
Erin came to Salt Lake with her family when she was 7 years old, and after losing her father to cancer at age 13, Erin graduated from Alta High School and enrolled at the University of Utah. It was there that her interest in the intersection of science and public policy took shape, leading to a career focused on improving Utah’s air quality and protecting our environment.
Just weeks after the birth of her first son, Erin learned the air quality in Salt Lake City had become so bad that it could take two years off his life. She decided to stay and fight rather than walk away, becoming an activist and joining Utah Moms for Clean Air in 2008. Determined to bring scientific understanding to air-quality discussions in the state legislature, our schools, and our community, Erin co-founded a new non-profit organization, Breathe Utah, in 2010, and was appointed to Utah’s Air Quality Board in 2014. She has since twice been elected as its chair.
Wanting to advance air-quality policy inside the city government and serve Salt Lake City on a wider range of issues, Erin was elected to represent District 5 on the City Council in 2013. During her six years on the Council, including one year as its chair, Erin worked for equitable progress across the city, driving road repairs and infrastructure maintenance, expanding access to transit and affordable housing, and making the city more equitable for women and girls. She is the first mayor in Salt Lake City history to have been publicly elected from the city council. As mayor, Erin is working hard to make Salt Lake City more environmentally and economically resilient, and to take advantage of the region’s historic period of economic opportunity. She is determined to ensure every Salt Laker — no matter their neighborhood, economic or housing status, faith, race, or sexual or gender identity — can access all the city has to offer.
Erin’s love for the extraordinary people of Salt Lake City drives an unrelenting commitment to bringing people from different walks of life together in pursuit of results for the entire city. Erin was elected the 36th mayor of Salt Lake City on November 5, 2019 and took the oath of office on the steps of City Hall on January 6, 2020.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in gender studies and a master’s degree in science and technology, both from the University of Utah. Erin and her husband, Kyle LaMalfa, are the proud parents of three children, Cash, Everett, and Milå.
Councilor Christopher F. Robinson
Summit County
Commission Treasurer and Secretary
Christopher F. Robinson is the CEO and co-owner of The Ensign Group, L.C., which through its affiliates owns, operates, leases, and/or manages large tracts of private and public land located in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, and used for production agriculture, mineral and resource development, wildlife values, water resources, environmental values, real estate investment, and/or real estate development.
Chris is an elected Member, Summit County Council (2009 through present); a member of the Executive Committee and Vice-Chair, Mountain Accord (2014 to 2016); a member of the Board of Directors, a member of the Utah Local Governments Trust (2015 to present); a member of the Bureau of Land Management Utah Resource Advisory Council (January 2016 to present); a member of the Utah Advisory Board for the Sundance Institute (2017 to present); a trustee (1999 to 2002) of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and Vice-Chairman of Audit Committee; a trustee and currently Vice-Chair of the Utah Board, The Nature Conservancy (1996 to present);.
Chris is married to Rochelle Allen Robinson, and they are the parents of four children. He received an Honors B.A. in Accountancy from the University of Utah (1986), and resides in Park City, Utah.
Mayor Roger Bourke
Town of Alta
Commissioner
Roger Bourke [pronounced Burk] was educated at Stanford University where he received BS, MS and PhD degrees in 1960, ’61 and ’64 respectively. The last was in Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Upon graduation he joined the Caltech Jet Propulsion Lab in the early years of planetary exploration. At JPL he was involved in designing several planetary missions including the first orbiter of another planet, the first multi-planet mission, and the Voyager mission go the four outer planets, launched in 1977 and still returning data from beyond the solar system.
Prior to his retirement from JPL in 2000, he was on the team planning the international Mars exploration program that has since resulted in multiple orbiters and rovers on the surface.
He now lives in Alta and is an occasional aerospace consultant and full time skier. He is new to municipal government but anxious to learn and serve the community.
Mayor Dan Knopp
Town of Brighton
Commissioner
Dan Knopp is the Mayor of the Town of Brighton and has lived in Big Cottonwood Canyon for 26 years.
He is the owner of Silver Fork Lodge and Restaurant, Big Cottonwood Rotary Plow, and Bear Trap Lodge. For almost 20 years, Knopp was president of the Silver Fork Pipeline Corporation where he supervised the rebuilding of most of Silver Fork’s water pipeline system. Before moving to the Canyon, he lived in Holladay, Utah, and ran Miller Pavings General Contracting Division and held a general engineering license.
Knopp is a lifelong skier, former ski racer, and competed six times at the US Masters Nationals. For eight years, he was chairman of the USSA Intermountain Masters. For over a decade, Knopp lived above the Silver Fork Lodge kitchen with his daughter, Kassie. He built a house in Beartrap Fork where he currently lives with his wife, Tara, and children Keaton, Kelsey, and Kate.
Mayor Michael Weichers
Cottonwood Heights
Commissioner
Mike Weichers is the Mayor of Cottonwood Heights, the City between the Canyons. Nestled against the Wasatch Mountains, its residents enjoy the beauty and lifestyle of its surroundings every day.
Mike is a lifelong Utahn, born and raised in the South end of the Salt Lake Valley. Mike and his wife, Jenni, have lived in Cottonwood Heights for 19 years and have 6 children, along with 4 grandchildren. He and his family enjoy the outdoors, including a love for skiing, hiking, climbing, and exploring all that our Central Wasatch mountains possess.
As a strong supporter of clean air initiatives, Mike is proud of his endorsement from O2Utah and is committed to finding future solutions to make the air we breathe cleaner.
Mike has a diverse professional background, including owning his own business, 15 plus years as an experienced Mortgage Banker, and the last 11 years working as a Banker within Treasury Management. He has volunteered his time serving on multiple committees within Cottonwood Heights, including helping disadvantaged youth, and teaching citizens to be prepared in times of Emergency. Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Brigham Young University.
Mayor Nann Worel
Park City
Commissioner
Park City Mayor Nann Worel grew up in Seattle, where she enjoyed all the Pacific Northwest has to offer including hiking, camping, boating, and skiing. After attending the University of Washington on a United States Navy Nurse scholarship, she was stationed in Long Beach, California and cared for veterans returning from the Vietnam War. While there she completed a master’s degree in Hospital Administration at UCLA and was recruited to Birmingham, Alabama for a one-year project.
While in Birmingham, she met her husband, Mike, and the one year she had planned to stay in Alabama turned into nearly 25 years. The skiing and hiking that the Worels love prompted them to purchase a second home in Park City in 2003 and they moved there full-time in 2008 when their only child, Christopher, left the nest for college.
Nann had the privilege of serving as the Executive Director of the People’s Health Clinic for 8 years as well as the President of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics from 2014-2016. She was a member of Leadership Park City Class 15 and served on the Park City Planning Commission from 2011 until she joined the Park City Council in 2016.
In 2021, she was elected Mayor of Park City and became the first woman ever to hold that position. Always up for a new adventure, Nann can be found traveling, long distance running, skiing or hiking in her spare time.
Mayor Monica Zoltanski
Sandy City
Commissioner
Besides her work on environmental issues, Mayor Zoltanski is a long-time Sandy resident, community advocate, former Sandy City prosecutor and has owned several antiques shops in the Salt Lake Valley. She was raised in Northwest Ohio by exceptional parents who grew up in the Depression Era. She is #9 of 10 children and her parents taught their kids of the importance of thrift and the value of hard work. Mayor Zoltanski put herself through college at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she cheered on the Brewers and studied journalism. After college, she worked in Washington D.C. as a congregational aide on Capitol Hill to a powerful congressman who gained success and respect as a legislator by taking care of relationships in his home community. She then attended law school at the University of Toledo and moved to Utah to start her career as a litigator and to enjoy the spectacular Utah mountain lifestyle – so different from the flatlands of Ohio. During her legal career, she worked as a Sandy City prosecutor where she conducted trials in the Sandy Justice Court. This exposed her to the workings of local government, the police department, and the citizens of Sandy. She has been a strong supporter of law enforcement throughout her career.
Mayor Zoltanski is also an animal lover and avid outdoorswoman and those passions have drawn her into public service. She lives near Dimple Dell Park and takes care of her own horses, dogs, and cats right at home. We are so fortunate to still have neighborhoods where it is possible to do so. Through her love for animals and nature, she’s grown keenly aware of pressures of development which increase each year. Balancing our precious open space, historic neighborhoods, unique areas, and business interests is the challenge of our time.
As Sandy City’s Mayor, she stands for: increasing citizen participation in local decisions, protecting our unique neighborhoods, supporting public safety officers, and responsible management of tax dollars.
Ex-Officio Members
Carlton Christensen
Utah Transit Authority
Commissioner
Carlton Christensen serves as Chair of the UTA Board of Trustees, and previously served five years as the Director of Regional Transportation, Housing and Economic Development for Salt Lake County.
Prior to joining the County, Mr. Christensen worked as a Community Development Representative for Zions Bank. Previously he worked for 18 years in finance and accounting for both the bank and for a property management development company. He has an extensive track record of public service including sixteen years spent on the Salt Lake City Council. Mr. Christensen has also been the Chair of the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency and Salt Lake City Council, President of the Utah League of Cities & Towns, the President of the Associates Board for the Museum of Natural History of Utah, an ex officio member of the Salt Lake City Airport Board and Chair of the Wasatch Front Economic Development District.
Mr. Christensen previously served on the Board of Shelter the Homeless and as a member of the Great Salt Lake Advisory Council. Mr. Christensen joined the Utah Transit Authority Board of Trustees on November 1, 2018.
Annalee Munsey
Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy
Commissioner
Annalee Munsey is the Assistant General Manager at the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy. The District was organized in 1935 to provide a reliable water supply for the Salt Lake Valley. In her 15 years with the District, Annalee has deepened her passion for water quality and conservation. She represents the District on the Governor’s Water Conservation team, which is composed of seven of the water agencies in the state and promotes the wise and efficient use of water for the long-term benefit of the state and its citizens. She also is an invited member of the Provo River Watershed Council, a coalition of local, state, and federal government agencies, water districts, and private organizations dedicated to ensuring high water quality in the Provo River Watershed. In January 2019, Annalee was appointed to the Central Wasatch Commission Stakeholders Advisory Council where she has served as Chair of the Visitor Use Subcommittee.
Annalee earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s degree in human resources. She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree at Brigham Young University. A Utah native, Annalee enjoys hiking, waterskiing, camping, and exploring Utah’s national and state parks. Her husband, Chris, and their four children love the outdoors and share in her passion to protect Utah’s water, a precious resource.
Dave Whittekiend
Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest Service
Commissioner
Dave Whittekiend spent his boyhood moving from one western town to the next. The son of a dedicated Forest Service employee, he learned early on the significance of the agency’s efforts in managing and protecting forests and grasslands. Dave is passionate about managing lands for the benefit of the public and facilitating collaboration between government and private sectors to do so.
Dave began earning his Forest Service stripes in 1988 as a seasonal range technician on the North Kaibab Ranger District in Arizona, where he built miles of fence, fought wildfires, and counted more cows than he cares to remember. Eager to experience the multiple facets of the agency, Dave went on to work on forests in Montana, Idaho and Missouri, as well as in legislative affairs at the Forest Service National Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Now the Forest Supervisor on the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, one of the most visited forests in the national forest system with 10.7 million visitors a year, Dave is committed to sustaining its health, diversity and productivity. When he’s not managing the forest’s 2.1 million acres, he’s probably camping, backpacking, running, mountain biking or fly fishing there.
Staff
Lindsey Nielsen grew up in Sandy, Utah, and graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts with a degree in Political Science. She then earned a Master’s of Science in Environmental Protection and Management from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She’s interned for the Scottish Parliament, Wild Utah Project, SLC Green, and conducted field research in South Africa, France, Scotland, Finland, and across the wilds of Utah.
Lindsey joined the Central Wasatch Commission as Communications Director in August 2018, and became the Executive Director for the Commission in July 2023. Before joining the CWC, Lindsey ran a human-rights-centered film festival in Fort Collins, Colorado, directed communications for an environmental non-profit in Park City, and worked in the Salt Lake City political arena.
Outside of the CWC, you will find Lindsey gardening, with her rescue-pups, Harper , Birchwood, and Charlie, or climbing, biking, skiing, paddling, and hiking in and around the Central Wasatch.
Sam Kilpack grew up in West Jordan, Utah and earned her bachelor’s degree at Westminster University in Salt Lake City with a double-major in Sociology and Philosophy and a minor in Spanish. Spending her college and post-college years working largely in the grocery industry, she developed a strong passion for sustainability that propelled her back to school to earn her MBA at the University of Utah. While there, she did consulting projects for local, sustainability-oriented organizations, placed 2nd in the Net Impact Case Competition, served on the school’s sustainability committee, and interned for Republic Services.
Sam loves being outdoors, particularly during the fall, and enjoys camping, hiking, and paddle-boarding. She relishes being near water of any kind, but her favorite places are alpine lakes and streams such as those found in the Central Wasatch. During her spare time she also likes to read, play the piano, travel, paint, and search for treasures at thrift stores, yard sales, estate sales, and antique shops.
Mia McNeil was born and raised in Holladay, Utah and currently resides near the University of Utah. She is working on her Bachelors Degree in Environmental and Sustainability Studies at the University of Utah, while also Minoring in Geography and receiving a certificate in Geographic Information Systems. Mia hopes to work in various aspects of conservation work including environmental planning, policy development, and field work. As Community Engagement Coordinator, she focuses on outreach activities, managing social media for the Central Wasatch Commission, facilitating the CWC Youth Council, and undertaking various other responsibilities.
In addition to her schooling, Mia is a member of the Delta Gamma Sorority that focuses on building friendships, becoming aspiring leaders, and prioritizing philanthropic work, specifically the blind and visually impaired. She also enjoys outdoor activities in the Central Wasatch such as hiking, camping, and skiing. Other hobbies include painting, golfing, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.