Government Experience:
Dennis has both worked in government and served as a consultant to a number of governmental agencies. Examples include:
Work Experience
- Served as Deputy Director for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources under four different cabinet members.
- Served as one of the CERCLA trustees for the State of Colorado.
- Was one of three state officials who lead Colorado’s Environment 2000 Project that yielded broad-based consensual understanding of the state’s priority environmental problems and recommendations for solutions.
- Provided leadership for Colorado’s Mountain Scars Commission, an effort to reclaim a variety of mining scars not subject to the Mined Land Reclamation Statute.
- Directed the Center for the Improvement of Public Management at the University of Colorado.
Facilitation Experience
- Organizing and facilitating a series of community meetings for the Missouri Department of Transportation in Columbia, Missouri. This "input group" is a diverse group of community leaders helping guide decisions related to the expansion and improvement of I-70 through the Columbia area.
- Organizing and facilitating meetings of the Advisory Council of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This Council, convened by the President of NCAR, is composed of prominent scientists, scholars and leaders from academia and the private sector. The Council is helping NCAR develop new partnerships and expand its activities and outreach beyond its traditional boundaries.
- Designed and facilitated several retreats for the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), a National-Science-Foundation-funded effort to create a web-based approach to provide a variety of audiences, especially those involved in education, with access to a wealth of scientific and technical information. Retreats have (a) helped the Policy Committee set priorities, determine an organizational structure, including defining leadership positions and terms, and provide team building; (b) provided a goal setting and business planning framework for the Core Integration portion of the NSDL; (c) created a coordinated approach to an in-depth and narrowed effort to build a tangible product within a year. Also provided executive coaching and management support for the Executive Director of the Core Integration effort on an ongoing basis.
- For EPA, organized and ran a 120-person workshop focused on the Federal government’s role, especially on lands the Federal government owns or manages, in addressing the clean-up of historic mine sites.
- Served as senior facilitator in a dialogue about the emergence of Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and the difficult jurisdictional and organizational issues that needed to be addressed by FERC, state utility commissions, the private sector and other interested parties.
- Worked with three County Commissioners, in one of the nation’s fastest growing counties, to help them identify common interests and break down barriers that were impeding their effectiveness.
- Facilitated goal setting and organizational development retreats
for several municipalities and county governments.