Bell Action Network staff bios

	Wade Buchanan, President Wade Buchanan has been president of the Bell Policy Center and the Bell Action Network since 2001. Under Wade’s tenure, the Bell has grown from a start-up organization to become one of the premier progressive policy organizations in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. Wade pulled together a veteran professional staff that has played a major role in fiscal reform, education policy, economic security and other key issues that affect the well-being of working families in Colorado. From 1999-2001, Wade was executive director of Colorado Conservation Voters, the nonpartisan political voice of Colorado’s conservation community. Prior to that he was senior advisor, policy director and chief speech writer to former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer. He also served as acting executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, director of the Colorado Office of Energy Conservation, and chair of the Regional Air Quality Council, the lead air quality agency for metro Denver. Wade holds a bachelor of arts in history from Colorado College and a masters of philosophy in international relations from Oxford University in England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. E-mail: buchanan@thebell.org.
	Laurie Hirschfeld Zeller, Director of Outreach Laurie Hirschfeld Zeller has worked in Colorado and national nonprofit advocacy and politics for more than 20 years. She served on the legislative and campaign staffs of Sen. Gary Hart, Sen. Tim Wirth, as well as working on the campaigns at the presidential, congressional and state level. Laurie ran the Citizen Democracy Project for the National Civic League in the early 1990s, and has chaired the Colorado 34 Million Friends of UNFPA and the Denver World Affairs Council. At the Bell Policy Center since 2003, she has focused on political organizing around ballot measures related to the Bell’s Opportunity issue framework, in particular the fiscal policy and tax politics debate surrounding reform of the TABOR Amendment. She managed the historically large and diverse coalition of 1,100 organizations and institutions comprising the Referendum C and D coalition in 2005. Laurie holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Yale University. E-mail: zeller@thebell.org.
	Mollie Cross Leone, Director of Development Mollie Cross has more than 20 years’ experience in nonprofit agency income and infrastructure development on local and regional levels. Prior to joining the Bell, Mollie served as director of grants for Catholic Charities and at the Western States Arts Federation, where she led a 13-state grantmaking effort on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts. Mollie holds a B.A. in English from the University of Colorado and an M.A. in literature from the University of London—Queen Mary College. E-mail: cross@thebell.org.
	Elaine Rumler, Director of Operations Elaine Rumler has more than 20 years experience in business and office management, including as section supervisor with the Colorado Department of Revenue and deputy director of operations for the Colorado Office of Energy Conservation. Elaine and her husband own and operate a small family business. Elaine attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. E-mail: rumler@thebell.org.