Secretary - John R. MortensenAssistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy, Wyoming Catholic College
Owner, Chateau Montelena Winery
Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Federated Investors
Partner, Holland & Hart LLP
Jeremy R. Holmes (ex officio)Academic Dean and Assistant Professor of Theology, Wyoming Catholic College
Dominic A. AquilaVice President for Academic Affairs, University of St. Thomas
Houston, Texas
Dominic A. Aquila earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from The Julliard School, a Master of Arts from New York University, and his Doctorate in history jointly from the University of Rochester and the University of South Africa. Currently serving as Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Dr. Aquila has taught cultural and intellectual history and directed humanities and honors programs at The State University of New York, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ave Maria College, Schoolcraft College, and the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne. Dr. Aquila is widely published in history and has a broad background in performing arts as a musician and arts administrator. He and his wife Diane reside in Houston with their eleven children.
Judy BarrettOwner, Chateau Montelena Winery
Calistoga, California
Raised in Colorado, Mrs. Barrett has strong ties to the Rocky Mountain region. A graduate of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and an inactive member of the California Bar, she is a very active "professional housewife and volunteer”. She and her husband Jim Barrett are owners of Chateau Montelena, a Napa Valley winery that rose to world-wide fame in 1976. She served on the board of the Napa Valley Community Foundation for six years, followed by four additional years on NVCF's Calistoga Fund advisory committee. She was the Respect Life Coordinator for the Diocese of Santa Rosa for over 17 years. Since 2001, she has been a member of the Diocesan Finance Council and served as co-chair of the diocese's Annual Ministry Appeal from 2005 through 2007. In 2006 she was appointed to the Religious Liberty Committee of the California Catholic Conference, a position she still holds. In addition to their strong support for Wyoming Catholic College, Jim and Judy’s philanthropic interests include the formation of priests, developing young Catholic leaders, aiding the poor, and supporting Catholic broadcast media, pro life organizations and their local Church. They are members of the California Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums and the Napa Valley chapter of Legatus.
Robert K. CarlsonProfessor of Humanities and the Trivium, Wyoming Catholic College
Lander, Wyoming
Dr. Robert K. Carlson taught philosophy and literature for 29 years at Casper College in Casper, Wyoming. In addition to his regular teaching duties, he founded, directed, and taught in Casper College’s Summer Humanities Program in Europe (Italy) for many years. He has lectured at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Kansas, Simpson College, Magdalen College, the University of Wyoming, and Notre Dame Seminary. Among his academic honors are memberships in Phi Theta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa, nominations to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and invitations to speak at the International Humanists Congress in Montepulciano, Italy, and the First World Meeting of University Professors in Rome (in celebration of the Jubilee Year). He is one of the founders of Wyoming Catholic College and the Wyoming School of Catholic Thought, a summer academic and spiritual retreat sponsored by the Diocese of Cheyenne. He has been on the faculty of the latter and served as Director of Faculty since its inception. His articles have appeared in Homiletic and Pastoral Review, The Wanderer, Crisis, New Oxford Review, and The Shakespeherian Rag. His book Truth on Trial: Liberal Education Be Hanged (Crisis Books, 1995) chronicles the rise and fall of the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas.
Rev. Robert W. Cook
President, Wyoming Catholic College
Lander, Wyoming
Fr. Cook grew up in Rifle, Colorado, and attended Regis College, where he graduated magna cum laude with a Classical Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958. He then attended Stanford University Law School and, in 1962, received his LL.B., the equivalent of a doctor of jurisprudence. Thereafter, he practiced law in Denver and started Alternatives, Inc., an agency providing an alternative to abortion for women dealing with problem pregnancies. Concluding nearly twenty years of law practice, he attended the Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, graduating in 2000, with a Master of Divinity degree. Earlier in his life, Fr. Cook was a Benedictine monk at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, Abiquiu, New Mexico, and most recently served as an associate pastor at St. Anthony’s parish in Casper. He was designated the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in Casper in 2001. Fr. Cook was appointed president of Wyoming Catholic College in December, 2005.
B. Anthony Delserone, Jr.
Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Federated Investors
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Tony Delserone earned a Bachelors of Business Administration from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from Loyola College of Maryland. He also holds the professional designation of Chartered Financial Analyst. Tony began his career in banking and investments in 1982 and since 1998 has been employed by Federated Investors, a Pittsburgh-based investment management firm. Tony served on the Diocesan Pastoral Council and the Commission on Campus and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia and as a parish pastoral council president in Pikesville, MD. He is a past Board President of INNterim Housing Corporation which provides housing and skills training for homeless mothers and their children in Baltimore County, Maryland and served on the Board of Directors of Aquinas Academy of Pittsburgh (a pre-K through 12 private Catholic school). Tony was a Borough Council Member and Republican Party Chairman in Franklin Park, PA. An avid hiker, Tony completed the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wind River Wilderness backpacking course and is certified in Wilderness First Aid and as a Leave No Trace Master Educator. He and his wife Edith live near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and have three daughters.
Andrew C. EmrichPartner, Holland & Hart LLP
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Mr. Emrich is a partner of Holland & Hart LLP -- the largest law firm headquartered in the Mountain West. As part of the management team for the firm’s eighty-five member Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources practice group, Andrew focuses primarily on federal litigation, regulatory compliance, and legislative and administrative advocacy for clients in the energy, natural resources, and public land use sectors. Prior to joining Holland & Hart, he served as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC. While there, he helped manage a litigating division of more than 400 lawyers and a docket of more than 8000 active cases, regularly representing the Justice Department in meetings with officials at the White House and with senior officials in multiple cabinet agencies. Prior to his service at the Department of Justice, Mr. Emrich served as Legislative Counsel and chief legal advisor to U.S. Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming in Washington, DC. Mr. Emrich is a member of the Knights of Columbus, has given talks at Catholic men’s retreats and has spoken at a national Catholic conference on the role of the natural law in modern American jurisprudence. He is also a member of the Young Men’s Literary Club (a one hundred and nine year-old, thirty-member literary club in Cheyenne) and serves on the Laramie County Republican Central Committee. He and his wife Shandra have been married for fifteen years and have five sons.
Most Rev. Paul D. EtienneBishop of Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Bishop Etienne attended Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated from the University of St. Thomas/St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. In 1986-1987 he served with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as Assistant Coordinator for Papal Visits for Pope John Paul II to the United States. From 1988-1992 he attended the North American College in Rome and received a STB (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Bishop Etienne was ordained a priest on June 27, 1992 for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. His first appointment was as Associate Pastor at St. Barnabas in Indianapolis and Associate Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. From 1994-1995 he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, receiving his STL (License in Spiritual Theology). Two of Bishop Etienne’s brothers, Bernard and Zachary, are priests for the Diocese of Evansville, Indiana and one of his two sisters, Nicolette, is a Benedictine Sister with Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana.
Jeremy R. HolmesAcademic Dean and Assistant Professor of Theology, Wyoming Catholic College
Lander, Wyoming
Jeremy R. Holmes taught graduate and undergraduate theology at Ave Maria University for two years before joining Wyoming Catholic College in 2008. Since arriving in Lander, he has taught theology, philosophy, humanities, and Latin. His articles have appeared in Nova et Vetera, The Catholic Social Science Review, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Theologisches, The Downside Review, and in other volumes of collected essays. His scholarly translations have appeared in Nova et Vetera, Letter and Spirit, and Faith and Reason. He has also published book reviews in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, The Catholic Historical Review, and Lay Witness Magazine.
David S. Kellogg
President, DACON Enterprises
Lander, Wyoming
David S. Kellogg resides in Lander with his wife, Carol, after having worked in several marketing and sales positions for computer technology companies IBM Corporation and Lexmark Corporation. He studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, as well as electronics technology at Central Oregon College in Bend. He and his wife own and operate DACON Enterprises, a private firm owning and managing real estate property (both commercial and residential) and a log-home building franchise. He is President of LEADER Corporation, a private local economic development organization, and is a member of the local Lions Club and Elks Club. He is also involved in many civic affairs, including the Cornerstone Committee, formed out of the LEADER Corporation, for the purpose of working to locate Wyoming Catholic College in Lander.
John R. Mortensen
Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy, Wyoming Catholic College
Lander, Wyoming
John R. Mortensen grew up in Boise, Idaho, before attending Thomas Aquinas College in California. He spent the next ten years in Europe where he studied theology and philosophy in Austria, Oxford, and Rome. From 2002 to 2007 he was Assistant Professor at the International Theological Institute, an institute of papal right in Gaming, Austria, teaching courses in logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, fundamental theology, and Trinitarian theology. During these years he also held the positions of Director of Finance and subsequently Vice President of Administration. He completed a doctorate in philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation in theology. He specializes in the work of Aristotle and Aquinas, but his interests also include spiritual theology, music theory, Catholic literature, and computer programming.
Victor J. Riley, Jr.Chairman Emeritus of KeyCorp
Cody, Wyoming
Victor J. Riley served 26 years as the Chairman of KeyCorp when it grew from $1.2 billion in assets and 89 offices to $67.7 billion in assets and more than 1,300 banking offices around the world. Mr. Riley is an immediate past Class A Director of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, past director of the Association of Bank Holding Companies, and a current member of the Interstate Banking Commission for the State of New York. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Mr. Riley is past president of the board for the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, a position he held for nine years. He served as a trustee of the Gilmour Academy in Gate Mills, Ohio, and, in 1989, became a member of the State University of New York at Albany Foundation, which also bestowed upon him its 1989 Citizen Laureate Award. Mr. Riley received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Dowling College, a liberal arts institution located in Oakdale, New York, and in June, 1995, was Dowling’s Distinguished Citizen Award recipient. Mr. Riley contributed in noteworthy ways in fund-raising efforts for The March of Dimes, the Cerebral Palsy Center, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, the Morehouse School for Medicine, and others. He also served as chairman of the Pius XII Foundation, which provides essential life-saving services to young and old alike. Mr. Riley’s most illustrious recognition for his service came when he was invested in 1985 as a Knight of Malta in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Mr. Riley is currently a member of the board of trustees of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody and is the past president of the Boys and Girls Club of Park County. He also serves as chairman of the board of the Victor J. Riley, Jr. Ice Arena and Community Events Center in Cody.
Richard W. St. Pierre
President (Ret.), Central Wyoming College
Riverton, Wyoming
Richard W. St. Pierre graduated from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 1961, after which he taught at Watertown High School in Connecticut, where he also coached the basketball team. In 1962, he became the elementary school science coordinator for the Pittsfield, Massachusetts school system. He received two scholarships for masters-level studies and went on to earn two masters degrees, an MS in geology from Union College in Schenectady, New York, and the other in biology from St. Joseph’s College in West Hartford, Connecticut. After teaching biology and geology for 4 years at Berskshire Community College in Massachusetts, where he also served as Director of Admissions, Dr. St. Pierre became Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs at Bristol Community College in Massachusetts, becoming Dean 5 years later. During this time, Dr. St. Pierre completed his doctoral work in higher education management at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida, after which he was Acting President of Quinsigamond Community College in Massachusetts, being commended by the state Board of Regional Community Colleges for “reestablishing a stimulating learning environment for both faculty and students.” In 1980, Dr. St. Pierre moved to Wyoming to be President of Central Wyoming College in Riverton, where he drew on his expertise in off-campus learning systems. He founded CWC Public Television, the first such license in the U.S. given to a college.