Staff:

Rutt Bridges - CEO
rutt@bighorncenter.org
Rutt Bridges started the Bighorn Center for Public Policy in 1999 after a successful career in the oil and gas industry. He was a founding partner of Advanced Geophysical where he and several computer programmers spent tens of thousands of hours developing a software program that revolutionized oil and gas exploration.

Mark Cavanaugh – Senior Policy Analyst
mark@bighorncenter.org

Tyler Chafee - Political Director, Bighorn Action
Tyler is currently on an unpaid leave of absence.

Heidi Kortright – Office Manager
heidi@bighorncenter.org
Heidi has 12 years experience in non-profit office administration and has worked in diverse organizations such as Walt Disney World Company in Orlando and as a Child Support Investigator in New York.

Peggy Lamm - Executive Director, Bighorn Action
peggy@bighorncenter.org
Peggy Lamm is Executive Director of Bighorn Action. She is former chairman of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) as well as the Adams State College Board of Trustees. She was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives, and served as the Co-Chair of the Independent Investigative Commission, looking into the CU football/sex scandal. Peggy has extensive experience as a community volunteer, and has been a board member for numerous organizations including Hospice of Boulder County, as well as a member of the Foundation for Boulder Valley Schools. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Emporia State University.

Jennifer Mello - Senior Policy Analyst
jennifer@bighorncenter.org
Jennifer Lakins Mello joined Bighorn in December 2004. She is a Colorado native, growing up in Littleton and attending Arapahoe high school. Jennifer has a B.A. in History and Public Policy from the University of Denver and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University. Her career has spanned the public and private sector with past stints as a lobbyist for the National Governors’ Association, a Senior Associate with the Denver-based BBC Research & Consulting and most recently as the Policy Director for the Colorado House Democrats. She is married to Brent Mello and lives in the Washington Park neighborhood.

Brenda Morrison - Associate Director
Brenda@bighorncenter.org

Shawn Rogers - Policy Analyst
shawn@bighorncenter.org

Laura Welp - Policy Analyst
laura@bighorncenter.org
Laura graduated from Grinnell College in 2002 with a degree in Economics. She has experience working in the non-profit and public sectors. Before moving to Colorado, she worked at an economic development organization in Gloucester, MA and as an Economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, DC.

Zach Zaslow, Policy Analyst
zach@bighorncenter.org
Zach is a Colorado native and a 2004 graduate from Iowa’s Grinnell College with a degree in political science. While in Iowa, he was active in local politics and editor of a daily news publication. Zach served as Deputy Communications Director on a 2002 Congressional campaign and spent the following summer as both an intern at the Bighorn Center and a political reporter for the Colorado Statesman newspaper. In the summer of 2004, he helped with another Congressional campaign and continued to work at the Bighorn, doing research for the FairVote Colorado election project.

Board Members

Contact Information