Meet the WAFWA Team

Meet the people who are working together to help WAFWA and their Member Agencies and Partners deliver conservation through information exchange and working partnerships.

  • Dr. Zach Lowe

    Executive Director
    Zachary Lowe’s, primary career responsibilities have been to develop partnerships, identify key conservation needs, and deliver results-based programing. Dr. Lowe has a diverse professional background within the disciplines of land management, wildlife science, conservation education, and program administration. His early career started as an Extension Habitat Specialist, and he was the Director of the Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow Program at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation for over a decade prior to joining the team at WAFWA. He holds B.S. degrees in Wildlife Science and in Fisheries and Aquatic Science and a Ph.D. in restoration ecology from Purdue University. Zach and his family enjoy a life of hunting, self-sufficiency, and outdoor pursuits as they balance a busy 2 career, 3 kid household.
  • Cortney Mycroft

    Director of Operations
    Cortney joined WAFWA team in 2021. As Director of Operations, she works directly with the Board and other agency staff to meet strategic goals. Her efforts focus on administrative management, logistical planning, and communications. Cortney spends a great portion of her time planning the next (and the next, next) WAFWA meeting. Her skill sets include project management, natural resources education, human dimensions research, and making colorful spreadsheets to organize thoughts. Cortney loves spending time with her family and their pets, and she enjoys meeting the native herbaceous flora of the places she visits.
  • Jenna Baxter

    Administrative Assistant
    Jenna is a dedicated administrative assistant with a passion for adventure and love for the great outdoors. Raised and residing in the beautiful state of Wyoming, she has a deep appreciation for the mission-based work WAFWA accomplishes. When she is not assisting in the office, she finds solace and joy making memories in the breathtaking mountains with her three adventurous sons and loving husband. They enjoy all the seasons Wyoming has to offer; camping, fly fishing, and paddle boarding in the summer, and ice fishing and skiing in the winter.
  • Stacie Brew

    Stacie Brew

    Director of Finance
    WAFWA welcomed Stacie Brew as Director of Finance in mid-2022. Stacie started By the Book Consulting in 2001 after having worked in the accounting sector for the past 10 years.

    During her 30-year career, she has become an expert in accounting systems and developing financial reporting systems to both improve existing procedures and to explore ways new technology can streamline day to day tasks. She currently holds certifications in many accounting & business operation related software programs.

    Stacie has worked with 20 non-profit organizations with budgets that range from $250k-$5M annually. Work for these organizations has included everything from day-to-day operations to managing the annual audits as well as everything in between. This work afforded her the unique experience of understanding a 365 view of accounting and business operations systems from inside an organization.

    Stacie lives with her husband and 2 dogs in south central Idaho, is an avid craft abuser (no craft left behind!) as well as a lifelong lover of the outdoors.
  • Catherine Campbell

    Grants, Contracts Manager
    Cathy joined the WAFWA team in June 2015 as the Grants and Contracts Manager for WAFWA and its affiliates. In this role, she works closely with WAFWA Initiative Coordinators, federal and state partners and affiliates and federal aid coordinators. Cathy studied at Boise State University and is a business professional with over 25 years of management and accounting experience; developing and mentoring agency staff; developing and administering budgets; financial management of state and federal grants; 2 CFR 200 compliance regulations and contract management. She project lead the implementation of accounting systems, expense tracking and reporting through Commercial Card Services program, Grant Management Reporting and assisted with budget software implementation. When she is not working, Cathy enjoys traveling, white water rafting, scuba, camping, music and spending time with friends and family. Cathy is also an amateur back-yard beekeeper.
  • Anne Justice-Allen

    Regional Wildlife Health Coordinator
    Anne Justice-Allen earned a DVM from the University of California, Davis in 1986 and a MS degree from Utah State University in 2010. Her interest in wildlife conservation and veterinary medicine began at a very early age as she worked with her dad in the field (he taught at the University of California Irvine and studied woodrats). She began working for Arizona Game and Fish as the Department Veterinarian and Wildlife Health Program Supervisor in 2009. She works on infectious and noninfectious diseases of wildlife, directs animal care during wildlife captures, and participates in endangered species reintroduction projects. Anne trains and competes with her dogs in agility, retrieving, dock diving, and nose work. Anne is the Regional Wildlife Health Coordinator for WAFWA.
  • Brad Loveless

    Senior Advisor
    Brad Loveless is the recently-retired Secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. He held that position for five years. The Department made great strides during his tenure at the helm including establishing two state parks and adding Kansas’ Flint Hills Trail to the National Trails System. To address recruitment and retention stability, law enforcement-trained staff have also been made part of the Kansas Police & Fire Retirement System. Prior to joining KDWP, Brad worked in private industry in environmental management positions at Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Station and corporately for Energy.

    For WAFWA, Brad was the Chair of the now Access and Engagement Committee when they decided to adopt the Student Engagement Program model and Chair of the Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative Council and continues to support these initiatives.

    In his retirement, Brad plans to travel with his wife, fish, hunt, garden, steal honey from bees and spend time with his children and grandchildren.
  • Daryl Lutz

    Wild Sheep Working Group Coordinator
    Daryl became the Wild Sheep Working Group (WSWG) Chair in December 2022. He went to the University of Wyoming and Humboldt State University. Daryl has been a biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for a bit over 3 decades as a Habitat Biologist, Wildlife Biologist, and now a Wildlife Management Coordinator – and continues to serve in that capacity as he chairs the WSWG. He has been heavily involved in mule deer and bighorn sheep management throughout his career. Daryl led Wyoming’s Mule Deer Working Group and represented Wyoming on the WAFWA's Mule Deer Working Group for over 20 years since their inception in 1998/99. He has also co-chaired Wyoming’s Bighorn Sheep Working Group the past several years. Daryl was raised as a hunter, fisherman, and outdoorsman in Colorado and Wyoming. He and his wife raised their two kids the same way and are now working on their 5 grandkids.
  • Chanda Pettie

    LPC Program Director, Geospatial Analyst
    Chanda joined the WAFWA team in 2019 as the coordinator for WAFWA’s Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (CHAT) and now manages the Lesser Prairie-Chicken (LPC) Program. Her key role is to promote the efforts of state fish and wildlife agencies in delivering science based, data driven solutions for landscape-scale, conservation across the West. As a wildlife ecologist with 20 years of experience on interagency project management for landscape-scale conservation efforts, she brings a biological background to program coordination.
  • Noelle Thompson

    Interagency Wildlife Health Specialist
    Noelle Thompson joined WAFWA in 2024 as WAFWA’s Interagency Wildlife Health Specialist. She earned her PhD at Michigan State University with a concentration in Fish and Wildlife Health and Conservation Medicine. She has experience working in both academia and state government. Noelle was the Wildlife Disease Biologist and the Deer and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Program Coordinator for Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. She also worked for Colorado State University as a postdoctoral research fellow. During her postdoc, she assisted western state agencies enhance their CWD surveillance programs through structured decision-making. Noelle enjoys spending time outdoors with her family and 5 rescue dogs, particularly spending summers in their remote cabin outside of Gunnison National Forest.
  • Therese Thompson

    Therese Thompson

    WNTI Interim Coordinator
    Therese is serving as this program's Interim Coordinator. For 10 years, Therese was the Coordinator for all operations, planning, development, and communications for the Western Native Trout Initiative – a recognized National Fish Habitat Partnership and initiative of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Therese has served in multiple capacities within the nonprofit and public sector over a 30 year career including conservation organizations as well as working at the local, state, and national government levels in an executive management role, driving strategic planning and program development, evaluating risk, and building organizational capacity. Therese has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois, M.S. in Fishery and Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University and a Master’s in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from the University of Colorado.
  • Bill Van Pelt

    Bill Van Pelt

    Grassland Coordinator
    After graduating Iowa State University in 1991, he was contracted as a bald eagle nest watcher by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and was assigned to Alamo Lake.  Upon completing his assignment, he was hired by the Department to conduct the biological evaluation of the Aubrey Valley for a black-footed ferret reintroduction. Bill was promoted to Nongame Birds and Mammals Program Manager in 1996 and was able to not only release black-footed ferrets, but Mexican wolves, California condors, and black-tailed prairie dogs too.  In 2008, with a sudden departure of the Western Association’s Grassland Coordinator, Bill was asked to step into the role, which is the position he still holds today. As Coordinator, Bill continues conservation efforts for grassland species such as prairie dogs, ferrets, swift fox and lesser prairie chickens. Outside of work, Bill stays busy with his wife Lola taking their four children to various school and sporting events. To escape the Phoenix heat, the family heads to the mountains to fish and camp.
  • Jeff Ver Steeg

    SARS-CoV-2 Project Coordinator
    Jeff has a B.S. in Zoology from Southern Illinois University, an M.S. in Environmental Biology from Eastern Illinois University, and is a certified wildlife biologist (The Wildlife Society). He began his career in 1979 as a District Wildlife Manager for the Illinois Department of Conservation (now the Department of Natural Resources). He served as the agency’s Wildlife Chief from 1990 to 2001. In 2001, he joined the Colorado Division of Wildlife (now Colorado Parks and Wildlife) as the Terrestrial Section Manager and in 2003 began serving as an Assistant Director. He retired from Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the spring of 2023. He was active in the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Mississippi Flyway Council, the Central Flyway Council, and the Playa Lakes Joint Venture, among others. Jeff coordinates WAFWA's SARS-CoV2 testing in Cervids with APHIS.

IWJV & WAFWA: A Collaborative Partnership for the Future

The Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) and Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) share a strong commitment to delivering conservation through partnerships, working across jurisdictional boundaries, sharing information, and strengthening the work of their partners. The two organizations subscribe to a simple tenet: The partnership is stronger than the sum of the parts.

In 2016, the IWJV and WAFWA strengthened this commitment by formalizing the partnership to build capacity, strengthen the work of partners, and deliver on-the-ground outcomes for wildlife and human communities by having WAFWA become a hosting entity for ten of the IWJV’s 14 staff positions.