Who We Are
 

Project New West Staff Project New West Research Team

Project New West Advisory Council Project New West Core Group

Jill Hanauer
President
Jill is the co-founder and President of Project New West. She has over 25 years experience in state and national politics, non-profit management and civic engagement activities. She was the co-founder and Executive Director of The Interfaith Alliance which was established to provide a mainstream faith-based voice in civic and political discourse. She has worked for United States Senators Gary Hart of Colorado, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California. Jill was the national PAC Director for NARAL Pro-Choice America in the early 1990's and managed their independent voter education efforts at the height of the Who Decides Campaign and later Chaired the Board of Colorado NARAL. She served as Vice President of the Center for National Policy, a national think tank based in Washington, DC and worked for the Democratic National Committee under Chairmen Paul Kirk and Ron Brown managing the DNC's State Party Fundraising Program.

Jill moved back to Colorado with her family in 2000 from Washington, D.C. She has been active in state and local community affairs and politics. She launched Project New West in 2007.
 

Project New West Staff

Tim Billings
Chief Financial Officer

David Winkler
Research Director

Katrina Mendiola
Deputy Research Director

Hannah Vanderlan
Director of Marketing

Holly Savage
Director of Civic Engagement

Marijke Sheraden
Daily Feed Editor

Project New West Research Team

Enrique Castillo
A native of Mexico City, Enrique Castillo, is bi-cultural and fluent in both English and Spanish. Enrique is an experienced market researcher who has been part of the marketing research field since 1993. He began his career in marketing research through his communications and research firm, Castillo & Associates, and has since consulted on a vast array of projects in both the United States and Latin America in industries such as health and financial services, telecommunications, automotive, packaged goods and political issues. Enrique has obtained a certificate of completion from the RIVA Moderator Training School and is a member in good standing of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, the American Marketing Association and the American Translators Association. Enrique has conducted in-depth telephone interviews, ethnographies, observational research and focus groups (both in person and on-line).

Lorena Chambers
Ms. Chambers is the CEO and co-founder of Chambers Lopez & Gaitán LLC, an agency specializing in Hispanic consumer and voter strategies. She was the chief media strategist for the New Democrat Network in 2003-04, the DCCC in 2002 and Mark Warner’s 2001 winning gubernatorial campaign in Virginia and was the Hispanic media consultant for Kerry-Edwards 2004 and the DNC. A founding member of the Latino Democratic strategy group The Coronado Project, Chambers has also led the Hispanic media strategy and worked with Americans United to Protect Social Security, the NEA and PowerPAC.

Amanda Cooper
Ms. Cooper is the principal at AJC Strategies, a political consulting firm based in New Mexico. She is a Senior Advisor to U.S. Senator Tom Udall (NM) and Governor Bill Richardson (NM). With over 22 years of political experience, she has managed over 50 campaigns ranging from local, to statewide, to federal. Most recently she managed Tom Udall’s successful bid for the U.S. Senate and served as deputy campaign manager for Governor Bill Richardson’s bid for the democratic nomination for president. Ms. Cooper was also campaign manager for Governor Richardson’s 2006 successful re-election bid. Ms. Cooper has consulted for the DCCC and implemented Governor Richardson’s policy initiatives during his two terms as the Chair of the Democratic Governor’s Association. Ms. Cooper was invited to serve on a bi-partisan team of American political strategists who worked with the Solidarity Party in Poland during the 1990s. She has organized and directed grass roots voter education and registration efforts aimed at increasing minority, Hispanic and Native American voter participation with operations in several western states and Florida. Ms. Cooper has successfully run campaigns to pass politically contentious ballot initiatives during off-election years.

Lisa Grove
Ms. Grove has been the lead strategist and pollster for political candidates, nonprofit organizations, corporations and labor unions for over 20 years. All told, Lisa has conducted polls and moderated hundreds of focus groups and dial test sessions for Senatorial, Congressional, Gubernatorial and Presidential candidates. A native of the West who calls Oregon home, Grove Insight specializes in understanding the Western voter. Whether working directly for the candidate or on the Independent Expenditure side, she has aided the efforts of Janet Napolitano, Walt Minnick, Betsy Markey and Barack Obama, to name just a few. Her firm, Grove Insight, also boasts one of the best initiative win-loss records in the country (73-9), most of which were hard-fought races in the West.

Andrew Myers
Mr. Myers is president and CEO of Myers Research, based in Virginia. His clients include over two hundred elected officials and a host of progressive organizations and think tanks. Myers has worked on elections at all levels, from local to presidential, and has served as the principal pollster to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association. He has extensive experience in the West, particularly in Colorado, Montana and Idaho. In 2004, Myers’ clients gained control of seven legislative chambers throughout the nation. In the West, they captured control of the Montana Senate for the first time in over a decade, brought the Montana House to a tie and took the Colorado House for the first time in over 40 years.

Project New West Research Team

Project New West Advisory Council

John Stocks, Chair, DC
Jill Hanauer, CO
Rebecca Lambe, NV
Susan McCue, DC
Rob McKay, CA
Bill Roe, AZ
Frank Smith, CA
Doug Sosnik, DC

Project New West Core Group

Chris Boswell, WY
Dave Contarino, NM
Karl Friedman, CO
Wayne Holland, UT
Craig Hughes, CO
Penny Lee, DC
Bill Lombardi, MT
Kelly Nordini, CO
Leslie Peterson, WY
Alan Salazar, CO
Eric Stern, MT
Ted Trimpa, CO
David Waid, AZ
Stephen Ward, NM