Our Team

Click on each team member’s image to learn more.

Humanities Montana Team Members

Fall Board Meeting
September 27-28, 2024 in Fort Benton

Jill Baker

jill.baker@humanitiesmontana.org

(406) 243-6022

Hired in 2023, Jill Baker brings many years of nonprofit experience to her role as Executive Director for Humanities Montana. She previously served as Executive Director for the Great Falls Public Library Foundation where she worked closely with the Library Director and Board to pass the first library mill levy since 2001, nearly doubling the operational budget for the local public library. Prior to joining the Library Foundation, Jill spent 17 years with Planned Parenthood of Montana leading a statewide team to coordinate successful education and outreach programs, as well as strategic partnerships throughout the state, including with youth, rural and Tribal communities.

As a fourth-generation Montanan, Jill is dedicated to lifting up the Big Sky Country’s unique voices and experiences in order to learn from our history and honor the diverse cultures that represents the Montana way of life. She is an avid reader, Master Gardener, and novice, yet determined, fly fisher.

Jill Baker

Executive Director

Jennifer Bevill

Jennifer.Bevill@humanitiesmontana.org

Jenny Bevill is a dynamic educational leader with more than 20 years of experience teaching in public schools, museums, and community centers in New York City and Montana, including a decade at the Guggenheim Museum from 2004-2014. Jenny served as the Educator and Outreach Specialist at the Missoula Art Museum from 2018-2021 where she helped develop the distance learning platform, Museum as Megaphone, and the Art Host Initiative which connects Tribal nations across Montana with the museum to share contemporary Indigenous art. Jenny has taught and/or created content for many statewide arts organizations in Montana including the Office of Public Instruction, the Montana Arts Council, and Flathead Valley Community College. She has been a workshop leader for Humanities Montana since 2016 where she now coordinates the statewide Democracy Project for teens.

Jennifer Bevill

Program Manager

Jon Clarenbach

(406) 243-4043

Jon Clarenbach grew up in Eugene, Oregon, and graduated from the University of Oregon with degrees in economics and international studies. He earned an MBA from the University of Montana in 2013, specializing in entrepreneurship. Jon co-founded Western Cider in 2015, creating an award-winning cidery that focused on community projects, such as the Great Bear Apple Drive. He was awarded the Montana Placemaker of the Year by Governor Bullock in 2020 for his work at Western Cider. Since then, Jon has been actively involved across the Northwest providing financial and strategic guidance to non- and for-profit organizations as a finance director and consultant. Jon is excited about bringing his financial expertise to Humanities Montana while supporting our community building across the state.

Jon enjoys traveling with his wife, Holly, floating Montana’s rivers, telemark skiing, hiking, and exploring the West.

Jon Clarenbach

Fiscal Operations Director

John Knight

john.knight@humanitiesmontana.org

(406) 243-4649

John Knight joined Humanities Montana in June of 2022 after many years of working in the arts as a museum professional, independent curator, and artist. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, John has a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Cincinnati, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, where he co-directed two art galleries before moving to Montana in 2017. He has exhibited his own art nationally and internationally, and has worked regionally as an arts professional with the Open AIR artist residency program and the Missoula Art Museum. John is thrilled to bring his experiences in the arts to Humanities Montana. He believes that the humanities serve to build strong and diverse communities throughout the state of Montana.

John Knight

Programs Director

Megan Sundy

megan.sundy@humanitiesmontana.org

(406) 243-6067

Megan J. Hill Sundy is the grants manager at Humanities Montana. She supports innovative humanities focused organizations in local Montana communities through grants counseling and participatory grant-making. She moved to Montana in 2001 to earn a BA in Classics and a BA in Liberal Studies from the University of Montana. Since that time, Megan has been serving Montanans across the state developing, implementing, and evaluating nonprofit programs in underserved and underrepresented communities. To honor her deep connection with Montana’s landscape and rich sense of community, she obtained an MS in Measurement and Evaluation from American University in 2020 to ensure that community voices are heard and real needs are addressed. Megan is a champion for humanities as a means to bring people and communities together to examine, reflect, and understand the human experience.

Megan J. Hill Sundy

Grants and Evaluation Director

Humanities Montana Board Members

Years in parenthesis are term ending dates
*Governor’s appointees

Glory Blue Earth-Highley

Glory was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana. After high school, she moved to North Carolina where she met her spouse and the father of her three daughters. She comes from a military family—with all branches represented—and is immensely proud of her veteran family members.

Glory and her family were living history interpreters at the Outdoor History Museum in Nevada City, Montana under the guidance of Dan Thyer. The focus was daily life in the mining community, specifically Native American women in mining camps, marriage, and family culture. At that time, she lived in Anaconda and volunteered reading and teaching Native American studies in the schools, focusing on integrative art and hands-on learning. She was part of the Anaconda Coalition for Tolerance Education, helping coordinate Native American education for the community. She also advocated for the Arthritis Foundation, as her daughter is diagnosed with Polyarticular JIA. Senator Steve Daines told her daughter’s story on the Senate Floor, helping CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)—a bipartisan initiative—to be reauthorized for six years. Her daughter was his guest at the State of the Union Address. Glory is a member and registered Sioux with the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes through her mother’s lineage.

In 2015, she completed her 1000-hour degree in massage therapy from Healthworks Institute in Bozeman. She maintains a small practice in Deer Lodge and works for Rock Creek Cattle Company and Whispering Willows Spa as a massage therapist. She is an apprentice healer with a focus on healing the mind, body, and spirit. Glory currently is the president of the Montana Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association. She also sits on a community board for Friends of Law Enforcement Officers working to bridge the relationship between law enforcement officers and the community of Powell County.

Glory Blue Earth*

Deer Lodge (2024)

Carol Bradly

Carol Bradley was a newspaper reporter in her home state of Tennessee, New York and Washington DC before escaping to Montana 25 years ago to write for the Great Falls Tribune. She was a 2004 Nieman fellow at Harvard and is the author of two books about animal welfare. She lives in Great Falls with her husband, Steve L’Heureux, and a pair of rescued border collies.

Carol Bradley

Great Falls (2025)

David Allan Cates

David Allan Cates is the author of five novels, a collection of short stories, and two collections of poetry. He’s published dozens of short stories and poems in literary magazines, and his essays and travel articles have appeared in Outside Magazine and the New York Times. He was born in Wisconsin, raised cattle on his family’s farm, worked on constructions sites, in offices, restaurants, and on boats. He’s driven taxi, played professional basketball in Costa Rica, and has taught writing at all levels, from prison classes, to public high schools, to universities. He currently teaches private students and serves as the director of Missoula Medical Aid, an NGO that provides public health and surgical services in Honduras, and supports nutrition and agricultural development projects there. He and his wife raised three daughters and live in Missoula.

David Allan Cates

Missoula (2025)

Jeremy Carl

Jeremy Carl is a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute, a policy think tank devoted to restoring and promoting the principles of the American Founding.

Prior to joining Claremont, Jeremy worked for a decade as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and served as a policy advisor to many national political figures. He also served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior and was a Presidential appointee to the National Board of Education Sciences.

Jeremy received a BA with distinction from Yale University. He holds an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He has long had an interest in the humanities and is a supporter of the Gallatin County and Montana Historical societies and Montana Shakespeare in the Park.

He lives in Gallatin County with his wife and their five children where he loves spending time in the great Montana outdoors.

Jeremy Carl*

Bozeman (2024)

Jennifer Corning

Jennifer Brevik Corning was adopted into Montana’s geography and rich culture 40 years ago. Completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in Billings, she has since worked in electronic and print media, grant writing, and public relations. Service as a trustee for organizations across the state has exposed her to the varied needs and aspirations of communities in Montana. Her free time is filled with family and friends, reading, hobbies, dogs, and any and all outdoor activities.

Jennifer Corning

Billings (2024)

David Dietrich

David Dietrich received his Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Montana College of Law. He is a fourth generation Montanan with a diverse ranching, real estate and estate planning background. His Billings-based law firm, Dietrich &Associates, P.C., has provided real estate tax and estate planning services to the region for over 24 years. He is passionate about promoting and enhancing the appreciation (for grade school children through college students) of literacy and the performing arts, notably in the South Central and Eastern Montana region. David and his family enjoy living in the Big Sky Country; he is an avid outdoor digital camera user, skier and hiker.

David Dietrich

Billings (2024) – Chair

Ray Ekness

Ray Ekness is the director of the University of Montana Broadcast Media Center overseeing Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS-Missoula. He’s a former UM School of Journalism professor and chair of the Department of Radio-Television. He worked in commercial radio and television in Montana, North Dakota, and Idaho before joining UM in 1989. Ekness has helped produce many Montana PBS programs, including the popular “Backroads of Montana,” “Remembering the Columbia Gardens,” “To Helena and Back: The First Special Service Force,” and “Building Bridges: Back to Ireland.”

Ray Ekness

Missoula (2025)

Jeanette Fregulia

Jeanette M. Fregulia is the Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History in Carroll College, Helena, Montana. She holds an MA in Middle East Studies from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance History from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research and publications center on commerce, trade, and cultural exchanges between Medieval/early modern Italy and the eastern Mediterranean, and also on the history of the Middle East and Islam. In addition to articles and book chapters, her first book, A Rich and Tantalizing Brew, a History of How Coffee Connected the World was published in March 2019, by the University of Arkansas Press. She has two additional books under advance contract with Taylor and Francis.

Jeanette Fregulia

Helena (2025)

Lynda Grande

Lynda is from a fourth generation Meagher county cattle ranch established in 1878. She earned a degree in Ag Business from MSU and has served as an officer in state and local cattle organizations. One of three Montanans on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, she sits on the Export Growth committee working to increase global demand for beef. History, art, music and community service have influenced her life since childhood. She is a graduate of REAL Montana and currently Chair of the Stillwater County Library board.

Lynda Grande

Columbus (2025)

Mary Hernandez

Mary Hernandez is the Director of the Institute for Peace Studies at Rocky Mountain College with a mission to promote peace and conflict resolution, and to engage in cultural education. She owns Invisage Consulting to provide organizational development, technical support for nonprofits, and facilitate community conversations. Mary strengthened her advocacy for social justice and health issues after earning a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication with the minor in theatre arts from Eastern Montana College (now MSU Billings).

She has volunteered and worked in the nonprofit sector for over 30 years with organizations including Venture Theatre, Yellowstone Public Radio, Yellowstone Art Museum, Yellowstone Boys & Girls Ranch (Empowering Youth Project), American Diabetes Association, Leadership Montana, and Tumbleweed Runaway Program.

In service to nonprofit boards and committees, Mary has most recently completed terms on the RiverStone Health Foundation board, and the executive committee of the American Civil Liberties Union National board and its ACLU Montana affiliate board.

Beyond work, Mary enjoys time with family and friends, discussions with her book club of 30 years, food adventures, taking in the visual and performing arts, and travel.

Mary Hernandez

Billings (2025)

Carla Homstad

Carla Homstad has lived in Montana, both east and west of the divide, for most of her life. She earned her B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of Montana and worked as a consulting historian in Missoula for 20 years. In that capacity her work covered such topics as water rights, tribal histories, and cultural landscapes. She recently retired to focus more on writing poetry. She currently lives in Stevensville, the Bitterroot Mountains her constant companion.

Carla Homstad

Stevensville (2024)

Lathie Poole

Lathie Poole has been a Montana resident for fifty years, applying her skills to ranching, running a clothing store and art gallery, and working as a fixed-base operator for the Madison County airport before she and her late husband, Lee, built Moonlight Basin ski resort from the ground up. Lathie also serves on the board of the Bozeman Art Museum and is an active member of her church.

Lathie Poole*

Bozeman (2024)

Arian Randall

Arian Randall was born and raised in Helena, Montana and currently lives in Montana City with her husband and two boys. She has worked for the Forest Service since 2008 and has been the Deputy Forest Archaeologist on the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest since 2014. Arian has a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology from Montana State University and a Master of Science in Cultural Resource Management from St. Cloud University in Minnesota. She comes from a long line of Montanans with her family first arriving in Virginia City in 1864. She is even a direct descendant to former US Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Arian has always had an interest in humanities and connecting people to history. She believes using archaeology, history, nature and art are key elements for building a sense of place and getting people to care about their community.

Arian Randall

Montana City (2025)

Karen Reiff

Karen Reiff grew up in southwestern Montana.  She received her law degree from the University of Montana and LL.M. in taxation from the University of Washington.  She practiced law for 19 years at Church, Harris, Johnson & Williams, P.C. in Great Falls, Montana. Karen’s practice focused primarily on estate and business planning for clients in the Golden Triangle.

Karen and her husband, Nathan, love Great Falls and the surrounding area. They have both been active on several nonprofit boards in Great Falls. Their daughter, Kate, attends Montana State University in Bozeman.  Karen is honored to serve on the board for Humanities Montana.

Karen Reiff

Great Falls (2026)

Esther Beth Sullivan

Dr. Esther “Beth” Sullivan grew up in Livingston, Great Falls, and Bozeman. She loved visiting her grandparents and extended families in Lima and Helena. The daughter of two amazing Montana teachers, she and each of her siblings went on to become teachers themselves. Beth earned her bachelor’s degree at Rocky Mountain College, and then taught middle school language arts in Missoula. She pursued graduate school in theatre studies at Washington State University (MA) and University of Washington (Ph.D.). From there she taught as a faculty member in the Theatre Department at Ohio State University and served in various administrative roles for 16 years. When she married a fellow Rocky alum who happened to live in Alaska, she moved to Anchorage where she began work as the director for the Rural Alaska Native and Adult Distance Education Program at Alaska Pacific University (APU). Over nearly 14 years at APU, she served as faculty member, program director, department chairperson, and academic dean. At the end of 2018, she and her husband retired and returned to Montana. Across her career from Montana to Ohio and Alaska, she is proud to have developed academic programs that expanded access particularly for first generation, rural, and Indigenous students. She is also proud of the work she did to integrate cultural studies across curricular offerings, especially through the arts. She is happy to be back in Montana, living close to Rocky, in the shadows of the Rims, under the brilliant Billings sky – and humbled to be working on the board of Humanities Montana.

Esther Beth Sullivan

Billings (2024) – Vice Chair

W. Clark Whitehorn

W. Clark Whitehorn earned a PhD in History from the University of Colorado. He is currently executive editor for Bison Books, the western trade imprint for the University of Nebraska Press. His previous publishing experience includes serving as editor-in-chief at the University of New Mexico Press, director of publications at the Montana Historical Society, and director at the University of Nevada Press. He is also a veteran of the US Coast Guard. He and his wife, Charlene Porsild, who is President and CEO of the Montana History Foundation, live in Helena, and their son, Noah, attends Montana State University in Bozeman.

W. Clark Whitehorn

Helena (2025)

Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson was raised in his early years on a cattle and wheat ranch in Lodge Grass and later in Billings where he attended Billings West High School. He graduated Montana State University with a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1979.

Since then, he has worked in a variety of roles in the energy industry and has had the benefit and enjoyment of living in a variety of locales and cultures…from the US West, Gulf and East Coasts to Dubai and Montreal.

Although he had not lived in Montana since finishing at MSU, he knew and planned that he would return one day. And so, upon retirement in 2019, he and his high school sweetheart Renee returned and now live in Roscoe under the shadow of his beloved Beartooths, where he is reminded daily how cleansing it can be to live in rural Montana.

Tim Wilson

Roscoe (2026)