Our board of directors

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 Christine E. Breen attended Vermont Law School, where she received a Master in Environmental Law and Policy in 2008 and her Juris Doctor in 2011. Christine concentrates her practice on employment law, commercial litigation, and civil litigation.

Christine Breen is a partner at Riley Breen LLC where she concentrates her practice on employment law, commercial litigation, and civil litigation. Christine co-authored an article for the 2019 June/July issue of Trial Talk discussing the various laws in Colorado that extend rights and protections to Colorado’s work-force. Christine has also lectured to the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association and the Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association on Colorado employment laws and nuances that exist in practice. In 2018, Christine trained the Colorado Legislators, their aids and interns, as well as Capitol staff on sexual harassment in the workplace and appropriate workplace behavior.

When not in the office, Christine advocates for increased protections for women, families, and workers at the Colorado State Capitol. Christine serves on the Board for the Women’s Lobby of Colorado and is the organization’s treasurer. Christine Chairs the Legislative Committee for the Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association (PELA). Christine also serves on the Board for PELA. She has testified on numerous bills and worked with coalition members and stakeholders to advance legislation important for improving the lives and protections for Colorado residents. In 2023, Christine and her colleagues on the PELA Legislative Committee led the charge to pass groundbreaking legislation in Colorado, the Protecting Opportunities and Workers' Rights (POWR) Act, which increased non-disclosure and non-disparagement protections for Colorado workers, as well as eliminated the outdated "severe or pervasive" harassment standard in Colorado.

 Ellen Buckley has long been a passionate advocate for women’s issues. Prior to moving to Colorado to attend law school, she worked in a domestic violence shelter as a crisis counselor and volunteered at a Rape Crisis Center. Ellen practiced employee side employment law for 10 years with a focus on the Americans with Disabilities Act, and also represented domestic violence survivors at protective order hearings.

She is an active member of the Colorado Plaintiff Employment Lawyers Association’s Legislative Committee, where she was part of the small but mighty team who passed the POWR Act, SB23-172, thereby immensely improving the lives of Colorado’s workers. She has also been an engaged member of the Women’s Lobby Legislative Policy Committee since 2019. In addition to advocating for women’s and workers’ rights, she volunteers for environmental groups, including 350 Colorado, trying to halt the climate crisis. She is a past chair of the City of Westminster

Environmental Advisory Board. Ellen received her J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law and her B.A. in psychology and sociology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

 Anna (she/her) is a public policy advocate and researcher. Most recently employed as a fundraiser for tribal colleges and other minority serving institutions of higher education, she has previously served as an ESL teacher for immigrants and refugees, an editor at a university press, and a university rhetoric and composition instructor.

Anna has served on the Women’s Lobby of Colorado’s board directors since 2017, previously serving in leadership roles as the Board Chair, Board Vice Chair, and Policy Chair. She currently sits on both the policy and community engagement committees.

Anna is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at CU Denver's School of Public Affairs, where she also earned her graduate certificate in public policy analysis. Her research focuses on the role of activists and other engaged community members within the public policy process, including their participation within advocacy coalitions and impact on policy outcomes. She earned her M.A. in English from Penn State University and her B.A. in English and Anthropology from Texas Tech University.

Anna met her partner when they were both serving as Peace Corps Volunteers in Ukraine, and they now live together in Denver with their son, cats, and books.  

Wendy Howell has been a labor, LGBTQ, and political organizer for over twenty years. They first came to Colorado in 2008 to help Hon. Betsy Markey defeat then-Congressmember Marilyn Musgrave, and fell in love with both the Rocky Mountains and their future wife Jen while on that campaign. Since, they have served as the state director of Why Marriage Matters (the coalition for marriage equality), organized healthcare workers to stand up for themselves and their professions, and helped to found the Colorado Working Families Party, where they currently serve as State Director. They live in Denver with Jen and a particularly incorrigible rabbit named Amelia, and spend most of their free time cooking, reading, and playing in Colorado’s great outdoors.

Diane E. Scott, DBH, LCSW, MSW, is a Co-Founder of Synergy Behavioral Health

Solutions, LLC, a consulting company that supports organizations in developing and

utilizing a Trauma-Informed approach. Dr. Scott received her bachelor's and master's

degrees in social work from the University of Alaska Anchorage and earned a Doctor of

Behavioral Health from Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies.

She is active on numerous community committees and boards of directors related to

improving individuals' lives. Dr. Scott’s investigation into the experiences of healthcare

workers and first responders has led to her co-development of the "Trauma-Informed

Peer-to-Peer Surveillance" (TIPPS) program and the health and wellness training

program for first responders entitled "Sounding the Alarm." Dr. Scott is a published

author and public speaker and has presented at state, regional, and international

conferences.