Brenda Birkle

Executive Director

A Wyoming native with strong ties to the community and a proud homesteading family history in southeast Wyoming, Brenda Birkle has a passion for the area and the unique opportunities not available anywhere else. Brenda has served as both a dedicated professional and volunteer in advancing poverty-ending programs over the last twenty years.

Brenda Birkle

Kristen-Erin Balderaz

Kristen-Erin Balderaz

Family Advocate

Kristen-Erin Balderaz is a Certified Housing Counselor and financial literacy educator. She provides direct services to the families in the My Front Door program to help them achieve the dream of homeownership. 

Dakota Metzger

Family Advocate

Dakota Metzger

Dakota Metzger is an advocate providing financial education and direct services in Laramie, WY. She is passionate about bettering her community through helping underserved populations. Her background is in advocacy and in secondary education. She is a frequent traveler and a dog mom. 

Olivia Samson

Board Chair

Olivia Samson

Olivia Samson is Vice President of Commercial Lending with ANB Bank in Cheyenne. Olivia is actively involved in the community serving as Treasurer of My Front Door and also serving on the Cheyenne Kiwanis Foundation and Cheyenne Kiwanis Club boards. She enjoys spending time with her family and loves to travel.

Chris Brennan

Board Vice Chair

Chris Brennan

Chris is a Junior Partner with Woodhouse Roden Nethercott, LLC. Chris originally comes from Massachusetts, but his family moved to Cheyenne in the 90s and he has decided to call it home ever since. A Cheyenne East HS graduate, Chris went to the University of Wyoming, where he received his degree in Criminal Justice. He received his Juris Doctorate with Honor from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 2015. When he is not working or volunteering, you can find Chris running and working out. After a long day, he enjoys going home to his dogs.  

Tristan Johnson

Board Treasurer

Tristan Johnson

Tristan Johnson is a third generation Wyomingite, a Cheyenne native, and a University of Wyoming graduate with a B.S. in Finance and minor in Banking & Financial Services. With over 20 years of business experience in Cheyenne, Tristan has most recently spent time working in the mortgage industry. She is an active community volunteer, having served on numerous boards and committees; a member of WHEELS within Cheyenne Frontier Days, and a past Miss Frontier.

Wendy Fanning

Board Secretary

Wendy Fanning

Wendy Fanning grew up in Nebraska, but her heart is in Wyoming. She received her bachelor’s in fine arts/humanities from the University of Wyoming. She has over 25 years’ experience in the nonprofit world and closely follows the philosophy that “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” [Mahatma Gandhi]. She has a son and a daughter who are her everything! In her spare time, she loves the outdoors, going for hikes with her loyal dog, Sy Scarlet and rock climbing with her boyfriend.

J. Terry Williams, MPH

Founder, Board Member

Through the JustFaith/Social Justice Study, Terry was one of the Founders of the original Wyoming Family Home Ownership Program, now My Front Door. He has been active in supporting and growing the program since inception.

Terry Williams

Mary Ellen Sternitzke, PhD

Ex-Officio

Dr. Mary Ellen Sternitzke

Dr. Mary Ellen Sternitzke is a child psychologist with an interest in improving the business models used to bring services to children, their families and the teachers and childcare providers who care for them. These interests led Mary Ellen to study real estate and affordable housing programs, creating a natural link with My Front Door. Mary Ellen loves the Wyoming lifestyle and values our most precious state resources: people and land.

Valerie Arias

Board Member

Valerie Arias

A Cheyenne native, Valerie Arias has over 20 years’ experience helping move single mothers out of poverty. Her many years of advocacy with Climb Wyoming, as well as her degree in social science, has given her a unique per­spec­tive on the issues of single parenting in Wyoming. She is also the proud mother of five and received the Athena Protégé award in 2006.

Crystal Mancera Meisner

Board Member

Crystal Mancera Meisner

Crystal Mancera Meisner has a wide range of experience from living internationally to lobbying domestically to being a certified life coach and an Accredited Financial Counselor. Currently, she is the Executive Assistant at Western Vista FCU. She continues to feed her passion for customer service and advocacy with her community service.  In her spare time, Crystal loves spending time with her family going on walks and having movie nights.

Lisa Moehrke

Board Member

Lisa Moehrke is an Associate Broker

with Hammontree Real Estate. After establishing a successful corporate background in sales and marketing with a Fortune 100 company, she turned her energies toward local real estate in 2012 with a solid business foundation in selling Residential and Commercial Real Estate.  Her personal motto is “Be of Service. Be a Resource. Be a Leader.” Lisa is both a mom and a grandmother and has lived in Laramie for the past 28 years. She loves spending time with her kids, whether it's snowshoeing in the mountains or cheering them on at soccer games.
 

Lisa Moehrke

Rin Kasckow

Board Member

Rin Kasckow is an Executive Director for the Alliance for Historic Wyoming, a statewide historic preservation non-profit who focuses on preserving historic places and spaces through education, advocacy, and consulting. Rin sits on the board of Laramie Main Street Alliance and Age-Friendly Laramie. Before coming on the board, she volunteered with My Front Door and fell in love with the mission and the staff of the organization. She believes in her community and she wants to make sure everybody has access to a home. 

Rin Kasckow