Adenea Sellars is the Director of Emergency Management for Stevens County, Washington. She strives to employ the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Whole Community approach to emergency management by connecting partnerships to meet common goals. Ms. Sellars has a bachelor of arts degree in public relations and a master’s degree in leadership and communication.
Debra Hansen is a professor and the County Extension Director with Washington State University, focusing on community and economic development in rural Stevens County, Washington. Ms. Hansen works to leverage community partnerships to solve difficult issues. Her primary focus is managing the Broadband Action Team (BAT), a model that is being replicated across the state. She is one of the original architects of ripple effects mapping, an evaluation technique for discovering outcomes in complicated community work. Ms. Hansen has a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Utah State University and a master’s degree in adult education from Penn State University.
Dr. David Nielsen is a licensed psychologist and a graduate of the counseling psychology PhD program at Arizona State University. He is the Executive Director of Stevens County, Washington, d/b/a Northeast Washington Alliance Counseling Services (NEWACS). NEWACS provides outpatient crisis, mental health, substance use disorder, employment, and housing services in three rural counties in northeast Washington. NEWACS also operates a 16-bed inpatient evaluation and treatment facility in Stevens County. Dr. Nielsen has 27 years of experience working in rural behavioral health services, and he is very interested in promoting effective behavioral health care services in rural areas.
Matt Schanz is the Administrator for Northeast Tri County Health District (NETCHD), which provides public health services to Ferry, Pend Oreille, and Stevens Counties in Northeast Washington. During his 7 years as the NETCHD Administrator, Mr. Schanz has seen the agency expanding from mandated services into needed community-based programs that include syringe services/harm reduction, overdose review panels, and working with populations experiencing homelessness. Mr. Schanz graduated from the University of Idaho and has 27 years of experience working in rural public health in both Idaho and Washington State. Through most of this time, his experience has been in environmental public health.
Shawn Davis is the Chief of Corrections for the Stevens County, Washington, Sheriff’s Office, where he works to ensure that the jail is complying with all applicable state and federal laws. He has been involved with trying to help those who suffer from addiction for many years and has experience in creating and implementing jail medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD)/medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs. He has been employed in corrections for 15 years—6 as a corrections officer and 9 as a chief or superintendent.
Wes McCart is a Stevens County, Washington, commissioner, currently serving his 11th year in office. He currently serves at the national level on the National Association of Counties as Second Vice President of the Western Interstate Region Board of Directors, on the Public Lands Steering Committee, and in the Rural Action Caucus. At the state level, he serves on the Washington State Association of Counties Board of Directors, Legislative Steering Committee, Columbia River Caucus, and Timber Caucus. He is active in health care, legislative, water, land use, and timber issues. Mr. McCart holds a bachelor of science degree in biomathematics.