Our Team

Kiersten Iwai

(she/her)

Executive Director

Inside the office: Kiersten spends her time bragging about Forward Montana’s badass programs, staff, and interns.

Outside the office: You can find Kiersten eating french fries after a long day in the mountains or dancing the night away.

Margo Ensz

(she/her)

Development Director

Inside the office: You’ll find Margo perpetually gobsmacked by the work of her incredible colleagues, and opening yet another tab in her quest for funding (call her if you want to support our work!).

Outside the office: Margo spends most of her time trying to consciously raise a couple tiny humans, scrambling the hillsides with her pups and pals, and doing crosswords.

Courtney Smith

(she/her)

Director of Voter Engagement

Inside the Office: You’ll find Courtney strategizing about registering voters and encouraging as much voter turnout as possible! 

Outside the Office: During the summer Courtney can be found hiking or soaking at the nearest hot springs. In winter, she can be found hibernating with her cat!

Annie Warner

(she/her)

Operations Director

Inside the Office: Wake up babes, expense reports are due! Most often you can find Annie creating spreadsheets in colors that hurt her eyes or signing emails off with “love you <3” 

Outside the Office: Annie can be found walking, biking, or long-boarding around town with her dog Gilly, knitting various winter garments, or laughing down a mountain on her skis

Pari Kemmick

(She/her)

SENIOR Organizing Manager- Eastern Region

Inside the Office: Pari gets SO excited about the people and places of Eastern Montana and how hard our volunteers and interns work to make it a better, more inclusive place.

Outside the Office: Pari can be found drinking champagne or exploring the state, finding every last body of water to soak in with her sweet partner and pup.

Lyla Brown

(she/her)

senior Organizing Manager- Central Region

Inside the office: Lyla can be found drinking at least three drinks at a time, listening to Beyonce on repeat, and day-dreaming about a Montana where all young people feel represented and cared for.

Outside the office: You can find Lyla getting lost on walks in Bozeman because she got distracted, playing with her cat (the most perfect angel baby), or trying to recreate baked good she sees on tv (and sometimes failing).  

Hannah Gale

(They/Them)

Senior Organizing Manager- Western Region

Inside the office: You can find Hannah having dance parties while they think of ways to get young folks in Montana excited about all things voting!

Outside the office: Hannah is enjoying life in Missoula whether that be at a community dance, in the woods or at home with their cats.

Ian Fleming

(he/him)

Flathead Field Manager

Inside the office: You can find Ian working on five ideas at the same time on how to increase political participation on building affordable sustainable communities. 

Outside the office: Ian can be found burning up all the daylight hiking, biking, swimming, recharging with a strong cup of coffee, and playing card games with friends. 

Sylvia Luceno

(She/Her)

Civic Education Organizer

Inside the office: You’ll find Sylvia thinking of ways to support Montana’s amazing high schoolers in their civic engagement endeavors and trying to get the office lava lamp to work. 

Outside the office: Sylvia is probably doing yoga, thinking about how she should be doing yoga and dancing in her room instead, spinning a DJ set or hosting her radio show! 

kat elam

(they/she)

Community organizer

Inside the Office: You can find Kat passionately talking way too fast about plants and animals, languages and cultures, baking and crafting, the interconnectedness of just about everything, and basically anything else. They are very excited to be using their privilege to advocate with and build up underserved communities, and to help folks realize their power and use their voices.

Outside the Office: Kat likes to spend her time cuddling with her cat, two dogs, and wonderful partner, as well as crocheting, baking, reading queer fiction (and nonfiction – basically anything queer!), and taking nature walks – not the hikes where the goal is the top of a mountain, but the kind where you have to stop every few seconds to appreciate and learn about all the awesome nature things around you!

Savanna Washburn

(she/Her)

Development coordinator

Inside the office: You can find Savanna without shoes on, giggling with coworkers, and constantly trying to get the office dog’s attention – to the dismay of its owner. 

Outside the office: You can find Savanna outside on some sort of adventure or at Country Bookshelf, adding to her ever-growing collection of half-read books. 

Cassidy Reeves

(she/Her)

Content Specialist

Inside the office: Cassidy spends her time making fun visual media and combing the Internet for inspiration. You can be sure to hear Cassidy passionately declaring how social media can be a powerful tool for young people to express themselves and a tool for good!

Outside the office: Cassidy loves reading (fav genre magical realism), gardening, and getting crafty with her hands. Nothing makes her happier than moving her body outside. You can reliably find Cassidy playing soccer, skiing, rafting, or doing dance aerobics in her front yard.

Dara deines

(she/her)

Communications manager

Inside the office: You’ll find Dara hunkered down at her home office with music playing in the background, pets stealing the show on meetings and finding creative ways to share the work FMT does. She’s excited to be representing FMT in eastern MT!

Outside the office: Dara can be found binge watching anime or rewatching Master Chef for the 5th time, hanging out at Makoshika State Park with her pups, down at the local coffeeshop with the regulars, and uncomfortably bent over a puzzle for way too many hours.

Mikayla Pitts

(She/Her)

Voter Engagement and Reproductive Rights Organizer

Inside the office: Mikayla is building community connections. Fighting for a future where Montanans don’t have to worry about Reproductive Rights.

Outside the office: You can find Mikayla kickboxing, cooking new recipes, or writing poetry. During the summers she’s outside wandering in a field of flowers.

Jackie Aaron

(She/Her)

Bozeman Voter Engagement and Housing Organizer

Inside the office: Jackie is constantly moving around, finding comfy spots to perch and focus on creating an inclusive and affordable housing scene for all Bozeman residents.

Outside the office: Jackie feels most at peace when adventuring in the outdoors, skiing, biking, camping, and basking in the sun. As an avid cook, she is aways trying new recipes and loves being creative in the kitchen.

Sage Bennett

(They/Them)

Missoula Voter Engagement and Housing Organizer

Inside the office: You’ll find Sage drinking a concerning amount of coffee while devising plans on fostering community around the essential human right of housing.

Outside the office: Sage is spending as much time as they possibly can in any body of water (including puddles and ponds), working on many unfinished/poorly executed crafts, and having spiritual experiences at drag shows.

John Bazant

(He/Him)

Missoula Office and Field Coordinator

Inside the office: John is doing whatever they can to help assist the incredible Missoula team and operations director, trying to figure out why the printer keeps showing an error message and rolling around town to get people civically engaged.

Outside the office: John can be found taking full advantage of the incredible Montana public lands, enjoying the filmography of Tom Cruise and trying to find a new hobby to obsess over then lose interest in after a few weeks.

Devon Sanders

(She/Her)

Bozeman Office and Field Coordinator

Inside the office: Devon can be found listening to music with her officemates while doing businessy things to help keep operations running smoothly or out in the community complimenting everyone on their cute outfits while getting them registered to vote.

Outside the office: You can find Devon going to a movie (for the popcorn), hosting her radio show on KGLT, or being yanked around by her dogs on walks as they chase after squirrels.

Sid Boyer

(He/Him)

Missoula Campus Organizer

Inside the office: You’ll find Sid reaching out to students on campus and putting together plans to hold successful voter registration events at the University of Montana! While doing all of this, he’ll be doodling in his scheduling book.

Outside the office: Sid will be playing and practicing with his band, Calamity Cowboy, listening to local music and going to live shows, and working on his Jeep!

Kailey Forrey

(They/Them)

Bozeman Campus Organizer

Inside the office: You’ll likely find Kailey laughing with Mikayla and Jackie in their office space, and struggling to get in contact with professors for Classraps.

Outside the office: Kailey is an avid homebody and is most definitely curled up on the couch with their cat, Oreo, while watching vegan cooking on YouTube.

Katie Rea

(She/Her)

Missoula Campus Organizer

Inside the office:  You’ll find Katie connecting with students on and off the University of Montana’s campus and planning voter registration events to get students engaged and mobilized.

Outside the office: Katie can be found photosynthesizing in the sun listening to a good podcast, attempting to cook a hopefully delicious meal, and spending time with her friends and family.

Sophie Scothern

(she/they)

Missoula Voter Engagement Organizer

Inside the office: Sophie can be found sippin’ tea, accidentally knocking things over, getting inspired by the FMT team, and organizing voter registration efforts in Missoula’s community to get out the vote – especially the youth vote!

Outside the office: You can find Sophie skiing, mountain biking, floating the river, and making fairy gardens. Sophie is also passionate about sustainable fashion, creating art, hanging out with friends and cats, and trying to overcome her fear of being perceived at the climbing gym.

Eryn Corinth

(She/Her)

Butte Voter Engagement Organizer

Inside the office:  You can find Eryn staying hydrated with her emotional support nalgene while devising new ways to engage with the Butte community for voter registration efforts.

Outside the office: You’ll most likely find Eryn dreaming about finishing her cross-country bike tour, running, hiking, sewing a quilt, or swimming in Montana’s coldest rivers and lakes.

Ellen

(She/They)

Billings Voter Engagement Organizer

Inside the office: You can find Ellen making lists, discovering new useful keyboard shortcuts, and bringing their emotional support notebook with them everywhere.

Outside the office: Ellen can be found spending as much time outside as possible, updating their Goodreads, or researching topics for their podcast on critical peacebuilding. She also loves discussing the queering of all domains and what human ephemera you would choose to introduce to the aliens.

Morgan Syring

(they/She)

Voter Engagement and LGBTQ+ Organizer

Inside the office:  You can find Morgan with fifty tabs open, staring out a window thinking about all the amazing people working towards an intersectional past, present, and future.

Outside the office: Morgan can be found working on at least one art project with a podcast or audiobook playing in the background; trying and failing to keep their pets from jumping right into the middle of everything.

Kendra Woods

(She/Her)

Billings Campus Organizer

Inside the office: You can find Kendra ironically outside the office tabling at community events or up at the colleges and chatting up her coworkers about getting people registered to vote!

Outside the office: Kendra spends most of her time reading and running all the miles through town or cooking different recipes just in case the opportunity to become a MasterChef ever arises

Emma Forster

(She/Her)

Bozeman Campus Organizer

Inside the office: You’ll find Emma wearing her best outfits to keep up with MT’s most stylish office, using way too many exclamation marks in all her emails, and heading out into the community to register young folks to vote!

Outside the office: Emma can likely be found hanging out with her friends or rotting away in an MSU library study room. She also loves doing anything outdoors, trying new coffee shops and restaurants, listening to music, thrifting, and cooking!