MDHWC Key Staff
The Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission is served by a professional staff with many years of experience in the health and public policy arenas.
Pat Teegarden is a principal of Civic Results and Interim Executive Director of the Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission (MDHWC). Pat has been involved in public policy, politics, and community affairs in Colorado continuously since 1976. He has worked extensively at the state, local and federal levels of government on issues including healthcare, environment/natural resources, zoning and land use, affordable housing, and on alternative dispute resolution and regulatory and legislative matters. Teegarden served in the administrations of Governors Romer and Owens (1995-2001) as the senior policy and legislative director for the Executive Directors of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). He successfully represented CDPHE’s interests to the Colorado General Assembly, local governments throughout Colorado, and federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U. S. Congress. Likewise, he worked closely with local public health officials on legislative, budget, and regulatory matters in Colorado while at CDPHE as well as with numerous other public, private, and individual stakeholders potentially impacted by CDPHE. Teegarden also worked as a private attorney at the national law firm of Patton Boggs, LLP, concentrating on environment/natural resources, healthcare, and general administrative and regulatory matters for a diverse set of clients including Colorado local governments, healthcare facilities, housing, and other private sector companies. Teegarden has served in various Congressional staff positions in Washington, D.C., including the office of former Colorado Congressman Tim Wirth, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Budget Committee. He returned to Colorado from Washington, D.C. to join the staff of the Denver Chamber of Commerce, where he was responsible for government and community affairs. In addition to his Colorado background, Teegarden has worked with local and state governments throughout the U.S., including Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. He holds both an undergraduate (Economics) and a Juris Doctor degrees
Peter Kenney is a co-founder and Principal of Denver-based Civic Results, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and implementing regional strategies that involve collaboration among government, business, nonprofit organizations and citizens to improve the quality of life of all residents. Peter serves as senior policy advisor to the MDHWC. He has twenty years of policy development and management experience as an elected official in municipal and county government. He was a Clear Creek County Commissioner, chairman of the Clear Creek County Planning Commission, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) for seven years, serving as chair of the Executive Committee and vice chair of the Board of Directors. Peter served as president of Colorado Counties Incorporated and as chair of various committees and task forces for the National Association of Counties. Peter helped found the Metro Mayors Caucus and since 1993 has provided strategic policy advice and facilitation services to Caucus members. Peter was the recipient of a Gates Foundation Fellowship for the State and Local Government Executive Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Peter was selected as the 1987 Colorado County Commissioner of the Year, received the 1984 Common Cause Good Citizenship Award, the 1992 Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Counties in 1992 and the Distinguished Service Award from DRCOG in 1993. He is the 1997 recipient of DRCOG's John V. Christiensen Memorial Award for extraordinary contributions to regionalism. Beginning in late summer 2003, Peter served under contract for the U.S Agency for International Development in Baghdad, Iraq as a principal advisor to new local governments throughout Baghdad Province.
Catherine Kearney Marinelli is a Principal at Civic Results and the Director of the Metro Mayors Caucus (MMC). Catherine leads the staff in the implementation of the strategic objectives of the Healthiest Communities Team of MDHWC. Since 1996 Catherine has worked with the MMC Caucus to identify and address critical policy issues and implement regional and local policy initiatives. Catherine has facilitated the creation of multi-jurisdictional regional compacts on issues such as health and wellness, energy efficiency, water conservation, and served on the policy team facilitating the Mile High Compact on growth management. Catherine organized the Caucus' multiyear $200 million affordable housing mortgage bond program and led the Caucus effort to establish a $50 million pool of funds at the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority for the finance of transit oriented affordable multi-family rental housing along the region's transit corridors. In the area of water conservation, Catherine led the multi-jurisdictional effort to draft Best Management Practices for water conservation (demand side) currently in use as an appendix to the Colorado Water Conservation Board's Model Water Conservation Plan. Catherine also served as an appointee to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s Housing Plan Task Force. At Civic Results Catherine has worked on special projects for a variety of agencies, local governments and foundations including the City and County of Denver, Regional Air Quality Council, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the Counselors of Real Estate, and The Denver Foundation. Catherine has a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver and a B.A. in Political Science, cum laude, from Colorado State University.
Carissa Look is a Program Associate at Civic Results. Carissa has many responsibilities, including supporting the work of the Access to Healthy Foods Team of the MDHWC, representing Civic Results on the DNC Lean-N-Green Legacy Committee, maintaining Civic Results websites, supporting Civic Results' programs through research, writing, office management, and organizing and preparing meetings, seminars, and retreats. Prior to joining the Civic Results team, Carissa worked in park advocacy and planning in San Francisco. Carissa is a graduate of The Colorado College, where she studied Environmental Science and worked as a reasearch fellow for the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project.