Diane Chalfant, President
Diane Chalfant retired in 2016 after a 36-year career with the National Park Service. She served as Chief of Interpretation in three parks, including Yellowstone National Park, where she worked closely with non-profit and corporate partners to develop educational programs, facilities and services including the Canyon and Old Faithful Visitor Education Centers. Diane is interested in facilitating the work of indigenous and tribal members telling their own histories through the museum’s programs and exhibits. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Interpretation from The Ohio State University.
Bob Ebinger, Vice President
Bob Ebinger was a history major at Trinity College. In 1980 he helped establish a Historic District in his inner-city Los Angeles neighborhood and has since restored his two historic residences. Bob wrote the biography of Emanuel Goughnour, an early Livingston lumber entrepreneur. A past city commissioner and state representative, he presently sits on Livingston’s Historic Preservation Committee, the Urban Renewal Agency Board, and the Livingston Depot Foundation.
Molly O'Neil Ballard, Secretary
Molly earned a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental geology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. After her studies, she worked as an interpretative ranger at Grand Canyon National Park and as a naturalist in Yellowstone. Molly’s interest is natural history intersected with people and how geology implicated societies. This marriage of people and places lead her back to school and she earned her Master of Science in Community Health from Montana State University in Bozeman. In the spring of 2020, Molly began working at the Park City-County Health Department as the health promotion and outreach specialist and serving as the Public Information Officer during the COVID-19 emergency. Currently, Molly works as a public health analyst for a small healthcare information technology consulting company that contracts with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network. She is passionate about community engagement, access to educational opportunities, preparing for natural disasters, and sharing the wonders of natural history.
George Bornemann
George Bornemann is a Professional Land Surveyor with CTA Architects Engineers in Livingston. He spent 20 years working in Yellowstone National Park where he became interested in the area’s history. George also serves as a Trustee of the Livingston School District. Recently, George has been inventorying Warren McGee Montana Research Collection maps. George has two children, Augustus and Sonia.
Shauna Johnson
Suzanne Catharine
Suzanne is originally from Schenectady, New York, and moved to Park County in 2016. She is impressed by the duality of the museum as it preserves and educates on Montana’s social, cultural, and ecological history. She believes that museums are crucial because they allow visitors to step beyond their lived experiences and into another. Suzanne is excited to play a role in the growth of the museum and feels that it has a bright future.
Suzanne’s education specializes in Public History of the American West, earning a BA in History, an MA in Public History, and a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation, from the University of Utah. Additionally, Suzanne has an MS in Information Sciences from the State University of New York at Albany, focusing on Archives and Historic Records. Professionally, Suzanne has worked as an Archivist, an Exhibit and Records intern, a Records Manager for the City of Livingston, an Archival Intern at the University of Utah and the National Park Service focusing on Yellowstone’s historic collection, and as the Outreach Services Librarian at the Livingston-Park County Public Library.
Andy Olds
Andy Olds works as an independent contractor and currently operates a handyman business, Andy's Tool Wagon. He served in the US Navy for six years. Andy takes great pride in representing the people, places, and things in Park County that make up our rich history. He has lived in Livingston since 1998 with his wife and two children.
Jeff Reed
Jeff's career includes software product development, people and product management, strategy formulation and implementation, business development and technical marketing. Most recently he was VP of the Microsoft Global Alliance at Arrow Electronics, a $3B business, where he was awarded Microsoft's Indirect Partner of the Year. He currently is an active board member of three startups, and is invested in multiple early and mid-stage tech companies. He focuses on companies that in some way or another help protect the wild places left on this planet.
Jeff and his wife own Reedfly Farm practicing regenerative agriculture and conservation. They enjoy supporting any activity or group that uses education to pass on the appreciation and hence conservation of wild places in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Upper Yellowstone watershed. With a PhD in systemic functional linguistics and history, Jeff has published multiple books and articles on early Hellenistic history and modern linguistic theory. He spends much of his free time interacting with the abundant wildlife in and near his home, researching animal communication and helping others experience a different way of living as part of nature.
Greg Strong
Lee Whittlesey
Lee’s forty-five-year studies in the history of the Yellowstone region have made him an expert on Yellowstone’s vast literature and have resulted in numerous publications. He is the author, co-author, or editor of sixteen books and more than fifty journal articles.
Whittlesey served as Park Historian for the National Park Service at Yellowstone National Park for 25 years, and previously served in that park as Archivist, Ranger Naturalist/Interpreter, Law Enforcement Ranger, and in numerous other positions. He has a master’s degree in history from Montana State University and a law degree (Juris Doctor) from the University of Oklahoma. On May 19, 2001, because of his extensive writings and long contributions to Yellowstone National Park, Idaho State University conferred upon him an Honorary Doctorate of Science and Humane Letters. On May 3, 2014, Montana State University awarded him an honorary Ph.D. in history. From 2006 through 2011, he served as an adjunct professor of history at Montana State University. Whittlesey retired as Park Historian for the National Park Service at Yellowstone National Park on April 30, 2018. He now lives in the Livingston, Montana area, where he has just finished his latest book, which is volume one of a two-volume history of stagecoaching in Montana, Idaho, and the Yellowstone region.
Bob Ebinger and Paul Shea hanging a Tom L. Roberts painting in art exhibit.
Jem Blueher and Andy Olds firing up the restored forge in the Blacksmith Shop.
Volunteer field trip to Yellowstone National Park museum storage.
George Bornemann trying his hand at making cordage during the Knap-In.
