Matthew Dumont, Past President

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Chief Deputy of the Corrections Bureau, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Matt Dumont is a twenty-three year member of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office and currently serves as Chief Deputy for the Corrections Bureau. He is happy to return as the ASPA Utah Chapter President, a position he also held in 2009-2010. He earned his Masters of Public Administration from the University of Utah in 2003. Matt has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He enjoys spending time with family, traveling and spending time outdoors.

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Stacee Adams, President

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Communication and Public Engagement Leader at Avenue Consultants

Stacee Adams is a first-generation college graduate and received her Master of Public Administration from the University of Utah. She spent the first part of her career working in the public sector for Salt Lake County and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality before venturing into the private sector where she is now a Communication and Public Engagement Leader for Avenue Consultants, a locally owned engineering firm in Taylorsville, Utah. Her education and career have helped her fulfill her purpose of connecting communities throughout Utah to the resources and opportunities they need to create a better quality of life for themselves and their families. She currently serves as the vice president of ASPA Utah and is the Past President of IAP2 Intermountain Chapter, where she’s spent the last six years building civic engagement skills for the public and strengthening the practitioner community in the Intermountain West. She loves to garden, but isn’t really good at it, walk her dogs, and be as cool in real life as her three incredible nieces thinks she is.

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India Nielsen Barfuss, Secretary

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Program Manager, Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation - Governor's Office of Economic Development India Nielsen Barfuss is a native Utahn and proud Weber State Wildcat. She joined the Office of Outdoor Recreation shortly after finishing her Master of Public Administration degree with a parks and recreation focus. She served in the State Elections Office under Lt. Governor Cox for four years and loves obstacle course racing, backpacking, and her rescue cat.

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Georgina Griffith-Yates, Treasurer

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Georgina Griffith-Yates (she/her) is a passionate, creative NGO leader with a drive to strengthen community programs. In 2019, Georgina received her Master’s in Public Administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management from the University of Utah. She is currently in her third year of a PhD in Political Science, Nonprofit Management and Civil Society Track, at the University of Utah. Georgina’s expertise lies in organizational development, team leadership, marketing, and designing accessible programs for diverse populations. Georgina has spent the last seven years in the nonprofit field, leading work to advance college and career readiness technology in Utah schools. As a Nonprofit Consultant she has worked with clients like Westside Leadership Institute, Cold Case Foundation, Comunidad Materna en Utah, Utah Neighborhood Partners, and the Adult Education Center. In 2018, Georgina was chosen to receive the Student Award by the Nonprofit Policy, Practice, & Partnerships (NP3) Section of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). In 2019, she was published in the International Journal of Public Administration for her work on how nonprofits contribute to providing services for immigrant populations. Most recently, Georgina conducted research throughout Utah to contribute to The State of Utah Strategic Plan on Homelessness. When she isn’t working with or researching nonprofits, Georgina loves spending time tending her garden with her wife and their menagerie of rescue animals.

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Rachel Black, Member-at-Large

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Salt Lake County Health Department

Rachel Black, MPA, LEHS. Rachel has worked for the Salt Lake County Health Department since 2014. She works in Environmental Health, and Supervises SLCO Covid-19 Testing Events. She is the instructor for Startups by Westside Leadership Institute, a nonprofit incubator with University Neighborhood Partners. Rachel worked with University of Utah Professors Dr. Jesus Valero and Dr. Lena Svedin on the development of Utah Statewide Strategic Plan on Homelessness. Rachel partnered with Dr. Jesus Valero at the University of Utah and Dr. Marina Saitgalina at Old Dominion University to conduct a national survey on nonprofit incubators and presented at ARNOVA’s Conference in San Diego and ANSER Conference in Vancouver B.C. in 2019, their work has been submitted for publication.

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Tamra Borchardt Slayton, Member-at-Large

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Chairperson, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah

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Nichol Bordeaux, Member-at-Large

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Nichol Bourdeaux, Chief Planning and Engagement Officer for the Utah Transit Authority has over 20 years of experience working in communications and government relations. Before serving in her current position at UTA, Ms. Bourdeaux served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Ralph Becker, in Salt Lake City. Prior to that, she served as the Deputy Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development for Salt Lake City Corporation. She began her career in communications working for sporting and news affiliates. Her passion for sports led her to join the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games where she was the entertainment and leisure coordinator for the Athlete’s Village. Ms. Bourdeaux served as the Government Relations Director for the Boys and Girls Clubs North Carolina Alliance. Ms. Bourdeaux has served on the Utah Performing Arts Advisory Board, Utah Nonprofit Association, and NeighborWorks Salt Lake Board of Directors, as well as the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Chamber of Commerce Business and Education Committee. She holds a BA in Communications and an MPA from University of Utah. Ms. Bordeaux is a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, and a sixth generation Utahan.

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Candice B. Pierucci, Member-at-Large

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Candice Pierucci is the youngest serving female legislator in the history of Utah and currently the youngest serving legislator. Representative Pierucci serves District 52 (Riverton, Herriman, South Jordan) and replaced Representative Knotwell after his resignation in 2019. After being elected by the delegates in her district, Candice was appointed by Governor Gary R. Herbert to the Utah House of Representatives. Rep. Pierucci currently serves as the Vice Chair of Health and Human Services and also serves on the Government Operations Committee, and Social Services Appropriations. Pierucci also serves on the Commission for Criminal and Juvenile Justice.

Prior to her legislative service Candice worked as the Development Director for Sutherland Institute, a conservative think tank that focuses on faith, family and free-markets. Previous to working at Sutherland, Candice was the Director of Community Relations for Congressman Chris Stewart. Candice is the Vice President of Professional Republican Woman and over the years has worked on presidential, congressional, and local campaigns. Pierucci is a former board member and flight leader for Utah Honor Flight, a non-profit dedicated to taking veterans to visit their monuments in Washington, DC.

Candice received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with an emphasis in American Government from Utah Valley University and her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Utah. Candice has been a research assistant and research fellow with the Utah Women Leadership Project, co-authoring briefs on the status of Utah women in politics, non-profits and business.

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Shireen Ghorbani, Member-at-Large

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Community Health Director, Intermountain Healthcare Shireen Ghorbani is a community-focused public servant who actively looks for opportunities to serve others. She has experience as both an administrator and elected official, serving the citizens of Salt Lake County as a member of the County Council. Shireen is passionate about serving others and brings that enthusiasm to the ASPA Council.

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Joel Vallett, President-Elect

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Faculty, Southern Utah University

Joel Vallett is on the faculty at Southern Utah University (SUU), and he teaches in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. His research interests center around policy incentives as a driving force for policy implementation, success, and ethical decision making. His professional experiences include negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts as a DOE Contractor. Joel looks forward to bringing his experiences and research in serving on the ASPA-Utah council.

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J. Steven Ott, Advisor

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Steven Ott is Professor Emeritus of Political Science/Public Administration and former Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science, Director of the Master of Public Administration Program, Interim Director of the MS program in International Affairs and Global Enterprise, and Director of the University of Utah’s Institute of Public and International Affairs – all at the University of Utah. He teaches and has written extensively about organization theory and organizational behavior in the public and nonprofit sectors. He has been actively involved in advancing public administration education in the U.S. and internationally. Prior to the University of Utah, he was Director of Graduate Programs in Public Administration at the University of Maine, Special Assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver, and an executive with a Denver, Colorado-based management consulting firm. His Ph.D. is from the University of Colorado, M.S. from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and B.S. from The Pennsylvania State University.

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Jennifer Maurine Seelig, Advisor

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Jennifer Maurine Seelig has been involved in politics and public service for more than two decades at a policy-making and leadership level. She was a policy and research analyst for the Salt Lake City Council between 1995 and 2000. She served as a policy and research analyst for Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson between 2000 and 2001, with primary responsibility for the Americans with Disabilities Act and for a broad range of policy issues that required thoughtful evaluation and review before being presented to the Mayor for action. She additionally served as the communication and legislative policy analyst for the Utah League of Cities and Towns, which acts as an advocate for issues vital to residential communities across the state. From 2003 to April of 2014, Jennifer worked for 1-800 CONTACTS as their Associate Director of Governmental Relations. Between January of 2016 and January of 2020, Jennifer served the City of Salt Lake in Mayor Biskupski's office as a Senior Policy Advisor and Director of Community Empowerment. Currently Jennifer teaches public administration classes at the University of Utah and serves as the Director of Community Partnerships within the Institute of Government and Politics and Utah State University. Jennifer was elected by District 23 residents in November of 2006 to serve in the Utah House of Representatives. In 2012, her peers in the Utah House Democrat Caucus elected her into the leadership position of Democratic Leader. She is the first woman to serve in this role. Prior to holding this position, Jennifer served in the capacities of Utah House Democratic Caucus Manager and Caucus Whip. Jennifer retired from elected service in 2014 in order to finish her PhD - which was completed in the fall of 2018 from the University of Utah. Her research interests include civic engagement, neighborhood-based governance, and women's political empowerment. She has a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Utah and a B.A. in English from the University of Louisville.

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