Our Board of DIRECTORS & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Candi Zion - Executive Director 2021 on
Candi is from Great Falls, graduating from Arizona State University (ASU) with a bachelor's degree in History and a master's degree in Public History/Historic Preservation, as well as an Honors degree from ASU Barrett Honor’s College. Her employment experience includes working as the Navajo Nation Architectural Historian, manager and part owner of a veterinary hospital, and as Rocky Mountain Front Coordinator for the Montana Wilderness Association. She completes cultural resource surveys through CZ Consulting, wrote two books, and ranches with her husband at Winifred. Candi helped create Dine’ Mother Earth Team and Recycle Hi-Line and has been involved with Recycle Montana since 2013, becoming Executive Director in 2021. She loves God, family, Montana, history, recycling, her horses, barrel racing and dogs.
Mark Nelson - President 2003 on
Mark is a third generation Montanan. He and his wife Robin live in the beautiful Mission Valley. Since May 2000, Mark has been the Program Manager for the Lake County Solid Waste District until retirement in 2022. Mark has a Bachelor of Science in Business Finance and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Montana. Mark has been SWANA certified as a Manager of Landfill Operations and of Transfer Station Systems and represented Lake County on the DEQ Solid Waste Advisory Council. Mark is also a licensed water system operator. Prior to his employment in the solid waste and recycling industry, Mark spent twenty years in the insurance industry, with the first ten in sales and agency operations and the last ten as an administrator in the Montana Insurance Commissioner’s Office. Mark has been involved with Recycle Montana since 2003.
Ted Geilen - Vice President 2022 on
Ted Geilen is the head of Recycling Works in Missoula, MT. The nonprofit runs eight curbside pickup routes in Missoula County and serves as the hub of a growing regional glass collection network that includes Glacier National Park. Ted is a Professional Engineer with a Master’s in Engineering from The University of Illinois and an MBA from UC Berkeley. His work experience includes engineering work across the US West, small business ventures, consulting, and most importantly, child-care. Ted moved to Montana in 2014 and with his wife have two kids, a dog and backyard chickens. They enjoy skiing, hiking, and reading.
Jennifer Bernosky - Secretary/Treasurer 2017 on
Jennifer Bernosky is the Community Relations Manager for Bitterroot Disposal, servicing Ravalli County’s waste collection needs; and Evergreen Disposal and Valley Recycling, providing waste and recycling services in Flathead and Lincoln Counties. Jen has been in the waste management and recycling industry since 2014, joined the Recycle Montana board in 2017, and brings a great deal of experience navigating the complex challenges in the ever-changing world of recycling. Jen and her husband have called Montana home for over twenty-five years and recently moved back to Missoula after 17 years in the Bitterroot Valley. They have four kids, two ridiculous dogs and enjoy family time and exploring our beautiful state.
Kolbi Fox - ad hoc 2019 on
Kolbi Fox was raised in Billings and moved to Phoenix when she was 18. She graduated from college with a degree in Graphic Design & Marketing. She worked in that field for six years. She couldn't stay away from Montana very long, so she moved back in 2002. She and her partner started the crazy adventure of Yellowstone E-Waste in 2006, with no prior knowledge of owning a business. Their business has grown tremendously since then, and they even opened a retail store as a second business in 2016. Kolbi has always been passionate about the environment and recycling, but that passion grew when she got into this field. She has been on the Recycle Montana board since 2019. Kolbi has three children. The eldest two are extremely interested in helping the planet, with the oldest one going to college for a degree in Environmental Science. Kolbi says sometimes they teach her things she did not know about the environment! In her spare time, Kolbi enjoys reading, learning, and traveling.
Kirk Treece - Board Member 2014 on
Kirk has been active on the Board since 2014 and served as the Executive Director from 2017 to 2021. His interest in recycling stems from a strong desire to do the right thing for the environment along with helping others in Montana who share in this goal. Professionally, he has over 25 years’ experience in managing and operating businesses and currently owns and operates a few of his own businesses in the Missoula area. His professional career has been focused on taking care of the customer and he will work diligently to support the needs of the Recycle Montana community. Kirk has a bachelor's degree in Accounting from Northern Arizona University and his CPA Certificate with the State of Arizona. As a professional, he considers it his responsibility to be active in his community and has served on several other boards. Kirk’s free time is spent with his family and dogs enjoying the outdoors, hiking, fishing and camping.
Elaine Taylor - Board Member 2003 on
Elaine is the president of the Montana Beverage Association. Elaine has served on the board of the Montana Recycling Association since 2002 and has been on the board of Recycle Montana since its inception. A Montana native growing up in the Deer Lodge Valley, Elaine enjoys traveling with her family, bird hunting, golf, horses and lake time.
Ken Siroky - Board Member 2021 on
Ken is a retired rancher from Roy, Montana; his grandfather and grandmother homesteaded there in 1913. He attended a country school for eight grades and then graduated from RHS in 1966. In 1970, Ken graduated from MSU-Bozeman with a degree in agronomy and ranched with his brother since then. He married in 1987 to Clara Nell and adopted two babies: Susanna in 1991 and Sam in 1998. Ken is a news junky, and an avid adversary of noxious weeds and invasive life forms of all kinds. He's very interested in conservation of all natural resources and doesn't believe in a throwaway society. Ken is a member of Recycling Our Waste Lewistown (ROWL) and joined Recycle Montana's board in 2021. He is Christian, but of a moderate variety. He doesn't like the extreme or the complications of things because he feels truth has a way of getting obscured as a consequence. He enjoys reading and is a bit of a self-made historian. He likes to say, "From whence we come, so we are, as it goes".
Ryan Green - Board Member 2023 on
Ryan Green owns and operates Happy Trash Can Curbside Composting alongside his wife, Adrienne Huckabone. Ryan has 10-plus years of working in the organics recycling field and has been running HTC in Gallatin and Park counties for the past 7 years. Through curbside composting, Ryan hopes to connect communities to local agriculture and soil stewardship through its waste stream by diverting as much organic waste from the landfill to be composted with finished compost applied to local agriculture and gardening soils. When not composting, Ryan connects with his community through music and skateboarding. Ryan joined Recycle Montana's board in 2023.
David Galt - Board Member 2024 on
David now lives in Helena but his roots are in Lewistown where his father managed the Buttrey’s grocery store. When he was a boy, he and his brother asked his dad for a hunting rifle and shotgun. He told the kids they needed to earn them, so they went around town picking up cans and bottles to sell as scrap or for redemption, earning enough money to purchase the guns. Thus began his early career in recycling. David went on in life to earn a Carroll College BA in Business Administration and Economics and attended the Harvard University-Kennedy School of Government. His occupations include Administrator and later Executive Vice President for the Motor Carriers Association, Agency Director (Governor's Appointment) for the MT Dept. of Transportation, Governor's Representative for Highway Safety, Contract Lobbyist for the law firm of Browning, Kaleczyc, Berry, & Hoven P.C., and most recently is a self-employed Consultant and Lobbyist at the state level with Galt Government Affairs. He also currently serves on the MT Public Retirement Board of Directors and the MT Legislative Environmental Quality Council. David and his family love to reuse, recycle and compost and to travel.