The EEC Board
Founded by the Verde Natural Resource Conservation District, The EEC's Board meets every third Wednesday monthly from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Cottonwood Middle School, 500 East Mingus Ave., Cottonwood; Room 804. Interested in a board position? Contact verdeedcenter@gmail.com 928-963-0238
Debbie Breitkreutz/City of Cottonwood Regulatory Compliance, Safety and Education Administrator
Debbie Breitkreutz was born in Castle Rock, Colorado; her father’s family have been in that area since the 1900’s. She lived there for 10 years before packing up and moving to central Texas where she and her mother stayed for 4 years. She then moved to upstate New York and in 1990 graduated from Fairport High School. She returned to Colorado to pursue a college education. While back in Colorado, she worked several jobs including a warehouse manager for a toy manufacturer, a technician at the County Assessor’s office and working for her mother’s husband as a labor at his general contracting business.
She moved to the Verde Valley in 2001 to be closer to her mother and her extended family. Shortly after arriving, she started working at the Cottonwood OfficeMax as a Customer Service Manager. While looking for a new career opportunity a position opened at the City of Cottonwood Utilities Department. In 2004, she accepted a job as a Wastewater Operator in Training, four years later and lots of hard work became the Wastewater Superintendent. In 2016, she transferred to a new position within the City as the Regulatory Compliance, Safety and Education Administrator. Debbie currently holds water and wastewater licenses in the State of Arizona. She has also completed OSHA outreach training for general industry and construction safety.
In 2014, she finally finished my Associates Degree from Yavapai College. She is a graduate of VVL Class X and a VVL Board member. She also serves as a Board member to the Verde Valley Natural Resource Conservation District Education Center. She is involved in the Verde Valley Rural Innovation Council as a Marketing Board member and coordinates the City of Cottonwood’s participation in SciTech and STEM related activities. She currently volunteers at the Verde Valley Habitat for Humanity in the Critical Home Repair Program. This program helps the veterans, persons with disabilities and the elderly of the Verde Valley.
Nancy Erikson/Principal Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School
Nancy Erickson was born and raised in Southern California in Los Alamitos. She is the daughter of an Engineer (father) who worked for the City of Anaheim and a pediatrician (mother) who worked for the City of Long Beach. She attended University of California at San Diego and received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology with an emphasis in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution. After graduation she moved to northern California where she worked as a California State Park Forest Ranger in the Coastal Redwood region during the summer and taught at an Environmental Education Center during the school year for San Joaquin County.
After three years as an environmental educator she realized that teaching was really her passion so she moved to San Francisco and received her 1st graduate degree in Elementary Education, along with her teaching certification, from San Francisco State University and began teaching in San Francisco School District where she taught both 1st and 5th grade.
In 1994 she moved to Sedona Arizona and began working for the Cottonwood Oak Creek School District (COCSD). During her years at COCSD she has been an elementary school physical education teacher and a middle school science teacher. In 2007 she returned to school at Northern Arizona University where she received a Master’s in Educational Leadership. She is currently the Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School principal, a position she has held for 8 years.
Chris Jensen/Verde Natural Resource Conservation District Board Member
Chris Jensen is a retired educator and volunteer who has served on the boards of several organizations dedicated to the health and preservation of the Verde River including the Verde River Basin Partnership and the Verde River Valley Nature Organization. He is currently a supervisor of the Verde Natural Resource Conservation District. He enjoys kayaking and hiking on the Verde River. His focus has been on educating citizens of the Verde River Watershed about the importance of the Verde River to the ecology Verde Valley through educational and recreational events.
Bill Regner/Town of Clarkdale Council Member
Bill was born in LaGrande, Oregon into a military family and spent his childhood on U.S. Army posts all over the United States and Japan. He graduated college at the University of Arizona in Tucson where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Psychology. He has also done graduate studies in Business Administration and the Education of Emotionally Handicapped Children.
His professional life includes time as a congressional aide in Washington, DC, behavioral health management, small business management, sales, professional staffing recruitment, and human development. He feels strongly that community is important and has tried to demonstrate that through his professional work and volunteering for committees, boards, and commissions. Prior to election to the Clarkdale Town Council, he served on the Planning Commission for over two years.
Bill and his wife came to Clarkdale in 2001 to visit friends and fell deeply in love with the Verde Valley. They bought their lot that year and spent the next six figuring out how to move here permanently. They finally moved up here from Tempe in 2007. Their house overlooking the Verde River was finished in 2008.
Bill loves the small town sense of Clarkdale and the regional sense of place that the Verde Valley embraces. He looks forward to the challenges that come with preserving that identity while enhancing our quality of life and preparing for the future.
Lynn Winslow/Retired Educational Coach Cottonwood Oak Creek School District
Lynn and her husband, Dan, moved to Cornville in 1983. Dan was born in Cottonwood, and his parents had grown up in Jerome. The Verde Valley quickly became their home. After a few years of selling real estate, Lynn decided to get her teaching certificate and Master’s from Northern Arizona University. She was thrilled to work for Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District for 24 years as a teacher, reading specialist, and instructional coach. After retiring from teaching, she still wanted to be a part of the educational community. Her interest in preserving and protecting the environment led her to join the EEC Board. The Verde Valley looks very different than it did 34 years ago. With the growth of its communities comes the responsibility to preserve its waterways, riparian areas, and groundwater. Educating the citizens, children and parents, of our communities about the importance of conservation and preservation is imperative.She is glad to be able to help the EEC with this effort.
Verde Natural Resource Conservation District Board Members
Chip Norton
Brenda Hauser
Chris Jensen
Zach Hauser