Administrative Division Staff



AG Employment Opportunities



 Attorney General

Peter K. Michael
Mr. Michael grew up in Media, Pennsylvania.  He graduated from Yale University in 1978 with a BA in American History and immediately moved to Jackson, Wyoming, where he worked as a construction laborer, cook, and fishing guide.  He graduated from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1985 with honors and was managing editor of the Land & Water Law Review.  He was a Law Clerk for Justice G. Joseph Cardine of the Wyoming Supreme Court in 1986.  Mr. Michael spent 20 years, from 1986-2006, in private law practice, primarily civil litigation, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  He joined the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office in 2006 as a Senior Assistant Attorney General supervising the water law section of the Natural Resources Division.  Attorney General Greg Phillips appointed him Chief Deputy Attorney General effective May 1, 2011. When General Phillips joined the bench of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Governor Mead appointed Mr. Michael as interim Attorney General prior to his permanent appointment as Attorney General.


Chief Deputy Attorney General

John G. Knepper
John G. Knepper, Jr., is a fourth generation Wyoming native. Mr. Knepper graduated from Sheridan High School, in Sheridan, Wyoming. He earned his A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard College and his J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Michigan School of Law. At Michigan, Mr. Knepper was a member of the Michigan Law Review, the Henry H. Campbell Moot Court Board, and the Order of the Coif. After law school, Mr. Knepper served as a law clerk to the Honorable A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Mr. Knepper has devoted his career to serving the people of Wyoming and the United States. Before law school, he served as an aide to U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), serving first as the Senator's personal assistant and then as a staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. After Senator Simpson's retirement, Mr. Knepper worked for Senator Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) as a staff member on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. After law school, Mr. Knepper worked as a trial attorney for the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division of the U.S.Department of Justice. While there, he received the John Marshall Award, the Department's top award for attorneys, for his work on the trial team defending the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform law. Mr. Knepper then served as an Attorney Advisor for the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department, providing analysis on national security law and constitutional law to other federal agencies. In 2004, Mr. Knepper was asked to join the White House staff of President George W. Bush, where he served as Associate General Counsel and later Deputy General Counsel for the Office of Management and Budget. During the last year of the Bush Administration, Mr. Knepper served as the Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, working to coordinate the legal issues presented by the U.S. government's response to the 2008 financial crisis. In 2009, Mr. Knepper returned to Wyoming, serving in the City Attorney's office for the City of Cheyenne and as a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Section of the Wyoming Attorney General's office. He and his wife, Ciara, have six children. 


Special Assistant Attorney General

Jay A. Jerde
Jay was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. He graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S.degree in Economics in 1988. After graduation, Jay served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa for two years, where he taught Economics at Samoa College, a senior secondary school located in the capital city of Apia. After returning to Wyoming, Jay graduated from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1994. He served as the law clerk for Judge Edward Grant and Judge Nicholas Kalokathis of the Wyoming First Judicial District Court before joining the Wyoming Attorney General's Office in 1996. As an Assistant Attorney General, Jay's areas of practice included bank regulatory law, state tax law, civil rights and tort defense litigation, and natural resources litigation. In recent years, he has represented the State as lead counsel in numerous federal court cases involving environmental or natural resources matters, including gray wolf delisting and  grizzly bear delisting. In 2005, Jay was appointed as the Deputy Attorney General in the Water and Natural Resources Division. In December 2013, Attorney General Pete Michael asked Jay to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General in the Administrative Division. In 2014, Jay worked with law professors from the University of Wyoming to found the Energy, Environmental, and Natural Resources Law Clinic at the College of Law. He currently serves as a Co-Faculty Supervisor for the Clinic. In 2015, Jay received the Jim Jones Public Service Award from the Conference of Western Attorneys General in recognition of his commitment to public service and his work on natural resources issues affecting the CWAG member states. 

Legal Review Administrator

Kathleen B. Carlson
Kathy graduated from Ohio State University with a B.A. in Political Science degree and earned her Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School.  She also received a M.A. Library and Information Science degree from the University of Iowa. Before coming to the Attorney General's Office in 2012, she was the Wyoming State Law Librarian and served as an adjunct instructor for Legal Research and Writing at Laramie County Community College. On a temporary assignment, she was a law clerk for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky.  She also served as Editor for the Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company. She has served as an Executive Board Member for the American Association of Law Libraries, Chair of the State Court and Counties Special Interest Section, and President of the Western Pacific Association of Law Libraries (WestPac). She received the 2010 Distinguished Member Award from WestPac in 2010.  Community activities have included Board of Directors, Wyoming Council Girl Scouts USA from 1990-1996, President of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church Foundation from 2012-2014, Chair for the Cheyenne Board of Adjustment, and Local Club President for Zonta International from 2002-2003.  Hobbies include travel, reading and puzzle challenges.
         

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Management Supervisor
Judy Mitchell
(307) 777-7650
judy.mitchell@wyo.gov

Executive Assistant
Brittany Beka
(307) 777-7841
brittany.beka@wyo.gov

Human Resource Manager
Meleny Cox
(307) 777-7130
meleny.cox1@wyo.gov

Kirsten Baldwin
(307) 777-7893
kirsten.baldwin@wyo.gov

Fiscal Division
Steve Winders
Chief Fiscal Officer
(307) 777-7840
steve.winders@wyo.gov

April Christensen
april.christensen@wyo.gov

Myrna Johnson
myrna.johnson@wyo.gov

Melody Seidl
melody.seidl@wyo.gov

Lisa Ware
lisa.ware@wyo.gov

Liz Zelasko
liz.zelasko1@wyo.gov