PETER M. DAMROW, Billings - is corporate counsel for SCL Health, a nonprofit healthcare system with a variety of hospitals, clinics, and outpatient facilities throughout Montana, Colorado, and Kansas. In this position, Peter supports SCL Health's operational functioning and provides regulatory, transactional, and other legal services in support of other system attorneys, care sites, and SCL Health care providers. Prior to SCL Health, Peter was an experienced litigator and practiced with the law firm of Hall & Evans LLC, a regional boutique insurance defense firm. Peter’s practice focused primarily on medical malpractice, professional and municipal liability, employment disputes, and commercial litigation. He represented healthcare providers, companies, municipalities, and other professionals through all phases of litigation in state and federal court, as well as through administrative hearings and has tried multiple cases before a jury. Peter has also successfully briefed numerous cases on appeal before the Montana Supreme Court. Peter grew up in Helena, Montana and obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Montana. He attended law school at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle. While earning his law degree, Peter served as a Managing Editor of the Washington Law Review and graduated in the top-third of his class. Upon graduation, Peter was inducted into the Order of Barristers, a national honor society committed to encouraging and developing successful trial advocates. (Appointed January 2021.)
DEB BROADBENT, Kalispell - holds senior professional certifications in Human Resources with both SHRM and HRCI. She has fulfilled several years’ Board terms on the Flathead area chapter of SHRM and has worked in HR and leadership roles in the Flathead Valley for more than 25 years. Deb’s extensive experience in HR has centered on employee relations, compensation, and employment law. Her background includes roles in Healthcare, Insurance, Telecommunications, and Banking. For the past thirteen years, she has been a member of the Glacier Bank’s Senior Leadership Team. (Appointed January 2021.)
CURTIS T. ALMY, Miles City - owns and operates Sunrise Financial in Miles City, MT. He has served as a financial advisor since 1988 and is licensed to sell securities, life, and health insurance in multiple states. Curt also serves as a Court-appointed special advocate for children in the foster care system. He has served on various boards and councils, including the former Soil Conservation Service (SCS), the Miles City city council, Ismay Community church, and the Trails End Ranch Bible Camp. Curt also volunteers extensively at the Miles City Sacred Heart Parish School as the unicycle coach, having taught approximately 100 students to ride on one wheel. Curt grew up on his family’s ranch, Keystone Ranches, in Ismay, MT. He earned a BS in Agricultural Science from Montana State University and went on to build and own a successful 300-head hog finishing facility. He also organized the trucking and delivery of hogs from Eastern Montana to multiple national processing facilities. Curt holds a patent on his one-of-a-kind fencing staple called the Cat’s Claw Fastener. He partners with his daughter, Toby-Jeanne, in Cat’s Claw Fasteners LLC, co-managing the business and market expansion in the U.S. and Canada. Curt assisted his wife Patsy with her mother’s long-term health care needs, also helping to manage and maintain his mother-in-law’s Knowlton ranch property up until her death in 2018, after which the couple took up ownership. Curt also assists his father with business aspects of Keystone Ranches. Curt brings to the Human Rights Commission his life experience as a rancher, family man, business man, entrepreneur, inventor, laborer, marketer, land lord, employer, employee, and community volunteer. (Appointed January 2021.)
ANN BRODSKY, Helena - Ann is a retired attorney, who served as Governor Schweitzer’s Chief Legal Counsel from 2005-12 and defended the State of Montana in tort (personal injury) litigation for close to 20 years. She worked in private practice for short periods, both for an environmental law firm that contracted with the State to handle Superfund litigation, and on her own. Ann’s interest in human rights goes back to her earliest memories. Her father was a Russian Jew who grew up in Berlin and emigrated to America in 1939, a family history deeply ingrained in her. In high school, Ann served as an intern for her state’s (N.J.’s) human rights agency. She obtained a B.A. in American Studies from Middlebury College, and wrote her senior thesis on the suffrage movement in America. In 1977, Ann moved to Montana to serve as a VISTA volunteer for the then-Human Rights Division, investigating discrimination cases, and later supervising the Division’s investigators. She was employed as a researcher for the Montana Legislature for five years and staffed the House Labor Committee, where human rights issues were heard. She lobbied for the Women’s Lobbyist Fund (later the Montana Women’s Lobby) during the 1985 legislature, before attending the University of Montana law school, graduating in 1988. (Appointed May 2019.)
RICHARD (RICK) BARTOS, Helena - Rick is a native of Montana. He is the son of Polish immigrants who survived the Nazi Holocaust in World War II. His mother was imprisoned in the Soldau Nazi Concentration Camp and survived the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. His father survived forced labor camps. Rick graduated from Carroll College, Helena, Montana (magna cum laude). He obtained his law degree from the University of Montana School of Law, with Honors. He completed coursework for a Master’s Degree in education administration from both University of Montana and Montana State University. Rick is admitted to all state and federal courts, including the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Rick served as Law Clerk for Justice John Harrison, Montana Supreme Court. Later, Rick served as Chief Legal Counsel for Montana’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction and as Special Assistant Attorney General for Montana. He defended the first constitutional challenge on funding the state’s public elementary and secondary school system on issues of equality of educational opportunity. Rick represented Montana in gender equality cases including Ridgeway, et al. v. Montana High School Association, et al. a constitutional challenge on denial of equality of educational opportunity based on gender in extracurricular activities. The litigation culminated in the Ridgeway Settlement Agreement defining how extracurricular sporting activities are conducted. Rick helped implement federal legislation protecting children with disabilities in Special Education. He drafted many of the original implementing administrative rules, created the special education due process hearings and trained administrative hearing officers. Rick taught graduate level school law classes to countless school teachers and administrators. He was guest lecturer for special education administrative judges at Seattle University School of Law. Rick served as Chief Legal Counsel for Governor Stan Stephens and was involved in a broad range of issues. Rick was appointed the first Bureau Chief of the Montana Adult Protective Services and was tasked with protecting the vulnerable aged and disabled, against mental and physical abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. Rick enjoys private practice. He volunteers countless pro bono hours. His work with students and law and equal access to justice was recognized by receiving two Distinguished Service Awards from the State Bar of Montana.
Individual Commission members can be contacted by email at hrcappeals@mt.gov. In your message please specify which Commission member you would like to contact. For additional contact information on member terms, visit Office of the Governor - Boards, Councils and Commissions.
