Jeff is the Executive Director of Climate Nexus. Before becoming our fearless leader, Jeff was the Director of Legislative and Public Affairs at the National Science Foundation from June 2006 to June 2011.

Previously, he managed his own strategic communications consulting firm in Washington, DC with more than 200 national clients; served as a senior communications official at the Food and Drug Administration and White House during the administration of President George H.W. Bush; and was a national journalist with Knight-Ridder and others.

Jeff is a graduate of Duke and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He’s the author of 19 novels.

Bob brings to his role as Managing Director a career that spans investigative reporting to congressional policy-making, from hearing rooms on the Hill to the Katrina-flooded streets of New Orleans. Now he fuses strategy with tactical execution, with oversight of all operations including editorial content, digital and social strategy, messaging, partnerships and finances.

Previously, Bob served as senior investigator for the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during the climate change debates of 2009-2010 and the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Prior to that, as a national editor and reporter for the Associated Press, he helped launch the National Investigative, National Reporting, and Disaster Response teams. Earlier in his 20-year journalism career, he reported for news wires, local newspapers and public television in Maryland, New York, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.

Bob is a recovering surfer with a persistent rock-climbing habit, but mostly he reads and watches AYSO soccer games and Marx Brothers movies with his wife and two children.

Rachel is a seasoned sustainability practitioner with extensive experience in financial services, consulting and the nonprofit sectors. As Director of Partnerships, Rachel looks after business development and relationship management for the group – working with stakeholders across the public and private sectors to help Climate Nexus change the conversation on climate and energy in the US.

Prior to joining Climate Nexus, Rachel held a range of positions in the sustainability space, including for Accenture and Standard Chartered Bank. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy, Planning and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a master’s degree in History from the University of St. Andrews.

Outside the office, Rachel enjoys keeping fit, reading, film, and spending time with friends and family.

Allan, our Editorial Director, is a senior level strategic communications and marketing professional with a long record of success in nonprofit advocacy and journalism. An award winning Political Producer with ABC News, Allan also served for nearly twenty years with the Environmental Defense Fund, and participated in the 1997 negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol, and several other international climate negotiations.

During his career, Allan has created and implemented strategic communications programs that consistently improved the environment and public health, while working with key stakeholders to create lasting and economically sound solutions to environmental challenges by supervising teams of media professionals and consultants under intense deadline and fundraising pressure.

Allan lives in New York City with his wife and their three young children.

Josh heads up our Content Studio here at Climate Nexus. He is a former television network correspondent, who has reported from the South Pole, New Zealand, the Middle East and points across America.

Prior to becoming a reporter at CBS News, Josh was an award-winning head writer for ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson. Josh has written and produced for Peter Jennings, Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos, Bob Woodruff, Lou Dobbs, Shepard Smith and others. He’s also the co-creator of an Emmy-nominated animated news series.

Josh spent nearly a year living in Antarctica and knows how to pitch a tent at the South Pole, should the need ever arise.

Monika has extensive media and communications experience, both with traditional media outlets and new media applications. She puts these skills to good use at Climate Nexus, where she currently oversees digital strategy and branding.

Prior to joining Climate Nexus, Monika was ‘doing good’ at MTV Networks, where she managed multiple issue-focused campaigns across MTV’s various media platforms. Monika further honed her marketing skills on the social innovation team at Weber Shandwick, where she was responsible for brainstorming and pitching sustainability ideas to corporate clients like MasterCard and Samsung.

Monika is a graduate of Duke and Columbia. She is an avid yogini, Francophile and music fan, who is constantly inspired by her native New York.

Hunter is a veteran political director who develops communications strategy for Climate Nexus. Early in his career, he served as a legislative aide in the U.S. House of Representatives and traveled the campaign trail, directing numerous political campaigns and working in swing districts such as Peoria, IL and Riverside, CA. He has written extensively on media and communications, most recently authoring Connecting the Dots: A Communications Guide to Climate Change and Extreme Weather. As a researcher, he has helped to extend the field of practice, developing new methodologies for media analysis.

Prior to joining Climate Nexus, Hunter built the energy and climate division of Resource Media, helped to launch and lead We Interrupt This Message, a national media strategy center dedicated to social justice, and led NGO communications in milestone climate change events such as the UNFCCC meeting in Bali and the release of the Nobel-prize winning IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.

It all started when Hunter earned a Bachelor of Science in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. He now lives in San Francisco with his wife and two teenage boys. On weekends he is likely to be found sailing on the San Francisco Bay, racing an Olson 25.

Dianne runs our oceans desk, working to improve understanding of how rapidly changing ocean chemistry is affecting the web of life undersea and in turn, affecting us. Prior to joining Climate Nexus, Dianne managed external communications strategy and efforts for Oceana’s North American campaigns.

Dianne started her career as a news aide for The Washington Post, and since then has worked as a communicator for Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, Fenton Communications, Friends of the Earth, Calvert Group socially and environmentally responsible mutual funds, Physicians for Social Responsibility and U.S. Senator Mark Warner’s telecommunications venture capital firm.  She was also instrumental in launching the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology and PLoS Medicine in their start-up phases.

Dianne is a graduate of Vassar College and completed graduate-level professional development work at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Dianne is passionate about cycling, traveling to coastal places to swim and SCUBA dive, and advocating for smart growth in Virginia.

Stephanie Hanson Damassa is the Director of Policy Communications for Climate Nexus, where she develops communications strategies to align with political developments at the federal, state and local level. Based in Washington, DC, she works with Climate Nexus’ partners to strengthen their climate and energy messaging and amplify their efforts.

Prior to joining Climate Nexus, Stephanie worked for the World Resources Institute from 2006-2011, most recently as the communications manager for WRI’s climate and energy program. In this role, she promoted the program’s U.S. climate efforts through media relations, social media, and congressional outreach. She alsoserved as WRI’s communications lead for the UN climate meetings in 2008 and 2009. At WRI she also served as a managing editor for WRI’s flagship publication, The World Resources Report 2008, and as a communications coordinator.

Prior to joining WRI, she managed an urban environmental program at a community action agency in Lowell, Massachusetts. Stephanie holds a degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In her free time, she enjoys baking, traveling and biking around Washington, DC.

As Director of Special Projects, Lynsy writes and does research for partners as well as original Climate Nexus projects, including media relations material, reports and editorial content. She also provides messaging and framing support to help a range of voices — scientists, concerned hunters, religious leaders — sharpen and widen the reach of their climate change stories.

Her master’s work at University of North Carolina included quantitative and qualitative analysis of environmental journalism as well as on-the-ground work with NC-based environmental justice groups. She previously worked as a writer and editor at newspapers and magazines in Michigan and Missouri, her home state. She has a BJ in journalism and BA in humanities from University of Missouri-Columbia.

Outside the office, Lynsy’s a sucker for Groupon classes like painting and rock climbing and loves to cook a big, decadent supper. Most of all, she loves country music and her mini Dachshund, Sally.

As the Science Network Manager at Climate Nexus, Lauren works with a broad range of voices to communicate and showcase emerging climate science. Prior to joining the Climate Nexus team in 2011, Lauren interned with Natural Capitalism Solutions in Boulder, Colorado, helping to launch an e-learning platform for small businesses seeking sustainable business solutions.

Lauren graduated with honors and distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Journalism and a double minor in sustainability and Spanish. While completing her undergraduate degree, Lauren was able to combine her interests in corporate reputation and sustainability with a senior honors thesis that focused on the increasing prevalence of greenwashing in mainstream print media. Her research has since been published in Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture.

Outside the office, Lauren loves seeing the world, experiencing new cultures, reading good books and exploring the outdoors.

Evan is a Communications Associate, whose research expertise lies within the military community, specifically on renewable energy R&D and climate preparedness and response.  Evan also monitors Hollywood and professional sport communities to showcase, develop and facilitate action towards climate change. Evan’s production background translated into his role in Climate Nexus’s Content Studio, which produces both short and long-form creative video content with a focus on new stories and storytellers in the global climate and energy conversation.

Before Joining Climate Nexus, Evan worked in documentary production and branded entertainment.  He has worked for several production companies and independent directors, whose projects have landed on networks such as HBO, Animal Planet, The History Channel, the Discovery Channel and The Food Network.

Evan is a graduate of Middlebury College. When he is not in the office, he is escaping on some kind of outdoor adventure with his friends and family or continuing the quest of finding the tastiest meal the East Village has to offer.

Philip is a Communications Associate, whose area of expertise is agriculture. Before working at Climate Nexus, Philip was an intern at the World Watch Institute, where he blogged on sustainable agriculture. Prior to that, he worked with EARTHWORKS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the impacts of irresponsible mineral and energy development while seeking sustainable solutions.

Philip has an MA in Global Environmental Policy from American University, and a BA in Sustainable Development from Appalachian State University.

Outside the office, Philip is a big dork that spends his weekends playing Wii and watching cartoons with his wife and cats.

As a Communications Associate, Diana’s area of expertise includes engaging the education and faith-based communities in the climate issue, and helping scientists share their climate and energy-focused research with the public.

Before joining Climate Nexus, Diana was a research assistant for ICF International, specifically working on the EPA and Department of Energy’s ENERGY STAR Program for Commercial Buildings.

Diana has a BA in Environmental Science and in Government from the University of Virginia. Outside the office, Diana loves music, anything involving the outdoors and spending time with friends and family.

Nora is a Communications Associate for Climate Nexus.  She monitors climate denier communities to assist in designing media responses and strategies. She also helps advise partners concerning their brand and online presence, as well as working on general research, graphic creation, scientist interviews, and more.

Before coming to Climate Nexus, Nora double majored in Science in Society/Environmental Studies at Wesleyan University, where she wrote her senior project on climate communication strategies and the philosophy of climate denial. While studying, she worked in the Wesleyan biology labs conducting research into plant genetics and evolution. She also led outdoor adventure programs for children and adults with Calleva Outdoors.

In her free time Nora enjoys science fiction, history, biking around NYC, and looking at art.