My Story

For nearly 20 years, I’ve been working in and around social enterprises. I started at a disaster relief collective in New Orleans gutting homes following Hurricane Katrina, then shifted to deconstructing buildings in Vermont. In Tucson, I was part of a bicycle powered solar PV crew. In Western Massachusetts, I did energy efficiency work at a large non-profit, then managed a green job training program at a sustainable energy co-op. Prior to offering consulting services, I helped manage Finger Lakes ReUse in Ithaca, NY. 

While I work with many types of social enterprises, I prefer to concentrate my efforts with employment social enterprises. ESEs focus on hiring and/or training folks breaking through barriers to employment. It’s the “people” part of the “people, planet and propensity” paradigm that I get most excited about. I’ve been a member of REDF’s Consultant Pool since 2022 and enjoy working with the variety of ESEs in their network.

Reuse is both a personal and professional passion of mine. Personally, I strive to get maximum value from all the materials that pass through my life, from building with salvaged lumber to turning old magazines into greeting cards for friends and family. Professionally, I’ve been working with reuse businesses for over a decade. These include building material reuse, deconstruction, creative reuse and traditional thrift. While many reuse professionals tend to have a narrow focus, I enjoy working across the entire reuse spectrum and feel the niches have much to learn from each other. I serve as Board Treasurer for Build Reuse, the premier national organization encouraging the recovery, reuse, and recycling of building materials in the United States. And I am involved in efforts to further reuse across New York State through involvement with NYSAR3, CR0WD and other regional efforts.

Having grown up in rural Wisconsin, I bring a Midwestern’s calm practicality to my work with social enterprises. No matter the challenges that an organization is facing, I believe there are always cost-effective solutions that can be implemented which will have an impact on day one.

I have a Master of Regional Planning with a focus on Economic Development and Spatial Analysis from UMASS-Amherst. At the moment I live between some mix of Ithaca and Syracuse in Central New York with my partner Katarina, teenage daughters Lucy and Nela and a little kid named Ona.