Michelle Andrews — GIS and Data Visualization Researcher
Michelle Andrews is a GIS and Data Visualization Researcher with the Community Broadband Initiative. She received her Masters of Science in GIS from Clark University and served for two years in CTEP AmeriCorps in the Twin Cities. She pairs her data analysis and mapping background with the on-the-ground digital equity work to make data both applicable and easily understandable to a wide range of audiences.
Contact
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 John Bailey — Development Director
John is the Director of Development and is responsible for coordinating fundraising and related outreach for ILSR. He was a senior researcher at ILSR from 1992 until 2011, specializing in decentralized energy policy and analysis including topics of renewable energy, climate change, efficiency, tax policy and electric vehicles.
Contact – Twitter |
Linda Bilsens — Project Manager, Composting for Community Initiative and Neighborhood Soil Rebuilders Program
Linda is the Project Manager for ILSR’s Composting for Community project and Neighborhood Soil Rebuilders community composter training program. Her role is dedicated to fostering a skilled, collaborative network of composters who are regenerating their communities, both socially and ecologically.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
Jessica Del Fiacco — Communications Specialist
Jessica Del Fiacco is a communications specialist with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. She received her B.A. from Macalester College in 2016 and has since worked with a variety of local nonprofits committed to social and environmental justice. She works within ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks initiative to promote their published research reports, articles, and other materials.
Contact – Twitter
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 John Farrell — Co-Director & Director, Energy Democracy Initiative
John Farrell is co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and directs its work on energy democracy. John is best known for his vivid illustrations of the economic and environmental benefits of local ownership of decentralized renewable energy.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Zach Freed — Research Associate, Independent Business Initiative
Zach Freed is a research associate with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Independent Business Initiative. His work focuses on ending concentrated private economic power.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Lisa Gonzalez — Senior Researcher, Community Broadband Networks Initiative
Lisa Gonzalez researches and reports on telecommunications and how those networks impact life on the local level. Her background includes experience in state politics, law, writing, and freelance journalism.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Susan Holmberg – Senior Editor and Researcher, Independent Business Initiative
Susan Holmberg is Senior Editor and Researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Independent Business Initiative. She writes on corporate power and inequality and has been published in the New York Times, Time, The Atlantic, The Nation, and Democracy Journal.
Full Bio – Contact – Twitter |
 Katie Kienbaum – Research Associate, Community Broadband Networks Initiative
Katie is a Research Associate with the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. She researches and writes about rural Internet access and community-owned networks.
Contact |
 Linda Knapp — Director, MACREDO Project
Linda Knapp is a Senior Program Manager for ILSR, overseeing the Mid-Atlantic Consortium of Recycling and Economic Development Officials, a recycling market development group funded by US EPA Region 3. Her current work focuses on increasing on-farm composting.
Full Bio – Contact |
 Maria McCoy — Research Associate
Maria McCoy is a Research Associate on the Energy Democracy initiative, where she contributes to blog posts, podcasts, video content, and interactive features. She also served as an intern with the Energy Democracy initiative in 2018. Her research focuses on how communities can transition to clean, decentralized energy systems that are both equitable and economically viable.
Contact – Recent Posts |
 Hibba Meraay — Communications Manager
Hibba Meraay is the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Communications Manager. She works closely with all of our initiatives to build community power and combat monopolies. She runs ILSR’s social media networks on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Hibba also produces the Institute’s Building Local Power podcast.
She joined ILSR after working with economic empowerment organizations in Oakland, California and Hartford, Connecticut. Outside of work, she is active in social justice initiatives and enjoys cooking for friends. Find her on twitter @hibbameraay.
Contact Hibba for media inquiries.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Christopher Mitchell — Director, Community Broadband Networks Initiative
Christopher’s work focuses on telecommunications — helping communities ensure the networks upon which they depend, are accountable to the community. He has published several reports, articles, and interviews while also offering technical assistance to communities around the country.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Stacy Mitchell — Co-Director & Director, Independent Business Initiative
Stacy is co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and directs its initiative to decentralize economic power and level the playing field for independent businesses. She has produced many influential reports and articles, designed local and federal policies, and collaborated to build effective coalitions and campaigns.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Sayidali Moalim — Community Broadband Networks Research Intern
Sayidali is a Community Broadband Networks Research Intern. He’s a senior at the University of Minnesota with a Global Studies major and emphasis in Political Economics. In the past, he has interned for Hennepin County as a IT Enterprise Workforce Planning and Strategy Intern and worked closely with the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC). He researches and reports on telecommunications and how municipal networks impact life on the local level within ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks initiative.
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 David Morris — Distinguished Fellow
David Morris is co-founder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and currently ILSR’s distinguished fellow. He writes the blog, From the Desk of David Morris. He has served as an adviser or consultant to local, state and national governments and to private businesses large and small.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Jeffrey Neal, PE — Urban & On-Site Compost Consultant, Composting for Community Initiative
Commander, Jeffrey H. Neal is a retired United States Navy Civil Corps Engineer Officer and a graduate of ILSR’s Neighborhood Soil Rebuilders (NSR) Composter Training Program program. He provides his unique skill-set and expertise in composting, and facilities and program management to organizations and businesses that are considering composting.
Full Bio – Contact |
 Awantika Pal — Communications Intern
Awantika is a recent graduate of Psychology and Economics with a strong interest in social justice and economic equity. She assists in researching and curating media relations materials, managing social media feeds, and outreach efforts. Originally from Nepal, she joins ILSR after working on several community development and sustainable economy projects in rural parts of Nepal. When not working, she can be found enjoying a good book, the outdoors, or people-watching at a coffee-shop.
Contact |
 Brenda Platt — Director, Composting for Community Initiative
Brenda Platt is a recycling expert and composting advocate, and directs ILSR’s Composting for Community project.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
 Neil Seldman — Director, Waste to Wealth Initiative
Neil Seldman, Ph.D., co-founded the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and is Director of the Waste to Wealth Initiative. Seldman is a leading recycling and zero waste activists assisting citizen, environmental and small business organizations in stopping garbage incinerators in scores of US cities. Subsequently, he works with these cities to increase recovery of materials from the waste stream and grow the local economy by adding value to materials through local processing, manufacturing and job creation. Prior to founding ILSR Seldman was a manufacturer of consumer products and professor of political science.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts |
 Virginia Streeter — Research Associate, Composting for Community Initiative
Virginia joined the ILSR team in October 2016. She graduated from The George Washington University in 2016 with a BA in Environmental Studies. Virginia coordinates the Community Composter Coalition, organizing the 2018 and 2019 National Cultivating Community Forums and ILSR’s ongoing community composting webinar series, and facilitating the Coalition’s subcommittees. Most recently, she led the development of the Composting for Community Map.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts |
 Shaoul Sussman — Legal Fellow, Independent Business Initiative
Shaoul Sussman is a Legal Fellow at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. His research focuses on the intersection of antitrust law and big tech. Shaoul has published an academic paper and a number of articles about Amazon’s anticompetitive practices and the company’s negative influence on firms that rely on its e-commerce platform.
Full Bio – Twitter |
 Charlie Thaxton — Research Associate, Independent Business Initiative
Charlie Thaxton is a researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Independent Business Initiative. He studies local economies, small businesses, civics, and their connection to social capital and wellness.
Full Bio – Contact – Recent Posts – Twitter |
Nora Goldstein
Jolie Jones
Chris Lewis
Kirk Marckwald
David Morris
Roy Priest
Gina Schaefer
Neil Seldman