Staff & Interns

Brandon has many years of experience working with members, donors, and customers to help achieve organizational goals. Brandon also has a great passion for problem-solving and thoroughly enjoys helping find solutions to complex problems. Brandon lives in St. Louis and enjoys visiting local parks in his spare time.

Christen joins MCE with nearly a decade of experience advocating for the cleanup of Manhattan Project radioactive waste in St. Louis. She served as Communications Coordinator for Just Moms STL and was a member of the West Lake Landfill Steering Committee. Additionally, she is the creator of the social media project, Humans of West Lake Landfill, developed to raise awareness of the human cost of exposure to radioactive waste and document the efforts to restore our communities. She also has eleven years of experience as a Purchaser and Bookkeeper for a busy E-Commerce store. She is excited to be a part of the MCE team and continue following her passion to protect our natural spaces and human health. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, nature photography, and traveling.

Carmen is a graduate of University of Missouri – St. Louis and brings experience in nonprofit fundraising as well as membership sales experience with national retail businesses such as Cole Haan and Warby Parker. She is extremely excited to be working with a mission-driven organization. Carmen applies her knowledge of customer service and relationship management to foster impactful relationships within her community and beyond. Carmen also has developed a love for houseplants, and she loves the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons. Keep your eyes peeled when you meet her because you can find her wearing at least one item with Mickey on it every day!

For the past thirty years, Jim has combined his passion for wildlife, wild places and environmental issues with high quality video production. Transforming complex scientific concepts into compelling stories has become his hallmark, and the numerous awards and honors his work has received speak to the popularity of his programs with the general public. For over 20 years, Jim was a lead producer for the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Missouri Outdoors program. With over 100 story segments in the can, Jim evolved into long-form production, not only for the Missouri Department of Conservation, but other state and federal resource agencies as well. Jim has produced dozens of award winning documentary films concerning a wide range of natural history and environmental issues. In 2001, Jim stepped from behind the camera to found Missouri River Relief, a hands-on, on-the-river advocacy group devoted to physically cleaning up the wide Missouri. Thousands of volunteers have picked up hundreds of tons of trash on the lower Missouri as a result of this organization. Jim’s river-adjacent Boone County property has served as the organizations boatyard and equipment headquarters for nearly 20 years.

Makenna is a Kansas City native with a passion for the city’s people, pride, and history. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2020, she returned to Kansas City to pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she graduated in 2022. Makenna has experience working and volunteering with many agencies that provide services in the mid-Missouri and Kansas City regions.

Makenna has always felt strongly about social and environmental justice and looks forward to working with MCE in the Kansas City region to achieve progress in those areas and give back to the community. 

In her free time, Makenna enjoys trying out new restaurants, hiking, yoga, going to concerts, and enjoying art.

Jared began his professional career in web development handling the online advertising efforts of Fortune 500 companies. After 5 years in this field, he decided to return to school to start a new career in public service. Jared earned a B.S. in Health Education at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Masters in Public Administration at Saint Louis University.

Jared’s public service career began with Tobacco Free St. Louis where he worked on updating tobacco policies to improve public health. He later worked for PreventEd organizing a region-wide campaign to educate and mobilize people about the opioid epidemic and advocate for public policy changes. Later, Jared helped found the St. Louis Downtown Neighborhood Association and became its first Executive Director. Prior to joining MCE, he was the Executive Director of Givable – a philanthropic catalyst for St. Louis area nonprofits.

Jared and his family enjoy taking trips to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and hiking and camping at many other beautiful parks and conservation areas throughout Missouri.

Elyse brings four years of community organizing toward energy democracy to MCE. She is eager to continue advocating for a just, sustainable future for all Missourians—especially those affected by extreme urban heat in her hometown, St. Louis. Before joining MCE, she was a research assistant at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where she published about ecological memory in the art of Sub-Saharan Africa. Elyse enjoys birding in St. Louis’ many parks, playing board games, and wrangling three cats and a dog with her wife.

Melissa came to MCE first as a legal intern, reviewing agricultural permits and also researching and writing about the state of our food system. From there, she was hooked on MCE! Melissa combines a background in law, environmental science, and agricultural economics with her passion for protection of Missouri’s natural resources to serve as MCE’s policy director. Her work at MCE involves advocating for state and federal policies that better support clean water, clean air, resilient regional food systems, safe waste management, renewable energy, and our democratic processes. She works closely with partners and allies statewide to engage with concerned citizens and policymakers about needed policy reforms. In her spare time, Melissa loves weightlifting, rollerblading, biking, and refurbishing furniture!

Charlene is a junior at the University of Missouri-Kansas City majoring in Earth and Environmental Science. Charlene spent the beginning of her higher education journey at Johnson County Community College where she earned 2 associates degrees, a certification in Sustainable Agriculture, and made lifelong friends in sustainability. She has been passionate about environmental justice and fascinated by earth science since high school. It is Charlene’s goal to be admitted into the UMKC School of Law in pursuit of a J.D. in Urban, Land use, and Environmental Law. When she is not at school or work, Charlene enjoys spending time in nature with her 5-year-old son.