Staff Biographies

Kathleen Rogers

Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network, has worked more than 15 years as an environmental attorney and advocate, focusing on litigation, community development and international issues. Under Kathleen's leadership, Earth Day Network has taken the lead in defining the "new environmentalist" of the 21st century, transforming EDN into a dynamic team of year round activists that is reaching out to new constituencies, including young people and people of color, and integrating civic participation into each of our programs and activities.

During her tenure as Chief Wildlife Counsel for the National Audubon Society, Kathleen directed several programs including its international trade, migratory species and biodiversity policy initiatives. While with National Audubon, Kathleen was Environmental Representative on the United States Delegation-Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). She was also responsible for bringing the first citizen complaint before the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the tri-national agency formed to oversee North American environmental issues.

Kathleen has held senior positions with the Environmental Law Institute, Piedmont Environmental Council, two U.S. Olympic Organizing Committees, and the United Nations Conference on Women. She has also worked for Garth Associates in New York City and the Beveridge & Diamond law firm. Kathleen was editor in chief of the law review at the University of California-Davis, and clerked for the Honorable John Pratt at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Susan Bass

Susan Bass is Senior Vice President of Global Programs and Operations. Within this role Susan oversees the creation of new and supervision of existing global programs. Prior to joining Earth Day Network Susan served as Director of Inter-American Programs for the Environmental Law Institute and co-chaired the Washington DC Bar Association's International Committee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources. Susan holds an undergraduate degree from Yale and a JD cum laude from Georgetown University.

Art Edelstein

Art Edelstein, VP of Development, has 20 years of professional experience in fund development for environmental organizations. Art was a co-founder of the Hoosier Environmental Council, Indiana's largest environmental organization. During his tenure as HEC Development Director the organization's annual fund grew from $60,000 to $1 million. At HEC, Art established a diversified array of programs that included: major donor, foundation grants, direct mail, workplace giving and planned giving. Art also managed events with the Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Pacers. While at HEC, Art served as a member of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management Advisory Board and the Indiana Ground Water Taskforce. Art was also a member of the Indiana Earth Share board of directors and represented HEC at board of directors meetings of PAN, a national canvassing network. As a volunteer, Art was Vice Chair of the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club and Chair of the chapter's SCCOPE committee, the Sierra Club Committee on Political Education, a federal PAC. Art has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Minnesota. He has been awarded Certificates of Achievement from The Fund Raising School, San Rafael, California and the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Lisa Swann

Lisa Swann, Vice President of Communications and Marketing, has devoted the last 18 years to environmental communications work for national nonprofit organizations. She has also served as Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Robert Stafford and U.S. Senator James Jeffords. She has published many oped pieces and worked on communications for the Earth Day celebrations on the Mall in Washington DC in 1995 and 2000. She has been a television news reporter and anchor and prior to joining EDN, Lisa was Communications Manager at the National Wildlife Federation.

Lisa graduated Magna Cum Laude from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts and started her career with the Youth Conservation Corps at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Maile Philpott

Maile Philpott is the Director of Development at EDN, and is responsible for the operations of the development office, working with EDN donors, writing and compiling drafts and proposals, and obtaining donations. Prior to joining EDN, Maile has worked with Congressman Matheson, Family Selection Coordinator for Habitat for Humanity, Event Coordinator for the Utah Hemophilia Foundation, and the Marketing and Sponsor Coodinator for the Salt Lake City Corporation, in Salt Lake City. Maile has her Bachelor's of Science in Political Science and Economics from the University of Utah.

Sean Miller

Sean Miller is the Director of Education at Earth Day Network (EDN). He is responsible for EDN’s education programs for students and our network of over 25,000 teachers interested in environmental issues, as well as the management of our National Civic Education Project (NCEP) and our Green Schools Campaign. Mr. Miller also represents EDN to the Energy Action Coalition, where EDN is implementing the Campus Climate Challenge’s model of success on over 540 campuses into the K-12 setting. Prior to joining EDN in 2006, he taught with Mr. Colman McCarthy of the Center for Teaching Peace in DC schools, where he is a licensed teacher. Additionally, Mr. Miller was the Program Coordinator at Nonviolence International working to create educational materials for students and facilitating an international conference on conflict resolution in Bethlehem, Palestine. He received his BA in both Psychology and Philosophy from The College of William and Mary, and earned two Master’s Degrees in International Peace and Conflict Resolution (MA) and Education (Secondary Social Studies concentration, MAT) from American University. Mr. Miller’s interdisciplinary background affords him and EDN the opportunity to successively manage such a diverse range of topics. He adds that he loves to fight climate change with his bicycle, “the most efficient machine ever created.”

Petya Yordanova

Petya Yordanova, International Fellow at EDN, is a licensed teacher and has been a National Coordinator of Bulgaria's Eco-Schools Program for 8 years. She is a teacher and Assistant Director at Michail Lakatnick Primary School, Burgas. She has been coordinating many international projects. Petya has been working for the NGO Bulgarian Blue Flag Movement for 10 years. She also was part of the team implementing Norwegian Energy Efficiency Inc.'s Active Learning and Energy Monitoring in the School Curriculum project in Bulgaria. Petya Yordanova is a Fellow at the International Program Department and is responsible for the coordination of the Earth Day events internationally, managing and outreaching for the Green school sector, Water portal creation, researching funding, project and partnership opportunities. Representing EDN at meetings and events she will understand how NGOs in the U.S. function.

Judit Varga

Judit Varga from Hungary arrived to EDN in this November. She is an international fellow working on International Green School Campaign and the Clean Water Project with Director of International Programs, Joshua Forgotson. She received her MA degree in literary history from Catholic University of Hungary, where she got her teacher certificate too. She began her professional journalist career seven years ago. She was working as a news editor and reporter, then working for one of the daily newspaper of Budapest. Most recently she has been an editor-in-chief for Lélegzet (Breath) Environmental Magazine in Hungary. This magazine is published by Clean Air Action Group (CAAG), one of the best-known environmental NGOs in Hungary. Founded in 1988 by three local green groups, it is now a national federation of 126 NGO's. (www.levego.hu) Last year Judit was working in Brighton (UK) for Carfree Network as a volunteer project assistant. Her interests are: sustainable transport, sustainable urban development related to the global warming and climate change, protection of green areas in cities. Her special interest is theatrical arts.

Raquel Garcia

Raquel Garcia is the Communications Associate at EDN, and is responsible for supporting Earth Day Network events, programs, and outreach, as well as the development of messages and materials to the media. She arranges and participates in interviews with media outlets, coordinates events and news conferences, and assists with marketing and Earth Day Network partnerships. In addition, Raquel also maintains the EDN "Blog" and assists with content and development for both our website and Earth Day Television. Prior to joining EDN, Raquel was the Director of Communications for a municipal political party in Spain, her native country. Raquel received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). She is very interested in the development of sustainable public policies and strongly believes in citizens' involvement in the political process as the key to social change.

Jason Gooljar

Jason Gooljar is the Web Developer at Earth Day Network. A native New Yorker, Jason first got involved with political and civic issues in 1998 during his senior year in high school. At the time he was an intern and learned about the workings of local government in Westchester County, NY. Since then, he has worked as a paid staffer on two state senate campaigns and one gubernatorial campaign in NY. He was also a member of the first class to be trained in online organizing by the DC-based non-profit the New Organizing Institute in the winter of 2006. Jason holds an Associates degree in multimedia development and management. His future goals include going back to school to study political science or a public policy-related area. He deeply cares about non-profit organizations that work towards bettering society and wishes to remain working in this area.

Amelia Kissick

Amelia Kissick is the Education Coordinator at Earth Day Network. After graduating from the College of William and Mary with a degree in Psychology and Business Management, Amelia volunteered with the United Nations Development Program, taught in public schools in both France and Ecuador and collaborated with Vermont Public Interest Research Group and Friends of the Earth on their environmental health campaigns. Additionally, Amelia has led a number of grassroots efforts within communities to improve waste management and prevent land from environmental degradation. Amelia's passion for the environment is matched by her love for culture, bicycling and dance.

Caitlin Werrell

Caitlin Werrell, is working with EDN's water and climate programs. Caitlin has led numerous grassroots campaigns with issues ranging from protecting old growth forests to air quality standards. She has a BA cum laude in Environmental Politics from Mount Holyoke College, with a focus on local organic agriculture and environmental justice and a MA in Water Science, Policy and Management with a focus on transboundary water policy from the University of Oxford.

Earth Day Network's International Team of Volunteers and Interns

Earth Day Network owes much of its success to its dedicated interns and volunteers. Wherever they are in the world, and in addition to all the other important work they do in their daily lives, they find the time to assist EDN in its efforts to bring the world together for one day a year to strive for something upon which we all depend: a healthy environment.

The work they do includes:

Planning and producing Earth Day events;
Communicating with EDN's members around the world to assist them with their Earth Day plans and projects;
Supporting EDN staff at events;
And creating outreach materials and communicating with the public.

If you would like to volunteer for EDN, please visit our Volunteer Center

Below is our gallery of interns and volunteers. We are indebted to them, and wish to express our gratitude for all their hard work.

2007 Interns and Volunteers