St. Paul Office: 651.290.0154
Duluth Office: 218.727.0800
Jennifer Lynch, Operations Director, has been with MEP since 2001 and manages all business aspects of the organization including accounting, development, grant tracking, human resources, systems and building maintenance. She also is charged with overseeing and integrating all program areas to ensure smooth operations of the entire organization.
She has a B.S. degree from St. Cloud State University, is a graduate of the Environmental Leadership Institute, Leading From within and serves on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Environmental Network. A lifelong Minnesotan, Jen spends her off-time camping in the BWCA, paddling on the Mississippi and exploring all that Minnesota has to offer.
Prior to joining MEP in 2006 Steve served as Senior Fellow in the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, at the University of Minnesota. He developed and ran the Green Lands, Blue Waters initiative; a Mississippi River basin project to maintain productivity of the land while addressing the ecological impacts of agricultural practices.
Steve was Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) from 1999 to 2003. He was elected to the Minnesota State Senate in 1986 and reelected three times. During most of his 12 years representing the Winona area, he was Chair of the Senate Environment and Agriculture Budget Division. Prior to his legislative work, Steve managed his family’s apple orchard and served on the Winona School Board.
As Campaign Director, Norton works with Minnesota Environmental Partnership’s more than 75 member organizations to achieve the coalition’s collaborative environmental priorities: solar energy expansion, more effective cleanup of Minnesota’s polluted waters, protection of the Boundary Waters and Lake Superior from sulfide mining pollution, and expanded investments in conservation and transit.
Norton brings a decade of experience to the coalition, including eight years as the Forestry and Wildlife Advocate and Staff Attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. He most recently served as a land conservationist for the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District.
andrewslade@mepartnership.org
Twitter: MEP_Duluth http://bit.ly/GF9wO6
Andrew Slade is a naturalist and writer who has been active in North Shore conservation issues for 20 years and works in MEP’s Duluth office. He has served on the boards of the Superior Hiking Trail Association and the North Shore Scenic Drive Council. He is the author of Skiing the North Shore, Camping the North Shore, and Hiking the North Shore.
Andrew was the Director of Education at Lake Superior Center from 1993 to 2000. From 2002 to 2008 he served as Executive Director of Sugarloaf: The North Shore Stewardship Association.
Andrew has a BA in Environmental Education from the University of Minnesota and a MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. He lives in Duluth on the sandy shores of Minnesota Point with his wife, two sons, and a poodle. He blogs about the North Shore regularly at www.thereandbackbooks.com.
Emily Smythe is the Communications Intern at MEP. She is in charge of the News Watch, which is a digest of environmental news from around the state of Minnesota. She also compiles the Weekly Update – a weekly newsletter of events happening in the state’s green community.
Emily will be graduating in May from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Marketing from the Carlson School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Previously, Emily has worked as the Communications and Marketing Intern at the Como Zoo and Conservatory and the Dodge Nature Center. In her free time, Emily loves to sing with her all-female a cappella group: The Enchantments or catch up on some reading in her neighborhood park.