Deanna White
State Director

Deanna with George McGovern

Deanna White is a relocated South Dakota girl who joined Clean Water Action in January 2008 as Program Director. She brings with her an extensive background in political and community organizing. Most recently, she ran the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce. Prior to that, she spent eight years with the Sierra Club beginning as a community organizer in Las Vegas, serving as National Deputy Political Director in Washington DC and returning to South Dakota as a Senior Regional Representative. She began her career as a campaign organizer with the South Dakota Democratic Party in 1992.
Deanna loves reading, traveling, Cary Grant movies, sushi and her boyfriend Nate − not necessarily in that order.
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Marie Zellar
National Deputy Director

Marie Zellar is both a Hoosier and a Texan who came to Minnesota in 1993. She developed her passion for the environment and her sense of political outrage spending summers in the piney oak woods of southeast Texas, which were being decimated by a lethal combination of clear-cutting and good ol' boy politics.
Since 1993, Marie has worked for Clean Water Action as State Organizer, State Director, Regional Director and now as National Deputy Director. Prior to this she served as Grassroots Director for the Hoosier Environmental Council in Indiana. She graduated from Indiana University's highly esteemed School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Marie lives in a little house in Northeast Minneapolis where she gardens, hosts bonfires for her friends and makes art out of stuff.
E-mail Marie

Program Staff

Dan Endreson
Program Coordinator

Dan joined Clean Water Action in December 2008 as a Program Coordinator, managing our legislative efforts. He was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, home to Captain Crunch cereal and in close proximity to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. He has been living in Minneapolis since 2003 after living in Michigan, Utah and Maryland working as a research analyst for numerous Federal agencies.
In 2008, he received a graduate degree in environmental policy from the Humphrey Institute, after previously studying forestry at Michigan Tech and biology at Creighton University. Dan enjoys traveling to National Parks, playing broomball and photography.
E-mail Dan

Darrell Gerber
Program Coordinator

Darrell was raised among the high-desert sagebrush of a northwest Colorado cattle ranch.
He studied Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University, North Carolina State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. He attended the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota to study Energy Policy in 2005 and 2006.
He joined Clean Water Action in May of 2007 as Program Coordinator focusing on Energy and Water issues. His work primarily concentrates on Global Warming, the Great Lakes and the Clean Water Restoration Act.
He is a resident of the Kingfield Neighborhood in Minneapolis where he lives with his spouse Ashley. They play in a band together.
E-mail Darrell

Melissa Caldwell
Development Coordinator

Melissa Caldwell is a native Minnesotan. In February of 2009 she joined Clean Water Action as the new Development Coordinator. She has 11 years of social, economic and environmental canvassing and campaign experience with the Progressive Action Network.
Melissa is excited to work with the Clean Water team, helping guarantee we have a safe and healthy environment for her nephew, four nieces, godson and all future generations. She lives in North Minneapolis with her dog Shivah. Melissa enjoys barbecuing, listening to hip hop, and making her yard look beautiful in the summertime—her favorite season.
E-mail Melissa

Julie Jansen
Rural Communities Program Organizer

Julie was born, raised and still lives in rural Renville County, Minnesota. Her husband Jeff and she have six wonderful children and two beautiful grandchildren.
Julie has been a citizen activist with Clean Water Action of Minnesota since 1995. In 1998, she joined the Clean Water Action staff as an organizer for the Feedlot Pollution Prevention Project. She is currently the Rural Communities Organizer.
In her spare time, Julie is the Youth Camp Director for the Renville County Farmers Union, Sunday School Teacher and Youth Director for the United Methodist Church in Bird Island. She focuses her remaining spare time on spoiling her granddaughter.
E-mail Julie

Kim LaBo
Program Organizer

Kim grew up at the junction of the east and west branches of the Rum River in Princeton, Minnesota.
Since arriving at Clean Water Action in 2007, Kim has worked to rid the planet of all things toxic. As program organizer, Kim educates the public about toxins in consumer products, their safer alternatives, and actions people can take in their homes and communities to reduce their exposure. Prior to joining Clean Water Action, Kim worked in Chicago as a community and union organizer for fourteen years.
Kim's other interests include gardening with native plants, hiking, and attending the Book Bags book club.
E-mail Kim

Canvass Staff

JJ McDonald
Member Relations Director

JJ rocking out

JJ was born in New Jersey and grew up in Kansas where she was the oldest of five siblings. She studied art and classics at Colorado College, located in Colorado Springs.
She decided to move to Minneapolis after visiting the city on a cross-country road trip. JJ started working with Clean Water Action in January 2007. Before that, she was a phone canvasser at the Progressive Action Network. She is critical part of developing new leaders for our organization in the 21st century.
She lives with her partner, Steve, in Northeast Minneapolis. Outside of work she is an artist, a movie buff and an amateur tap dancer.
E-mail JJ

Field Canvass

Teresa Clark
Field Canvass Director

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Teresa grew up surrounded by water in a family with a rich history on boats. Though she majored in linguistics, a seminar on environmental justice at the University of Washington sparked her interest in grassroots politics. After graduating, Teresa began working for the Washington Community Action Network in Seattle. She has canvassed across the country on labor, social justice and environmental issues, including health care and immigration reform. Teresa moved to Minneapolis in January 2009 to continue her organizing career with Clean Water Action. She is thrilled to advocate for the environment from a state with a powerful national presence. Teresa lives in Northeast Minneapolis, where she enjoys participating in community events, weekly trivia and live music.
E-mail Teresa

Erin Bogle
Field Manager

Erin was born and raised in Oklahoma and moved to Missouri where she graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA in photography. Erin broke into the political world as a canvasser with Working America. Her experience in the labor movement ignited her love for environmental and social justice issues. Dedicated through-and-through, Erin moved to Minneapolis in bitter December, 2008 to work for Clean Water Action. Her sunny disposition has driven her success. Outside the office, she enjoys children’s books, vintage fashions, urban scavenging and of course, photography.
E-mail Erin

Becca Thieret
Field Manager

Becca is from the small river town of Winona, Minnesota, which is nestled between limestone bluffs that rise 500 feet and the mighty Mississippi River.
She has been working at Clean Water Action since April, 2007. Before working at Clean Water Action, she was an art student and worked in retail. She enjoys being on the front lines of the fight for clean water, stopping and reducing global warming and creating a healthier American lifestyle. She is one of our bright young rising stars.
She enjoys reading, music, traveling (generally with a tent) and is a huge fan of documentaries.
E-mail Becca

Grassroots Phone Canvass

Sara McLoone
Grassroots Project Director

Sara grew up in Maryland where she devoured the Washington Post and developed an interest in politics. Prior to joining us she has traveled, studied and resided in California, Wyoming and Utah.
Sara began at Clean Water Action as a field canvasser in June 2003.
She has been a Manager and Coordinator supervising dozens of staff on several projects using the latest technology. She is now the Grassroots Project Director overseeing field and phone outreach on a variety of policy and electoral projects.
Sara lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Ian, where she enjoys plotting trips to Central America, reading cheap mystery novels and learning Spanish.
E-mail Sara

Emily Tate
Phone Canvass Director

Emily grew up in Atlanta, Georgia − a city closely linked to the civil rights movement.
She moved to Minnesota to attend the Aveda Institute. While she remains a licensed cosmetologist, she gets more satisfaction by building Clean Water Action membership and political clout than by making others look beautiful. She sees beauty in political action and she has been doing exactly that since joining us in 2004!
Emily is an important member of our base building team. She helps retain and recruit members, as well as empowering them to take action and influence positive policy outcomes; from reducing pollution to protecting our waters.
Emily has been trained to work on the trapeze and she dreams of running away with the circus.
E-mail Emily

Christine Fetterley
Grassroots Phone Manager

Christine dining out

Christine was born and raised in Minnesota; she split her early years between rural Howard Lake and Minneapolis.
A lifelong political junkie and feminist, she majored in Mass Communications and Women's Studies at St. Cloud State University. During that time she also fundraised for political parties and progressive organizations.
After coming to CWA in January 2006, she has served in numerous capacities, finding her niche in 2007 as a Project Manager. She has done just about every type of canvassing there is − in fact, she regularly dreams about it.
Christine enjoys Rock 'n' Roll, non-fiction and eating food that other people prepare.
E-mail Christine

Tom Garrett
Grassroots Phone Manager

Tom grew up on the East Coast, from Newfoundland to Miami, and has worked all over the U.S.
He has a distinctive perspective on the effects of Clean Water Action's issues. His early grassroots experiences include working on senior citizen issues, capital punishment and the three-strikes felon law in the Southeastern United States. In Minnesota, Tom has championed local Latino issues, helping to amplify their voices.
He has been with Clean Water Action since 2005; raising public awareness, training future leaders and fighting to protect our natural environment.
E-mail Tom

Kevin Hippert
Grassroots Phone Manager

Kevin grew up all over Minnesota, including St. Paul, Bloomington and Owatonna.
After graduating high school, he visited Europe and then arrived in the Twin Cities to attend Minneapolis Community & Technical College. He went on to receive his B.A. in American History at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus.
In between getting married and taking his last class at the U of M, he started working for Clean Water Action in the summer of 2006, where he works as a Project Manager. Kevin has been taken part in numerous successful environmental campaigns.
Kevin and his spouse, Sarah, live in Minneapolis with their exuberant dog, Arlo.
E-mail Kevin

Terrance Noble
Grassroots Phone Manager

Terrance grew up in the tropical island of Barbados − a flat coral island with excellent beaches, rolling hills, many deep ridges and gullies and an interesting distribution of flora and fauna.
In 1995, he moved to the Twin Cities to attend the University of Minnesota. There he pursued a Business Administration Major. In addition to school, he became active in the arts and focused on music and youth development in the public schools.
In 2001, he joined the Clean Water Action because of his interest in environmental and social issues. He has worked as a staff caller and trainer and is now a Phone Manager.
He enjoys listening to music, camping and traveling and is exploring western clinical herbalism.
E-mail Terrance

Administrative Staff

Mary Brady
Administrative Director

Mary was born and raised in Minneapolis; even though she was a city dweller she loved to get away to experience Minnesota's lakes, rivers and forests. She was active in Girl Scouts and spent many years at horse camp. Her Grandparents made fishing lures for living and she spent many hours in the summer testing them out.
After a decade in the corporate world, Mary came to CWA as a field canvasser and never looked back. She worked two years in the field canvass then moved to the phones for twelve years, six of those as the Canvass Director. Under Mary's direction the phone canvass set numerous organization and network records for fundraising. She has been the Administrative Director since 2003.
She spends her free time spoiling her grandson Alex, quilting, gardening, quilting, reading and quilting. She really likes quilting!
E-mail Mary

Mike Kirros
Information Systems Coordinator

Mike prefers to let his equipment get the glory

Mike has worked for Clean Water Action since 1997, beginning as a Field Canvasser. He has also done political campaign and finance work for Clean Water Action in addition to his information system duties.
He is in charge of all things computer in the Minneapolis office, including network administration, database administration and help desk. Sometimes staffers ask him to stand next to computers that are acting up, which seems to fix them, almost miraculously.
E-mail Mike

Greg Mizer
Office Manager

Greg being attacked by the World's Largest "Booming" Prairie Chicken, Rothsay, MN

Greg grew up in Sandstone, Minnesota and moved to the Twin Cities to attend Culinary Arts School. After playing with knives and other dangerous restaurant equipment, he decided to work for Citizen Action Membership Center.
Greg is the first voice you hear when you contact Clean Water Action. He is a vital part of our operations and he keeps us steered in the right direction.
He joined Clean Water Action Administration Department in 2001 and has been kicking butt and taking names ever since.
When he is not at CWA he enjoys working on his house, cooking, and visiting strange roadside attractions.
E-mail Greg

Jo Gordon
Membership Administration Associate

Jo might be called a "Jo of all trades." She's managed fast paced restaurants and bars, been employed in the medical outcomes industry and worked as a computer programmer and software developer.
Jo was drawn to Clean Water Action in 2004 because of her desire to do some good in this world. She provides assistance to staff and members, and is critical in keeping our organization running every day.
When she is not at Clean Water Action, she continues to help others. During her free time she tutors fourth through twelfth graders in English, and works with the International Diabetes Center on a project using graphical reporting tools in diabetes management.
E-mail Jo