Offshore Wind Energy Meet the Team
Lauren joined the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in May 2024 as the Climate and Energy Storytelling Fellow. Throughout her career, Lauren has been a communications professional for organizations and nonprofits dedicated to social, environmental, and educational justice.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was a communications intern at GrowingSoul, a food justice and community-based nonprofit, helping to feed over 3 million people across DC, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia. Lauren also served as a Social Media Manager for the Griotte’s Beat Podcast, hosted by Johns Hopkins scholar Kaytura Felix, which features discussions among Black women from the African diaspora about various injustices and ways to improve the world. Additionally, she worked at Science is Elementary, a California-based nonprofit, where she created communications materials to enhance science education for children in need.
Passionate about the outdoors and wildlife, Lauren enjoys traveling and landscape photography, engaging with locals to learn about their lifestyles across the country. Raised in a family and communities that emphasized stewardship and community, she aims to leverage her professional skills and core values to educate the public on climate and energy policies and tell significant stories about the communities and ecosystems most affected by climate change. Highlighting how these communities are overcoming challenges and finding innovative solutions to build resilient and sustainable futures.
As the Program Coordinator for the Offshore Wind Energy team, Jasmine Crowell-Hare works to manage the administrative and communication functions of the OWE team, helping to ensure the highest capacity to succeed in progressing offshore energy. Jasmine has received her B.S. in Marine Biology with a minor in Business Management from the University of New Haven. Prior to joining the National Wildlife Federation in 2024, she has inspired ocean conservation and awareness by connecting political officials and local communities to marine animals in her hometown of New York City through her role as a Wild Animal Keeper.
Growing up in one of the most diverse cities in the country and now based in New Jersey, Jasmine has a strong drive to advocate for the necessity of diverse perspectives and tearing down the harmful stereotypical narratives of people of color in the Marine Conservation sector. She is excited and proud to see sustainable climate solutions being progressed in an equitable way that empowers the voices of the front-facing, typically marginalized stakeholders that are most affected by climate change.
Julia joined NWF in May 2024. She brings extensive coalition management experience to this role where she will help responsible offshore wind development become a reality on the West Coast. Julia’s entire career has been in the environmental nonprofit sector starting with a yearlong field school for environmental organizing called Green Corps in 2005. From there she worked briefly at Oregon Wild, and then Cascade Forest Conservancy where she focused on forest conservation issues. She then spent nearly a decade as the Northwest Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch. While at Food & Water Watch she led the decade-long campaign to stop Nestle from bottling public water in the Columbia River Gorge. She spent the four years prior to joining NWF as the coalition director for the Oregon League of Conservation Voters where she ran their legislative program work. Julia has a BS in Environmental Studies and Sociology from Northland College in Ashland WI.
Julia loves reading science fiction and fantasy books, spending time with her cats (Babycakes and Minion), eating good food, and getting outdoors as much as possible.
Amber joined NWF in 2013 and has spent the past decade working to advance state and federal policies that will both help launch a robust U.S. offshore wind industry on all coasts, and ensure wildlife, habitat, and communities are protected throughout every stage of development. After building and leading state offshore wind campaigns, she became Senior Director of offshore wind in 2023. Amber’s role on the team includes policy and campaign strategy and execution, building relationships with stakeholders, representing the program in public forums from conferences to community groups, delivering policy recommendations to decision-makers, and identifying new growth opportunities. She lives on the north shore of Massachusetts and graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
As the creative communications and storytelling lead for National Wildlife Federation’s climate and energy team, Lindsay Kuczera distills the team’s complex policy work into concise and impactful narratives and uses creative digital mediums to educate and engage a variety of audiences. With a background in both social and environmental science, Lindsay has merged her love of conserving the natural world with her passion for storytelling to uplift solutions to the most pressing crises of our time.
Lindsay’s past work includes sustainability and educational digital communications for National Geographic, The Climate Pledge, the Department of the Interior, and the District Coyote Project. Born and raised on the Jersey Shore and transplanted to Washington, D.C. after college, Lindsay spends her free time outside—preferably on a bicycle—and is most inspired by experiencing new places and cultures around the world with a camera in hand.
As the Wildlife Policy Specialist with NWF’s Offshore Wind Energy program, Lucy helps ensure that the deployment of offshore wind is environmentally responsible and protective of wildlife. Lucy is committed to findings ways to address the biodiversity loss and climate crises as one interconnected challenge to build a resilient and sustainable future. She coordinates and drafts collaborative and constructive comments during the federal public comment opportunities. Lucy promotes the use of the best available science and the responsible inclusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in federal decision making.
Lucy graduated from Lewis & Clark Law School with a certificate in environmental and natural resources law and is admitted to the Oregon State Bar. Prior to joining NWF, she worked on private lands wildlife policy concerns with Defenders of Wildlife, international cetacean trade issues with the Animal Welfare Institute, and ocean policy in Santa Barbara, California. Lucy is dedicated to being an advocate for the inclusion of all voices no matter gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, neurological and physical divergences, species, or religion. She enjoys trail running, bouldering, and finding ways to minimize her impact on this planet.
Michael joined the National Wildlife Federation in 2024 as the Communications Manager for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center and the Offshore Wind Energy teams. Prior to joining NWF, he worked in the North Carolina State Senate, on federal campaigns, and most recently spent 2.5 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. His first six years of professional experience came as an outdoor educator in Maryland where he taught child and adult programming about conservation, environmental protection, and climate change while leading climbing, white water kayaking/ rafting, mountain biking, and backpacking groups.
Michael grew up in Washington, D.C. and now lives in Vienna, VA. He graduated from Guilford College in North Carolina with a degree in Political Science and a minor in German.
Tara Miller (they/them) joined National Wildlife Federation in 2024 as the Northeast Campaign Manager for the Offshore Wind Energy program. Previously, they worked with community advocates in Virginia to research and develop policy solutions to coal dust pollution. They have also worked in plant ecology research in Norway and Maine, wildlife management in Arizona, and wildlife advocacy in New York. Tara received their Ph.D. in Ecology from Boston University, where they studied the effects of climate change and other human impacts on plants and wildlife.
Stacy Ortego joined National Wildlife Federation in 2024 as the Gulf of Mexico Campaign Manager for the Offshore Wind Energy program. Prior to joining NWF, she spent ten years at NWF affiliate Louisiana Wildlife Federation where her advocacy efforts focused on coastal restoration, offshore wind energy, and carbon management. As NWF’s Gulf of Mexico campaign manager, Stacy leads strategy and planning in Louisiana and Texas, working closely with partners to develop state-specific campaigns.
Born and raised on a farm in south Louisiana, Stacy has always had a deep connection to nature and a passion for environmental stewardship. She received bachelor degrees in both business administration and biology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She’s excited to bring her outreach and advocacy experience to support responsible development of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico.
As the Senior Campaign Manager with National Wildlife Federation’s Offshore Wind Energy program, Helen Rose Patterson recruits and mobilizes stakeholders, educates the public, and manages coalition efforts to advance the responsible development of offshore wind energy. Helen Rose has worked at National Wildlife Federation since 2015, and prior to joining the Offshore Wind Energy team, she supported efforts to advance large-scale coastal restoration in Louisiana.
Helen Rose grew up in Mississippi and studied cultural ecology at Bennington College in Vermont. She was an environmental education volunteer in Peace Corps Morocco, and now makes her home in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is especially excited to see offshore wind energy come to fruition in the Gulf of Mexico.
Shayna Steingard has worked at National Wildlife Federation since 2022 as the Senior Policy Specialist for Offshore Wind Energy to ensure that the deployment of offshore wind advances in a wildlife-responsible manner. Through the coordination and drafting of collaborative and constructive comments during the federal public comment opportunities, Shayna promotes science-based decision making to both protect wildlife and habitats and fight climate change through the renewable energy transition. Before joining the Federation, Shayna did similar work on land-based solar and wind energy and wildlife issues, primarily in the desert Southwest, and also worked for a conservation land trust in Southern Indiana. Shayna attended Indiana University-Bloomington, where she received a Master of Science in Environmental Science and a Master of Public Affairs. She also holds a Master of Elementary Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis as well as a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Arizona State University.
Veronica Ung-Kono serves as the Staff Attorney and Clean Energy Transmission Policy Specialist at National Wildlife Federation (NWF) for the Climate and Energy Policy Program. She leads NWF’s Transmission Initiative encompassing offshore and onshore transmission. Her portfolio applies her expertise in energy markets and regulation to decarbonize the United States with just, regenerative law and policy to improve public health and protect our natural ecosystems and wildlife.
Before beginning her role at NWF in 2022, the Department of Energy appointed Veronica to a Solar Energy Innovators Fellowship at the Vermont Public Utility Commission. She received her J.D. and Master’s in Energy Regulation and Law from Vermont Law School.