Our Staff

Renee (she/her) works to raise the profile of agroforestry and the Savanna Institute through media, outreach, and education. From a farming family in Northeast Wisconsin, Renee spent her youth active in 4-H and FFA showing dairy cattle at county and state fairs. She earned her Journalism degree from UW-Madison and a Masters in Cultural Anthropology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She has 20-years of experience leading communications at a diverse mix of organizations, from mission-driven nonprofits and museums to politicians and celebrities to Fortune 500 companies. For the past decade, Renee has led communications for documentary films as a consultant for the national PBS series Independent Lens. A life-long social justice activist, Renee’s passion is in culturally responsive education and integrating equity into social system design. In her freetime, you can find her working for social change as a local election volunteer and on her city’s sustainability commission.