Aaron Ostrom, Executive Director, is the master of "strategery" behind Fuse and its innovative campaigns to move progress forward in Washington State. Before helping to launch Fuse in 2007, Aaron served for eight years as the Executive Director of Futurewise, an organization dedicated to protecting rural areas and natural resources from irresponsible development and making cities great places to live. Aaron was a co-founder and Director of the Transportation Choices Coalition and also worked as a manager in the City of Seattle's Strategic Planning Office. He has served as a board member of Smart Growth America and several other non-profits. He has chaired and/or played a critical leadership role in several statewide and regional ballot measure campaigns. Aaron has B.A. in Public Policy from Brown University. In his off-time, Aaron plays basketball with other slow old men and aspires to more enthusiastically celebrate International Talk Like A Pirate Day. He and his family, including sons Cole and Desmond live in Seattle. Contact Aaron: Email
Jim Dawson, Campaign Director, works to engage grassroots activists and leaders in our democracy to make sure it works the way it is supposed too. He most recently worked for, 3 and a half years, as the Field Director of the Washington Toxics Coalition. He has directed the grassroots campaigns for ground breaking victories, including passing the nation's strongest standards for toxic chemicals in kids' products and a first-in-the-nation ban on toxic flame retardants. Jim has worked for the past ten years for non-profit organizations on the state, national, and international level. In his spare time he likes to chase his dog through the woods and mountains of the Northwest, pretend to be a carpenter, and learn how to grow, cook, and preserve yummy, organic, local foods. He is proud to report that he has yet to die from botulism or get really sick from his forays into local eating. He lives in Tumwater, WA in a passive solar straw-bale home he designed and built. Contact Jim: Email
Kristin Elia, Organizing Director, spent four years fighting the good fight for our environment prior to joining Fuse: first with New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJ PIRG) as a campus organizer and then with Environment America in DC as a field organizer. After advocating for federal legislation and organizing grassroots campaigns, she ventured west into the setting sun to see what the left coast had to offer. Kristin holds a B.A. in Government from Franklin and Marshall College. In her spare time, she can be found frolicking outdoors, rooting for the Red Sox, engaging in witty conversation and wine sipping, and searching for the perfect one-line description of herself. Contact Kristin: Email
Erin Haick, Organizer, joined the Fuse team to capitalize on the opportunity to pass meaningful clean energy and climate change legislation in 2010. Prior to Fuse, she was an Organizer at OneAmerica, where she spearheaded the civic engagement program which focused on new immigrants and refugees for voter registration, candidate evaluation, and advocacy on the state and national levels. She has also work with SEIU, working with homecare workers in Philadelphia, Toronto, and Wisconsin who were organizing for better pay and working conditions. Erin is an Eastern Washington native, and graduated in 2003 from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon with a degree in Communication. Contact Erin: Email
Collin Jergens, Communications Manager, is the master of messaging, the sultan of social media, the exemplar of email, and generally the guy who writes a lot. Prior to joining fuse, he worked as a research and communications consultant for a startup technology company in Washington D.C. before joining the Obama campaign as a field organizer in Oregon and Colorado. Collin has B.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in Communications, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown University. When he’s not editing his own edits, Collin can be found hiking, mountain climbing, kayaking, or chasing after a frisbee in Bellevue. Contact Collin: Email
Binah Palmer, Online Advoacy Manager, is a Seattle native and therefore loves rain, coffee, and salmon. She attended Colby College in Maine, where she double-majored in History and American Studies; she then became addicted to the public policy process after a stint advocating for afterschool programs at School's Out Washington. After four years at the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington State and a term on the City of Seattle's Human Rights Commission, Binah recently finished a Master's degree in Law, Policy, and Society at Northeastern University in Boston. She is happily back in the Pacific Northwest, and has rejoined the Seattle chapter board of the Japanese American Citizens League, where she serves as VP of Civil Rights. In her spare time, Binah is a karaoke junkie and scotch aficionado. Contact Binah: Email
Jill Wasberg, Development Director, joins Fuse with a decade of experience in fundraising, organizing, event planning and developing communications strategies for advocacy organizations in Washington state and Washington, DC, including American Rivers, Washington Conservation Voters, and Save our Wild Salmon. Much of her experience includes working for environmental coalitions that organize and unite a diverse team of partner organizations so that they can together serve as one, effective voice for a particular issue. (This is also known as herding cats.) She is a fourth generation Washingtonian (and a little proud of it) from South Bend, WA. She majored in English at the University of Washington and received a Masters in Environmental Studies from the Evergreen State College. In her spare time, she is either playing outside, skimming headlines or reading a book. Contact Jill: Email
Jay Arnold, Technology Director, is the technology spark behind Fuse's creative and cutting-edge online campaigns. Formerly a test manager at Microsoft, Jay led teams working on Internet Explorer and Windows. He serves on the boards of Futurewise and Northwest SEED, and previously was a Trustee of the Municipal League of King County. Jay holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He and his family live in Kirkland where they are walking the talk of sustainability with urban chickens and solar power. Contact Jay: Email
Ty, Fuse Dog, and housemate of Fuse Board Member Kurt Guenther, loafs around the office giving love to all the people, especially Erik.
