Our team

Prior to joining the team, October served in human resources roles for multiple organizations in the private and public sector before, most recently, transitioning to operations as a clinic manager with Ochsner Health. She has also volunteered as a racial justice facilitator with the YWCA of Minneapolis. October earned a bachelor’s in human resources management and a master’s in human development Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. A curious, lifelong learner, she recently received her diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace certification from the University of South Florida, and and earned her professional project manager certification from the University of St. Thomas.

His career has focused on combining data-driven analysis and visualization to help public-interest organizations more effectively understand and convey their data.

His roles consist of building and managing relationships with local and regional leadership and digital economic development stakeholders, identifying opportunities in the Black Belt and Mississippi Delta regions, with an emphasis on BIPOC and underserved communities that would benefit from a technology ecosystem.

Prior to joining the team, Mike’s career has spanned nearly two decades working almost exclusively in small business environments. He most recently served as controller for a food export and trading company based in Boston.

Mike has a bachelor’s in business management from Virginia Tech and is an actively licensed CPA in Virginia since 2013. He resides in Roanoke with his spouse, two sons, and two dogs. Mike enjoys running, paddling, and exploring the mountains and waters of the southern Appalachians.

Prior to joining the team, Austin spent eight years on the staff of the Burlington Free Press. His work there spanned multiple beats and included longform narratives, features, analysis, and multimedia content, twice earning him the title of Vermont’s sportswriter of the year from the National Sports Media Association. Austin has also been a writer and photographer for the Bennington Banner, the Alexandria (Va.) Times and Vermont Business Magazine.

Austin holds a B.A. in history from the University of Vermont, where he also ran the student newspaper. A native of the Green Mountain State, he grew up in the small but historic town of Hubbardton, a short walk from the site of the only Revolutionary War battle fought on Vermont soil. He now lives in White River Junction.

Nora came to her role after having worked directly with community leaders as a Rural Innovation Initiative Community Manager, and having previously supported CORI and RISI’s operations teams. She’s a rural community enthusiast, and loves getting to discover new and diverse communities across the country.

Before joining the CORI/RISI team, she worked on various local and statewide campaigns, at an environmental planning and consulting firm in the Pacific Northwest, and in the communications department at a political action committee. She also served one year as a City Year Boston Corps Member. A Vermont native, Nora currently lives in Windsor, Vermont, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Lewis & Clark College.

Prior to joining RISI, Lisa served as the Maker-in-Residence at the Stourbridge Project Business Incubator, where she developed placemaking plans to improve their makerspace, coworking space, and the surrounding park. Stewarding these and other people-powered projects through implementation earned her the 2022 PA Route 6 Heritage Leadership Award.

Beyond her focus on placemaking, Lisa is a big proponent of STEAM projects: She’s published a book of papercrafts, written tech and fashion camp curriculums, and designed a new magazine as Highlights for Children’s “Maker Editor.” Lisa also managed a viral Kickstarter campaign for foldable dinosaur kits, which led to her 15-foot-long cardboard velociraptor costume making an appearance on the White House lawn for the 2015 National Week of Making.

Lisa holds a bachelor’s in architecture and a master of engineering degree in technical entrepreneurship from Lehigh University. She lives in the rural northeastern Pennsylvania town of Honesdale with her partner and two rabbits.

Prior to joining the team, Dalila was the zoning administrator for the city of South Burlington where she managed all manner of permitting for the second-largest city in Vermont. She assisted residents and developers with interpreting the city’s zoning ordinance for small home improvement projects all the way through large-scale commercial developments.  Before moving to Vermont in 2018, she worked in various positions for New York City’s Department of Transportation.

Dalila’s undergraduate degree is in geography from the University of Saint Thomas in Houston, Texas, and she did her graduate work in urban planning at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Her career has long focused on community development and public engagement.

Dalila grew up all over the U.S., but her roots are in rural Texas. She now resides in southeastern Vermont along the Connecticut River. Outside of work, she is passionate about her pets (a chihuahua and three cats), needle crafting, and pretending to be better at gardening than she is.

Brittany was born and raised in Quechee, Vermont. Her small-town upbringing instilled a love for the people, places, and natural environments that shape rural communities. She has always felt passionately about issues facing these communities, including access to economic opportunity for folks across rural America.

Brittany now lives in White River Junction, Vermont, and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hamilton College.

Previously, Alex has worked on the team’s mapping and data consulting projects as well as future of work and workforce development activities. Alex’s career before joining RISI was split between professional services in Silicon Valley and rural organizing and political strategy. He served as a Project Manager and then Creative Manager at the global branding firm Catchword, based in Oakland, California, where he worked with Fortune 500 companies in the food and beverage, e-commerce, and automotive sectors, among others.

Alex has also served as senior staff in various capacities on four political campaigns in New England and upstate New York. Alex holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Prior to joining the team, Robin served northern New England nonprofits in various financial and management leadership roles for more than three decades. She spent nearly seven years as the Chief Financial Officer of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, the largest private employer in the state of New Hampshire, during which time she established and chaired the system-wide environmental sustainability council that recognized human health and the health of our natural environment are fundamentally interconnected. Most recently, Robin was the vice president of operations and finance for the Upper Valley Land Trust, helping rural communities permanently protect forests, wildlife habitat, water resources, trails and scenic landscapes.

Robin holds a B.S. from Bentley University, an MBA from the University System of New Hampshire, a master’s in healthcare delivery science from Dartmouth College, and a master’s in environmental sciences from Antioch University New England. She is also a graduate of the Leadership New Hampshire Program and Certified Public Accountant licensed in New
Hampshire.

Robin currently lives with her wife and daughter in Cornish, New Hampshire. She enjoys the inspiration of the natural world, traveling, watercolor painting, and photography.

Before joining the organization, Kirstin worked as a program associate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension, where she evaluated the impact of youth development programs in rural Wisconsin. Her professional experience includes research project work in digital labor, low-income mobile technology interventions, and social capital building in the gig economy. Kirstin holds a master’s degree in international development from the University of Edinburgh and is based in central Wisconsin.

For Olivier, good data is actionable and well contextualized, baked fresh with good ideas and truthful content from the ground up.

Prior to joining the team, Liz worked in both the public and private sectors as a planner, which has allowed her to work on a diverse range of projects including downtown revitalization initiatives, comprehensive plans, and community outreach initiatives. Liz also worked at nonprofit organizations in the carsharing, land bank, and fair housing industries. In her most recent role as a racial equity and social impact coordinator at a chamber of commerce, she managed programming efforts for social impact and facilitated diversity, equity, and inclusion workshops for C-Suite executives and entry-level employees in various industry sectors.

Aside from her passion for economic empowerment, community development, and engagement for diverse communities, Liz served as a panelist for the first DEI-centered conference for the Upstate American Planning Association in 2020. Liz is a graduate of the Kauffman Entrepreneurship Engagement Fellowship from Syracuse University and a graduate of Leadership Greater Syracuse.

A native of New York City, Liz resides in Syracuse, New York, and holds a bachelor’s in communications with a background in African American studies from Syracuse University and a master’s degree in regional planning from SUNY Albany.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Nick is an accomplished leader in rural economic development and growth strategy. He has been recognized for his inclusive approach toward regional sustainability and is driven by the creation of replicable, scalable solutions. Nick has extensive experience in recruitment, retention and expansion projects, public-private partnerships, nonprofit development, impact investing, community development, and entrepreneurship consultancy.

Before joining the team, Nick launched and directed a 24-month pilot initiative in conjunction with the Kansas Department of Commerce to evaluate and support the workforce development needs of the Kansan tech sector and bring technology-focused education and employment opportunities to underserved communities across the state. During this time, he targeted access to computational learning for PreK-12 students, becoming a partner on the code.org (CSTA) advocacy coalition.

Nick and his family are now anchored in the heartland community of Phillipsburg, Kansas — the rural childhood hometown of his wife, Tami.

Prior to joining the team, she worked with social impact startups at MIT Solve, worked with international women leaders in STEM and entrepreneurship with the State Department, led the Incubator and Accelerator programming at Singularity University.

Before joining RISI, Drew worked as a pricing analyst for an aerospace manufacturing company. Drew was encouraged to pursue business improvement projects through the use of data analytics. This resulted in designing and implementing processes to generate high-quality data for decision-makers and stakeholders.

Growing up in the White Mountains, Drew developed an understanding and appreciation for rural communities. He holds a B.S. from Portland State University and an M.S. in resource economics and policy, and a Graduate Certificate in geographic information systems from the University of Maine. Drew currently lives in New Hampshire with his wife and animals.

Prior to joining the team, Betsy worked as a contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leading a software engineering team that was developing a worldwide mapping tool. She has previous experience working for a data company in quality assurance and is passionate about high-quality data and organizational strategy.

Betsy has always found herself drawn to remote places, whether that is teaching outdoor environmental education in Angelus Oaks National Forest or conducting reef surveys off the coast of Malaysia. She holds a B.A. from the University of Vermont in Environmental Studies and Geography. Betsy currently resides in rural New Hampshire.

Before joining the team, Josh worked as a senior program manager at Qwasar Silicon Valley, where he played a crucial role in developing and implementing technical training programs worldwide. Prior to that, he gained valuable experience managing member benefits and creating entrepreneurship programs at a coworking space in downtown Seattle. He’s no stranger to startups either, having co-founded a small e-commerce venture while in college.

Outside of work, you’ll find Josh enjoying quality time with his dog, exploring local coffee shops, and mentoring startup founders. Originally from the small town of Atlantic Beach, Florida, he now calls Seattle, Washington, home.

Anna grew up in a small town in rural Minnesota on her family’s dairy farm where she witnessed her family’s active engagement in numerous community-level organizations within their hometown, along with advocacy efforts across the broader agriculture industry. All of this continues to drive her interest in and advocacy for rural communities — of which high-speed broadband access is a fundamental part.

Anna attended Wellesley College and holds a B.A. in anthropology and environmental studies.

Dedicated to creating an inclusive and supportive work environment, Sparkle is passionately committed to the nonprofit sector and strives to promote diversity, equality, equity, and improve systemic impartiality. With a focus on enhancing economic opportunities for all, she has consistently served as a key voice and representative for underserved communities, leveraging her expertise and experience to drive positive change.

Outside of work, Sparkle enjoys traveling, spending quality time with her family, and taking care of her two beloved dogs. These activities bring her joy and balance, further fueling her dedication and passion in her professional endeavors.