Ben Hunkler
Ben comes to ORVI from community advocacy work in the Ohio River Valley. He offers communications and design support for report releases, social media content, and the ORVI Insider.
Mark Partridge, Ph.D.
Mark Partridge is the Swank Chair of Rural-Urban Policy at Ohio State University and is affiliated with GSSI in Italy and Jinan University in China. He served twelve years as Co-Editor of the Journal of Regional Science, is Co-editor of Springer Briefs in Regional Science, and serves on a dozen other editorial boards. He has […]
Virginia Alvino Young
Virginia Alvino Young, MBA is a communications strategist who has spent her career telling the types of stories that move hearts and minds. As a public radio reporter, she travelled the country covering race and equity for NPR and affiliate stations. As a media strategist, she supported progressive environmental and labor campaigns across Appalachia. She […]
Justine Hackimer
Justine Hackimer (Coyne) has a background in journalism, spending 13 years covering metals markets and manufacturing. Before joining ORVI, Justine served as Head of Metals News, Americas at S&P Global Commodity Insights, focusing on the supply and demand of metals needed for the global energy transition. She began her career at the Pittsburgh Business Times […]
Stacey Padilla
Stacey Padilla is a Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) and organizer with a B.A. in Sociology from Maryville College. She has a decade’s experience supporting survivors of intimate partner violence in rural and immigrant communities, as well as organizing and facilitating educational workshops. She offers her attention to the details that help keep ORVI running.
Deirdre Lally
Deirdre Lally centers community empowerment as a means to healthier systems. She graduated from UMass Boston with a B.A. in Community Studies & Labor, and her work has focused on the impacts of fracking and mining in rural Pennsylvania – where she grew up. She recently worked with a regional food hub on local foods as […]
Kristina Marusic
Kristina Marusic has a background as an investigative journalist covering the intersection of pollution, public health, and policy. She reported on these issues in western Pennsylvania for a decade before joining ORVI, and she’s passionate about advancing solutions to the problems her journalism highlighted. Kristina is also the author of “A New War on Cancer,” […]
Kathy Hipple
Kathy is a professor of finance with Bard College’s MBA in Sustainability program and a former financial analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Nick Messenger, Ph.D.
Nick Messenger conducts applied microeconomic and econometric research into local economic development strategies, tax and industrial policy, and energy economics. He specializes in geographic and econometric modeling with large datasets to statistically evaluate the real impacts of policy changes on community prosperity. Nick earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics from The Ohio […]
Tom Torres
Tom Torres is an organizer and nonprofit professional with a strong commitment to popular education and movement building. Originally from Northeast Georgia, Tom’s work has spanned a number of rural communities, including the Deep South and Appalachia, and has focused on regional economic development, fighting climate change, and providing people with the tools and resources […]