Policy and Communications Intern
Communications & Digital Associate
National Organizing Director
Executive Director
Biodiversity Policy Fellow
Development & Administrative Associate
Southern Rockies Representative
Director of Institutional Engagement
Marilu Cristina Flores is an award-winning filmmaker, coral researcher, and recipient of the 2021 Go Blue Ambassador of the Year Award.
Recognized as a Hispanic Ocean Conservation Hero in 2021, she holds a certificate in Tropical Coastal Ecosystem Resource Management from the University of Queensland and served the Surfrider Foundation as Regional Coordinator and later Manager from 2018–2022.
During her time with Surfrider, Marilu helped community activists pass over 50 ordinances to protect marine and coastal ecosystems, and in 2021, she was appointed to serve the Southeast Coral Reef Initiative (SEFCRI) as an NGO/nonprofit partner for a five-year term.
Before dedicating her career to conservation, Marilu spent 15 years in the entertainment industry, including five years in press and marketing for major motion picture studios like Dimension Films, The Walt Disney Studios, and Paramount Pictures, before gaining a decade of experience in physical production for clients including Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, and MTV.
Her expertise in marketing and communications has also benefited global organizations such as the United Nations, Keurig, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Microsoft.
Today, she continues to merge her storytelling and digital communications expertise with her passion for wildlife, bringing critical awareness to environmental issues through both film and advocacy.
Dalton leads the Biodiversity Movement School and manages a number of different campaigns across the ESC network.
Dalton comes to ESC with nearly a decade of experience in organizing, working both locally and regionally in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, delivering wins on campaigns dealing with a variety of issues. Before joining ESC, Dalton worked as a Regional Organizer for Down Home North Carolina supporting rural communities. He also currently serves as the Mayor of Boone, N.C., where he has championed a number of environmental initiatives. In this role he received the May Thompson Evans award recognizing courage and determination in a young elected official.
Dalton graduated from Appalachian State University in 2021 with a BA in Economics.
Growing up in rural North Carolina, Dalton has always cherished the natural places and native wildlife and has aimed to center environmental issues in his organizing work. He currently lives in Boone, North Carolina and in his spare time can be found exploring Appalachia, playing tennis, reading, and writing. Contact Dalton at [email protected]
Susan oversees the operations and programs of the organization. She works closely with Endangered Species Coalition’s board of directors and staff to ensure the financial health of the organization and leads its long-term strategic program development and planning.
Susan Holmes has over 25 years of experience in wildlife campaign management, coalition building, and federal and state conservation policy. Before joining ESC, Susan was the Wildlife Campaigns Director at Environment America. She has also worked for the Wildlands Network, Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, Earthjustice, Sierra Club, and the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. Since her childhood on Long Island and New England, Susan has been passionate about wildlife and wild places. Most recently, she has focused on promoting wildlife corridors and road mitigation and led a coalition to secure the first federal funding for wildlife crossings. She is also a long-time board member of the Endangered Species Coalition. Susan received her BA from Dartmouth College and is a recipient of Dartmouth’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Distinguished Public Service Award.
Susan lives on Capital Hill in Washington, DC, with her husband and two children. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring wild places, cooking for friends and family, and curling up with a good book. Contact Susan at [email protected]
Katie is an alumni of George Mason University with a B.S. in conservation biology and attended the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation in Front Royal, VA where she worked with exotic endangered ungulates.
She is currently pursuing an MS in Science Communication through Stony Brook University.
Starting out in the sciences, she conducted wet bulb temperature studies for climate research, as well as assisted on several ecological research projects in Virginia and as an Americorps volunteer in southeastern Idaho. Katie’s science communication work
has been featured by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and competed in national
storytelling competitions.
Hailing from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, she is guided by her experiences growing up in a Caribbean culture. Far from home, Katie currently lives in Frederick, Maryland where she typically has a house full of foster animals and is often found somewhere out in the woods with a field guide, hiking, camping, and identifying plants and insects.
Ryan is an advocate for gray wolves and other imperiled species in Colorado.
He holds an M.A. in Environment and Natural Resources and a J.D. from the University of Wyoming. Along with his formal education, he spent nearly 10 years living with wolves, grizzly bears, and bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He brings that knowledge and experience to his work helping people and organizations in Colorado understand how to live peacefully with wolves and other imperiled species.
Contact Ryan at [email protected]
Tara Thornton, Director of Institutional Engagement for the Endangered Species Coalition, has worked for ESC for eighteen years.
She began as the Northeast Representative, then advanced to Program Director, Deputy Director, and now the Director of Institutional Engagement.
Tara is working more closely with our hundreds-of-member group in this new role. Ensure they are aware of any threats to T&E species, their habitats, the Endangered Species Act, and how they can contribute to their protection.
In this capacity, she works with our coalition partners to formulate joint strategies and tactics and is an integral part of our leadership team focusing on organizational development.
Before joining ESC, Tara worked on environmental and social justice issues for twenty years. She was the Executive Director for the Military Toxics Project, a national non-profit network of neighborhood, veterans’, Indigenous, peace, environmental, and labor organizations representing people affected by military contamination and pollution. Tara co-founded the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). This global coalition campaigns for a ban on the use, transport, manufacture, sale, and export of all conventional weapon systems containing uranium (usually called depleted uranium weapons). Before that, Tara was a Canvass Director and worked on outreach programs for NGOs and political campaigns in New York, Virginia, South Carolina, and Texas.
She earned a B.S. in Communication and Political Science from Ohio University. Tara resides in Maine with her husband and rescue dog. Contact Tara at [email protected]
Jewel Tomasula, PhD, is the National Policy Advisor for the Endangered Species Coalition since 2024.
In her role, she coordinates strategic outreach to Congress and collective advocacy on biodiversity policy. Jewel brings first-hand experience on Capitol Hill from her time as a policy fellow for Representative Don Beyer (VA-08), co-chair of the Congressional Endangered Species Act Caucus.
Jewel has a PhD in Biology from Georgetown University and researched human-driven impacts on biodiversity in coastal wetlands. During her time at Georgetown, she served as the founding president of her graduate labor union, Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees.
She has a fondness for plants, from maple trees to cacti to bluebonnets. Contact Jewel at [email protected]
In their role, Tommy coordinates with partner organizations throughout the Gulf region and broader US to plan and implement strategic events and communications designed to uplift endangered species.
Tommy’s background is in human ecology, and they have primarily worked in field research positions ranging from geology to fisheries to marine mammals. Throughout their experiences with communicating their projects to the public and stakeholders, Tommy began incorporating aspects of art and storytelling to help build connections between the audience and the subject matter. Tommy uses this same method of storytelling and personal art-making to invite people to connect with cryptic and protected species, including Rice’s whales.
Tommy is a glittery caffeinated brainchild of a craft supply store and an aquarium, and they are most likely making something about Rice’s whales right now. Contact Tommy at [email protected]
