Nathan Runkle is the founder and president of Mercy For Animals. Raised on a farm in rural Ohio, Nathan has long had a deep connection with farmed animals. After a local farmed animal abuse case involving a piglet slammed headfirst into a concrete floor during an agricultural project at a nearby high school, Nathan founded MFA to give "food" animals a much-needed advocate in his local community.

Since founding MFA over a decade ago, Nathan has overseen the organization's growth into a leading international force in the prevention of cruelty to farmed animals and promotion of compassionate food choices and policies.

A nationally recognized speaker on animal advocacy, factory farming, and veganism, Nathan has presented at colleges, conferences, and many other forums from coast to coast.

Through his work with MFA, Nathan has been an outspoken advocate for animal rights, featured in hundreds of television, radio, and newspaper interviews, including on ABC's World News Tonight, Nightline, and 20/20, CNN, and National Public Radio, and in USA Today, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune.

Nathan works closely with MFA's diverse group of members, supporters, and employees to develop and fulfill objectives within the organization's four areas of focus: education, legal advocacy, corporate outreach, and undercover investigations.

Nathan has worked alongside elected officials, corporate executives, heads of international organizations, academics, farmers, celebrities, and film producers to pass landmark farmed animal protection legislation, raise public awareness about vegetarianism, and implement animal welfare policy changes.

VegNews magazine has recognized both MFA and Nathan for making substantial contributions to the vegetarian movement, naming Nathan one of the "25 Most Fascinating Vegetarians" and one of the country's "Top 20 Activists Under 30 Years Old," and twice naming MFA "Non-Profit of the Year." In 2009, at the age of 25, Nathan became the youngest person ever inducted into the US Animal Rights Hall of Fame.

Nick Cooney serves as executive vice president, overseeing MFA’s advocacy efforts, corporate outreach, and fundraising. Nick is also the author of several books, including Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change. He has lectured on effective advocacy across the U.S. and Europe, and hundreds of media outlets have spotlighted his work.

Matt Rice, our executive vice president, works with MFA’s Investigations, Legal Advocacy, Communications, Development, and Operations departments. A former U.S. Marine, Matt now has well over a decade of experience in the animal protection movement, coordinating cutting-edge campaigns, releasing hard-hitting undercover investigations, and helping secure landmark criminal animal cruelty convictions against animal abusers.

Jake Morton is our vice president of operations, managing the organization’s day-to-day operations, finances, IT, merchandise, and human resources. A longtime MFA supporter and once volunteer, Jake first became involved in animal protection as a teenager after meeting MFA’s president, Nathan Runkle, during an outreach event in his hometown.

Vandhana Bala serves as our general counsel, working to put animal abusers behind bars. Vandhana became interested in animal rights in law school, became a vegetarian, and spent nearly a decade working at animal shelters and hospitals. Vandhana is now a committed vegan, and envisions a day when animals are viewed as more than personal property in the eyes of the law.

Robin Moler, our Director of Philanthropy, loves to share MFA’s impact and vision with our supporters, whose generous investments are changing the lives of millions of farmed animals. After watching footage of a brutalized pig, Robin quickly decided she could do the most good by focusing on farmed animal advocacy. That was 26 years ago and it has been her passion ever since. Her family of six includes four rescued cats and an exceedingly affectionate Chihuahua. 

Ari Solomon is our vice president of communications, managing all things social media. He also serves as the liaison to celebrities involved in MFA’s campaigns. Ari is a prolific writer whose work appears regularly on The Huffington Post and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Advocate. Ari’s videos on veganism, including Sh*t Vegans Say, have become viral sensations, with nearly 2 million combined views.

Geetika Sripathi, vice president of education, oversees efforts to generate public awareness around farmed animal suffering and inspire compassionate food choices. With a background in integrated marketing communications and digital media, Geetika applies best practices from the corporate sector to advocate for farmed animals. A lifelong vegetarian, Geetika felt compelled to go vegan after seeing shocking undercover footage of the dairy and egg industries. She lives in New York City with her rescued pup, Mookie.

David Powell is our director of IT. Although he grew up on a standard Southern diet, David made the transition to a vegan lifestyle after watching his father suffer though a triple bypass and researching in depth the human diet and animal agriculture. David works alongside his four cats: Queenie, Google, Lambchop, and Aussie.

Brooke Mays, MFA’s editor in chief, reviews all of MFA’s written material. After an MFA investigation revealed startling animal abuse at an egg factory farm that supplied to Trader Joe’s, her letter to Trader Joe’s led the grocery giant to drop the cruel egg producer. Brooke has proven time and again that the pen is mightier than the sword!

Cailen LaBarge serves as staff attorney for operations, assisting the general counsel with nonprofit administration, corporate governance, and intellectual property issues as well as proactive litigation. After an animal law clerkship opened her eyes to the suffering of farmed animals, Cailen became an advocate and a vegan. Cailen lives with her best friend, a pup named Floyd.

Cody Carlson serves as our staff attorney handling legislative affairs. A former MFA undercover investigator, Cody was inspired to go to law school after seeing factory farm suffering firsthand. Cody now works to pass laws improving conditions for farmed animals nationwide and to defeat “ag gag” laws that aim to turn his fellow investigators into criminals.

Alice Müller Coleman serves as our executive assistant, providing high-level project execution and administrative support. Alice declared her transition to vegetarianism at the mere age of five thanks to the realization that all species were created equal. During her university days, she discovered that the dairy and meat industries were one and the same and quit all animal products for good. Grateful to live in Los Angeles, which happens to be her hometown and the vegan mecca, she shares her life with rescued companion animals Oliver Twist, Tesla, and Bob Dylan. Alice spends her spare time playing outdoors and seeking new vegan eats, sweets, and treats. 

Kelcey Meadows-Lucas serves as philanthropy officer, helping our donors fulfill their dreams of ending farmed animal cruelty. Adopting a feisty terrier 15 years ago opened her heart to all animals. Kelcey soon became vegan and dedicated her life to helping animals. She brings more than a decade of fundraising experience to her position. Kelcey shares her home with her still feisty dog, Patches, his sister, Maizy, and her husband and toddler son.

John Karas is our philanthropy officer for the East Coast and the South. He works with friends and supporters who wish to match their personal philanthropic goals with MFA strategic initiatives. John is a graduate student researcher of social change and brings more than a decade of development experience to his position. John and his wife are parents of three great kids and share their home with adopted cats Rico and Captain, and rescue labs Baylor and Lola.

Mikael Nielsen is our global campaigns manager, running international campaigns against major food retailers, restaurants, foodservice companies, consumer packaged goods companies, producers, and other food industry entities to bring about improved farmed animal welfare policies around the world. While Mikael had always been an animal lover, it was a friendly turkey on TV that inspired him to become veg in 1996.

Susan Weingartner is our events director, organizing major events and other fundraising projects. She is an accomplished photographer, and for years her touching photos of rescued animals have raised much in vital funds for several organizations, including MFA. Susan and her son share their home with their three extremely outgoing cats, Aragorn, Kali, and Michael.

Liz Quick serves as our development manager and supervises all of MFA’s fundraising campaigns. Liz went vegan after becoming aware of the harsh realities of factory farming. She lives in sunny Los Angeles and is a proud pug mama to her very, very lazy pug, Penny.

Jamie Berger serves as our media production manager, executing mass media vegan advocacy efforts. Her professional experience includes both federal lobbying and public relations. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other major national news outlets have featured her written work. 

Kate Ziegler is our research and investigations manager, analyzing evidence documented by MFA’s undercover investigators for potential violations of law. Kate credits her family with shaping her into the socially conscious and compassionate person she is.

Mark Devries serves as special projects coordinator for investigations, with a focus on directing short-form documentaries about factory farming and animal rights. Before joining Mercy For Animals, he directed Speciesism: The Movie and conducted the world's first drone-based investigation of factory farming. The movie is widely used as an introduction to animal rights, and the drone footage has amassed tens of millions of views globally. Mark is also an attorney licensed to practice in Washington, DC.

Paula serves as investigations and research associate, analyzing footage gathered by our undercover investigators and conducting research on animal agriculture operations. She adopted a plant-based diet while writing her thesis about the history of the relationship between humans and nonhuman animals in college.

Sarah Von Alt serves as communications and content manager, overseeing the creation of content for MFA's blogs and social media. Sarah joined the team in her home state of Ohio, where she organized grassroots outreach and worked with volunteers. Her creativity, willingness to learn, and drive make her the perfect fit for our ever growing social media presence. Sarah shares her life with her rescue mutt, Frannie, who loves coming to the office for a hard day of napping. 

Joe Loria serves as our communications and content manager, researching new social opportunities and creating content. Experienced in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, he has been instrumental to the success of numerous PR and social media campaigns. Upon discovering the horrors faced by farmed animals, Joe decided to become vegan. He is currently a proud cat dad to his fancy feline, Scout.

Matthew Scheer serves as our senior graphic designer. Matthew has worked with MFA for more than six years and takes great pride in working for the organization that encouraged him to live with a more compassionate heart. He shares his home with his partner, Cody, and their two adorable rescued animals, Pinch and Piper.

Sara Laycock serves as the corporate outreach team’s campaigns manager, helping develop campaigns to push major corporations to eliminate cruel practices throughout their global supply chains. She is an experienced lobbyist and community economic development advocate. Sara became vegan for her health, the environment, and most of all, for the animals. Sara and her husband, Rob, live in Denver, Colorado, with their mighty mutts Ruby and Cora.

Brian Alexander serves as a campaign coordinator, working to push major corporations to eliminate cruel practices throughout their supply chains. He went vegan when he realized that there were no fundamental differences between the animals we love and the ones we exploit. This realization prompted a dramatic career change that began with a stint in our volunteer campaign assistant program.

Emily Hatch serves as a U.S. campaign coordinator, planning and executing campaigns that urge food companies to adopt and expand animal welfare policies. A longtime vegetarian, Emily studied moral philosophy, animal rights, and business in college. She became vegan after reading Animal Liberation and dreams of a future in which all animals are treated with kindness and respect. 

Tammy Borchert serves as our merchandise manager, bringing expertise and years of experience in nonprofit apparel and campaigning. Strongly impacted by an in-depth study of yoga and two lovely rescued companion animals that shared her home, Tammy became vegan and has never looked back.

Alan Darer is our global education manager. He works with activists on college campuses around the country and leads the charge in the creation, launch, and evaluation of our online ads. Alan was raised a vegetarian, and after the shock of viewing a video about the cruel egg industry, he became vegan and started interning at MFA. The rest is history!

Shayna Rowbotham is our global volunteer manager, mobilizing activists around the world. She has always been passionate about animals, but it was undercover factory farm footage that prompted her to get active and advocate for farmed animals. Shayna and her partner, Sean, share their lives with their beautiful and spunky Chihuahua, Marchesa.

Erin Kwiatkowski serves as our U.S. vegetarian support specialist, providing assistance and resources to folks interested in cutting meat and other animal products from their diets. Erin adopted a vegetarian diet 18 years ago, after reading about the horrors of factory farming, but felt a bit lost and lonely without a community. It took some trial, error, and exploration, but she finally found her happy place as a vegan. You can catch Erin in Chicago running with her rescue pup, Kitty the Pitty, playing roller derby, or tilling the soil at her local community garden.

Nicole Furlan serves as one of our web developers, and has been working to protect all animals ever since her dog saved her life. A nearly lifelong vegetarian, she became vegan after watching undercover factory farming footage. She also advocates against all forms of discrimination — including unfairly stereotyped dog breeds — and shares her home with her husband, Billy, and two loving rescued pit bulls, Brady and Bruno.

Hammer Vasquez utilizes his web-developer superpowers to defend the voiceless. He became vegan out of compassion for animals and the realization that animal-product consumption is highly detrimental to human health. He has embraced a whole foods, plant-based diet with the occasional indulgence in vegan treats. He and his family have adopted a stray black cat whom they have named Elvira (though she really answers only to "Cat").

Gus Mueller likes to make things out of other things. In fact, he's been transforming caffeinated beverages into parts of the web for the past 20 years. A lover of nature and all things animal, he finally broke his addiction to cheese pizza and went vegan after being snowed in for two weeks with only vegan fare. Today he works as one of our web developers. 

Cameron McBride serves as our junior frontend developer. Upon discovering the effects of heavy meat consumption on the human body, Cameron adopted a healthy and humane plant-based diet. He currently shares his home with his wife, Erin, and three loving companion animals.

Jess Westberg serves as a video editor. Based in Brooklyn, New York, she has worked in video post production and animation for many years, primarily in the realm of advertising, but also on a few television shows and documentaries. As a committed vegan who has been passionate about animal rights and protection for close to 20 years, Jess is excited to offer her professional skills to a cause that she really believes in. Jess shares her home with her adopted dogs Pickles and Daisy.     

Krystal Caldwell is our statistics and data analytics manager, responsible for research design, data analysis, and testing. She dedicates her time to improving the lives of animals because there are no justifiable reasons to treat animals with anything but respect.

Lydia C. Harris is our fellowship outreach coordinator, overseeing our campus fellowship program at universities across the U.S. and the U.K. She teaches students how to be effective animal advocates and reach as many of their peers as possible with a message of compassion. Lydia has been vegan for almost three years and vegetarian for nearly a decade. She currently lives in Brooklyn with seven roommates, only four of whom are human.

Interested in Joining our Team? Click here to see our current job openings.

MFA also invites individuals to join us as volunteers and interns. Please visit our Volunteer Sign-Up Form and Internship Program pages for more details.

Krista Hiddema serves as vice president for MFA in Canada, spearheading corporate outreach initiatives and media relations, and leveraging MFA’s influence to strengthen governmental protections for animals in Canada. Krista and her husband, Nigel, share their home with their rescued companion animals, Pitou, Smurfette, Blue, Honey, Spice, Chip, and Dale.

Blanka Alfaro serves as our vice president for MFA in Mexico, creating, managing, and translating social media content and other communications for our Latin American audience. A resident of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Blanka worked in graphic design and marketing before leaving the world of commercial advertising to apply her skills to helping animals

Lucas Alvarenga serves as vice president for MFA in Brazil. As a marketing professional, he was a serial entrepreneur in the digital arena. After deciding to dedicate his life to helping animals, he created Veggo.co, partnered with the Brazilian Vegetarian Society on a 21-Day Meatless Challenge, and organized Festival Veggo, the largest Brazilian vegan funfest. Lucas celebrated his 15th vegetarianism birthday by joining MFA’s team.

Subrahmanian Santakumar (Subru) serves as our communications coordinator in India. He reaches out to our Indian audience through social media and other avenues of communication, manages volunteers and outreach efforts, and serves as a liaison to activists and other organizations in the country. A resident of Bangalore, Subru is a passionate animal lover and wildlife photographer. He volunteered in animal rescue and rehabilitation for several years while maintaining a senior role at a telecommunications firm. After a career of more than 16 years in the corporate world, he has followed his heart to work for animals full time!

Fiona Wong, our Hong Kong communications coordinator, manages our initiatives in China. MFA’s video Farm to Fridge inspired Fiona to go vegan at the age of 18. Fiona’s only regret is that she did not discover the truth behind slaughterhouses earlier and save more lives. Fiona views working for MFA as a dream come true. She currently shares her home with rescued cats Mimi and Lanlan.

Eduarda Schiefler Nedeff, our campaign outreach manager in Brazil, pushes major corporations to adopt and expand animal welfare policies in order to rid their supply chains of cruel practices. After cutting meat out of her diet, Eduarda gave veganism a chance and has never looked back. A lifelong animal lover, she now lives with two rescued companion cats, Kaue and Jingle. Eduarda is beyond happy to dedicate herself full-time time to helping more and more animals every day

Christina Wilson is the campaign coordinator for MFA in Canada where she works with major food retailers and producers to improve living conditions for farmed animals. Christina credits her wonderful dog, Charlie, for guiding her into a life of animal advocacy.

Courtney Dobbin is project coordinator for MFA in Canada. She works closely with the managing director, assisting with media matters, campaigns, outreach, and more. After joining the team, she quickly discovered that her prime purpose was to reduce animal suffering across the country while planting seeds of compassion into the hearts of people.

Mariana Issa Cabrera serves as the Latin American vegetarian support specialist, providing assistance and resources to Spanish speakers near a critical tipping point between consuming animal products and going vegetarian. While working on behalf of stray companion animals, she started asking herself why love one but eat others. Her journey toward a plant-based diet began from there. Mariana feels her transition would have been easier if someone had been there to support her. She’s grateful to be able to guide other people through the rewarding process of going veg. She truly believes that in order to help animals we must help people achieve this major goal.

Eva Rocha, one of our campaign coordinators in Mexico, pushes major corporations to adopt and expand animal welfare policies in order to rid their supply chains of cruel practices. Already vegetarian for 30 years, Eva adopted a vegan diet after witnessing a video about the horrific reality of the dairy industry. Eva lives in La Paz, Mexico, with her husband, Mario, and her loving rescue companion dog, Pimpina, who was born in Italy 14 years ago.

Bruna Nascimento serves as our Brazilian vegetarian support specialist. She became interested in animal rights and decided to go vegan when she started studying nutrition in college. She believes that diets can do so much more than feed our bodies: They can be a tool for promoting a more sustainable planet while reducing the suffering of billions of animals. Her mission at MFA is to provide assistance and resources to people interested in cutting meat and other animal products from their diets.