Amir is spending the summer of 2009 as an intern with Windusty where he will research renewable energy policy and case studies related to wind energy development. Amir received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University and recently completed a master's of environmental management at Yale University. Amir volunteered for several years with the Sierra Club, on a Minnesota campaign to reduce emissions from school bus diesel exhaust and later nationally with the Sierra Student Coalition's energy program. At Yale, he helped organize several environmental conferences, a speaker series on climate justice, and contributed to the research and writing of a "Citizen's Guide on Climate Action" for the ICLEI-led National Conversation on Climate Action. Amir also spent last summer with Dakota County exploring ways cities and the county can improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Christina started her employment with Windustry as an intern during the summer of 2008. She came on as full-time staff that autumn as a policy analyst. At Windustry Christina is tracking on local, state and federal regulatory proceedings both legislative and administrative. She is staffing a work team to update and create new materials on wind options, leases and agreements, and helping to grow community wind with USDA Farm Bill components. Prior to joining Windustry, Christina received her B.A. in Biology from St. Olaf College and her J.D. from Hamline University School of Law.

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As Online Community Builder, David handles communications and technology needs for Windustry. David is an Electronic Document Professional (EDP), Xplor International member, and has worked with the World Wide Web for over a decade. He champions Open Source technology and collaborative knowledge sharing approaches. In the 1990s he worked and consulted for major companies including Best Buy, UnitedHealth Group, and Personnel Decisions International. In recent years he taught digital design and development at Dunwoody College of Technology, and he worked at Minnesota AIDS Project and Minnesota State Arts Board. David holds a B.Sc. in Photography from the University of Minnesota, where he also completed graduate studies for the Teacher Education Series for Work, Community, & Family Education. He's active in Minnesota technology, graphics, and media groups, and he's the organizer of the Twin Cities Web Design user group.

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Expansion of the number and scope of projects led Windustry to hire David in June of 2005 on a half-time basis to provide administrative support. David comes to Windustry with an eclectic background that includes eight years as a member of the ARC Retreat Community (a spiritual retreat center near Cambridge, MN) where he also served as board treasurer, volunteer experience with the Arsenal Clean-up and Conversion Project (a non-profit which worked on community-based re-use plans for the TCAAP facility of the Twin Cities northern suburbs in the late 90's), a life-time of full and part-time work as a church musician and a commitment to sustainable living practices that began with recycling and food co-ops (back when you had to hunt for places to take your recycling) and continues with a shift to a vegetarian diet in 1995 and deep interest in community investment and micro-finance.

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Samantha Smart Merritt, Development Coordinator, is a long-time community activist and organizer around social justice, community economic development, and progressive political issues.  She has done extensive research and organizing work centered on illuminating a gender-based analysis of social systems with a view toward creative transformation of dominant paradigms.  She brings more than twenty years of experience in development, raising funds for a wide variety of organizations including electoral campaigns, community-based technology, and workforce development.  Samantha is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in Government.