Joel Finkelstein, Chief Strategist
Joel Finkelstein has 20 years of experience using creative communications for good. Brightstone focuses on long-term consulting engagements with nonprofits and firms seeking capacity building, creative campaign design and breakthrough strategies on climate, energy and the environment.
Joel has extensive background in organizational positioning and branding, and is a proven innovator in online outreach to elite audiences and target constituencies. He brings extensive expertise and a strong reputation with the national environmental media corps.
Before starting Brightstone, Joel was a Managing Director at Climate Advisers, a consulting firm that works to deliver a strong low-carbon economy. He designed and implemented the communications strategy for the campaign that is transforming the commodity agriculture sector – the source of a third of global climate pollution. He focused on communicating with global elites in media, government and civil society about climate diplomacy going into the Paris Agreement, and designed a message strategy focused on changing the realm of the politically possible. Also at Climate Advisers, Joel conducted a comprehensive strategic analysis of how the environmental community could leverage sophisticated data and analytics; and he created messaging and conducted outreach around the 2014 U.N. Secretary General's Summit on Climate Change.
Joel spent six years at Fenton Communications. As a Senior Vice President and head of the firm’s energy and environment practice, he led the nationwide roll-out of the Pew Charitable Trust’s 50-state analysis of the clean energy economy – which has permanently changed the discussion over green jobs. He worked with clients and projects such as the the National Geographic Society, the Environmental Defense Fund, the American Forest Foundation, Greenpeace and the Green Group; as well as with the American Public Health Association and the National Association of Community Health Centers, among many others.
Prior to joining Fenton, Joel worked at the National Environmental Trust, where he ran national media relations for high-visibility campaigns on air pollution, global warming and toxic waste. He developed expertise in Clean Air Act communications, leading outreach to national media around soot and smog rules, clean air in the national parks and toxic emission limits. He helped create and execute the organization’s increased rapid-response capability.
Joel spent the 2000 election cycle in Michigan, where he ran a rapid-response and tracking operation for the state Democratic Party that helped defeat an incumbent U.S. senator. Before that, he served as press secretary for Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). He received a Master’s in Campaign Management from George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, and a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University.
Joel makes jokes on BlueSky @jbfinkelstein about the politics of the environment, and the environment of politics.
Lauren Haas Finkelstein, Principal
Lauren Haas Finkelstein is a proven nonprofit leader with over 25 years serving as a bridge between high-impact philanthropy and underserved populations across the country. For much of that time she served as Executive Director of Running Strong for American Indian Youth, where she created an endowment from scratch and grew it to be valued at $37 million, supporting a $10 million annual budget. Today she works as a consultant connecting philanthropy and underserved populations nationwide.
As a Principal at Brightstone Strategy, Lauren works with funders and nonprofits on strategic evaluation, grant making, grant writing, storytelling and program development. She has special experience making durable impact for some of the most economically at-risk but culturally rich and resilient populations in the country: American Indian youth and their families. Lauren prioritizes a collaborative and thoughtful approach, prioritizing communities’ chosen ways of identifying needs and methods – resulting not only relationships rooted in mutual trust and respect, but better outcomes for communities from philanthropic investment.
At Running Strong, Lauren led the development and funding of programs to help foster self-sufficiency in urban and reservation Indian communities across the United States, with a special focus on Native youth. She worked with cultural, language, youth and relief programs, and partnered in successful capital campaigns to create infrastructure in American Indian communities. Her daily experience included program development, management, cost-effective procurement and efficient distribution of in-kind donations, evaluation and replication, fundraising and capital campaigns, all with an emphasis on cultural competency and equity in economically challenged rural and urban areas.
Highlights included developing Dreamstarter, an annual commitment to expanding the circle of our nation’s young Native leaders, by identifying ten youth to receive a grant to make a dream come true in their community. She managed capital campaigns to construct the Oyate Ta Kola Ku Community Center on Pine Ridge in 2021; the Brave Heart Lodge on the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in 2015; and the Cheyenne River Youth Project’s teen center (2006) and youth facility (1999). During the Pandemic, she doubled program services to meet critical needs of clean water, healthy food and PPE supplies by developing local, service group and federal partners
Lauren graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia and participated in Harvard Business School Executive Education’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management. She has also served as a reader for the Administration for Native Americans’ language grants, and as a founding Board Member of the Native Ways Federation. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and two children.
Andrea Kavanagh, Senior Advisor
Andrea Kavanagh is a seasoned strategist and coalition builder with more than 25 years of experience designing and leading high-impact campaigns that drive policy change, build durable partnerships, and translate science into action. As a Principal at Brightstone Strategies, Andrea brings her deep expertise in strategic planning, public policy, and organizational leadership to help clients navigate complex challenges, build coalitions, and achieve meaningful, measurable results.
Andrea’s career has spanned global conservation initiatives and domestic policy campaigns, including more than two decades at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where she led international efforts to protect ocean ecosystems, advance fisheries management reforms, and secure the world’s largest marine protected area in the Ross Sea. She has engaged high-level diplomatic channels with the UK, China, the EU, and the United States, bringing together scientists, policymakers, industry leaders, and NGOs to advance shared goals in often fragmented policy environments.
Known for her ability to develop clear, actionable strategies that align stakeholders and move decision-makers, Andrea has managed large, diverse teams in matrixed organizations, overseen multimillion-dollar budgets, and led annual planning processes. Her approach balances strategic communications, science translation, and policy advocacy, ensuring that clients are positioned to achieve durable impact while building trust with partners and the public.
Andrea’s work has included founding and leading a global coalition to reform industrial aquaculture practices, reducing illegal fishing through market-based and regulatory campaigns, and advancing ecosystem-based management for krill fisheries in the Southern Ocean. She has represented clients and coalitions at international negotiations, including the United Nations and CCAMLR, and has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, campaign branding, and high-level media outreach.
At Brightstone Strategies, Andrea partners with clients to develop and execute strategies that are grounded in rigorous analysis, informed by stakeholder perspectives, and driven by a commitment to results. She is passionate about helping mission-driven organizations build effective campaigns, strengthen teams, and turn complex challenges into opportunities for lasting change.