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Rachael Belz
Chief Executive Officer
(they/she)
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Rachael is the CEO of Ohio Citizen Action and Director of Ohio Consumers Power Alliance. Rachael moved to Cincinnati in 1996 from Clean Water Action in Denver to become Cincinnati area Program Director for Ohio Citizen Action, and has been a leader in working with communities who are affected by toxic chemical pollution. She pioneered successful “good neighbor campaigns” at Cincinnati Specialties, Rohm and Haas, AK Steel, and Sunoco. As coal program organizer, Rachael traveled to communities across Ohio in the successful campaign to prevent AMP from building a new coal plant in Southeast Ohio, and played a key role in calling on Ohio utilities to close their highly-polluting plants. Throughout her years in the organization, Rachael has also played key roles in statewide coordination, including training and supervising new organizers, fundraising and working closely with the field and phone canvass.In addition to her role at Ohio Citizen Action and Ohio Consumers Power Alliance, Rachael serves on the Executive Committee of the RE-AMP network.
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Melissa English
Deputy Director/Development Officer
(she/her)
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Melissa has worked since 1987 in a variety of non-profit organizations. These organizations reflect her social and political values and include a local Public Broadcasting affiliate, Greenpeace, the Urban Appalachian Council, the Cincinnati Arts Association and Ohio Citizen Action. She began with OCA as a field canvasser in 1995 and since then has also done program work, project management, development, communications, board development, grassroots organizing, lobbying and event planning. In 2018, she started Ohio Citizen Action's first major gifts program, including inducting founding members of the Metzenbaum Society. She's served on several non-profit boards, including the Appalachian Connection Editorial Board, Ohio Citizen Action and Community Shares of Greater Cincinnati. She co-founded the Cincinnati Green Group and the Friends of the Great Miami and has twice contributed to the Green Cincinnati Plan. In 2015, she received the Risk Communication Award from the Alliance for Chemical Safety for work to improve fracking chemical disclosure. Melissa also serves as Executive Director of Ohio Citizen Action Education Fund.
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Stephen Gabor
Phone Canvass Director
(he/him)
[email protected]
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After his promotion to phone canvass director in 2000, Stephen embarked upon a career marked by his incredible perseverance, adaptability, innovation, and leadership. After leaving OCA in 2012 to help run a successful business, he soon joined the board of directors, but resigned from the board in 2015 to resume his position as phone canvass director. Fast-forward to 2019, where he assumed a much-deserved change of pace and responsibility as OCA's Membership Director. Stephen earned his B.A. from Georgetown University in Political Science with a minor in history.
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Angela Oster
Digital Communications Director
(any pronouns)
[email protected]
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Angela has worked for Ohio Citizen Action for more than 20 years, designing our lively and well-regarded website and online organizing programs. She is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art's Technology and Integrated Media Environment (TIME) digital arts program. In 2009, Angela was one of the inaugural recipients of Cleveland's prestigious Community Partnership for Arts and Culture Creative Workforce Fellowship, as the only fellow chosen for her work in multi-media. Angela designs all of our printed materials for community outreach, manages email and social media communication and was the lead staff person on the development of the "ActionGram."
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Michael Todd
Field Canvas Director
(he/him)
[email protected]
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Michael Todd joins OCA as Cleveland Field Canvass Director, bringing with him volunteer history with a youth leadership program and the campaigns of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Bernie Sanders. Before joining OCA, Michael worked for Clean Water Action, beginning as a canvasser and working his way up to Senior Field Manager.
Michael is currently working towards obtaining his B.A. in Environmental Science and then hopes to earn his Masters in Environmental Policy and Management. While in school, Michael volunteers with United Future Leaders as a youth mentor.
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Tatiana Rodzos
Campaigns Organizer
(she/her)
[email protected]
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Tatiana first joined OCA in 2019 as a field canvasser, and quickly moved to become one of our best canvassers. In March 2020, Tatiana progressed from being out in the field, to successfully transitioning to a leading phone canvassing manager. Tatiana was promoted to Campaigns Organizer in early 2021. In her role, Tatiana works on campaign development, campaign material creation, and liaises with the Field and Phone Canvasses.
Tatiana is a 2019 graduate of Bowling Green State University, where she studied French, International Studies, and Environmental Policy.
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Kyle Marcum
Political Director
(he/him)
[email protected]
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Kyle joins our staff as a Senior Utilities Organizer. Kyle comes to us with years of organizing with the Human Rights Campaign, where he researched, drafted, and implemented advocacy plans to educate and lobby lawmakers on pro-LGBTQ policies. He's also organized on several electoral campaigns both before and after graduating with a degree in Political Science and Government from Marshall University in 2015.
Kyle will work closely with our sister organization, Ohio Consumers Power Alliance (OCPA), by assisting in the development of campaign strategies and leading OCPA’s utility efforts.
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