MILWAUKEE WATER COMMONS
MEET THE TEAM
BRENDA COLEY
Co-Executive Director
Brenda Coley is the Co-Executive Director of Milwaukee Water Commons. Over the years she has served in various positions in the non-profit and academic sectors and brings a long-standing commitment to social justice and community organizing. She has been a non-profit director, research coordinator and project manager with expertise in leadership development and organizational capacity building.
Before joining Milwaukee Water Commons, Brenda was sole proprietor of Brenda Coley & Associates, helping local and national organizations build the cultural competence to approach marginalized populations around health, leadership development and social justice issues. In addition, she has served on many community engagement boards and public health initiatives, specifically focused on equality and health disparities within the LGBTQ and other minority communities in Milwaukee.
Brenda is committed to exploring the influences of one’s own culture and understanding ways in which groups of people are treated in society, using that knowledge to develop strategies to effectively engage diverse groups of people in important community issues.
FELICE GREEN
Director of Programming
Felice Green joined Milwaukee Water Commons in a leadership role as Director of Programming. She has worked with non-profit organizations and advocacy groups on local, state and national levels and brings several years of diverse experience to MWC.
Her work has included advocating for education reform for low-income and working-class Black families, HIV prevention and awareness, health equity among Black women, and environmental public health. She has held professional roles in marketing, strategic communications, community outreach, and leadership development. She worked as civic engagement coordinator for Milwaukee Riverkeeper and now volunteers with the marketing and fund development board committee for the organization. In 2022, she was nominated for the Gain Power Inaugural Powerful Ideas Award for Transformational Talent and Leaders.
Felice has a passion for community service. She is committed to the community she lives in and it is no surprise that she is this year’s MilWALKee Walks Culture Ambassador in Sherman Park. She also volunteers with the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County annual fundraising campaign, and the Capuchin Community Services (House of Peace & St. Ben’s Meal Program) Community Advisory Ministry Council. She is a servant leader and enjoys summer gardening, visiting museums, playing golf, family time and long walks on the beach and river walks.
KIRSTEN SHEAD
Co-Executive Director
Kirsten Shead is the Co-Executive Director of Milwaukee Water Commons. She has a B.S. in chemistry and broad experience in education, industry and environmental labs. She left the corporate world in 2009 for the nonprofit sector. Her previous work included building Muslim-Christian understanding, facilitating interfaith dialogue and leading an interfaith environmental network. She worked with MWC in varying capacities since its inception – as a community partner, serving on the Advisory Team, as a Community Organizer focused on lead in drinking water and access to blue-green jobs, and as Water City Program Manager. She stepped into the Co-Executive Director role in 2018.
Kirsten’s leadership extends to state, regional, and national coalitions while prioritizing local, community engagement and systemic change. In 2019 she was appointed to the Wisconsin Governor's Task Force on Climate Change charged with developing policy recommendations to meaningfully mitigate and adapt to climate change for the benefit of Wisconsin communities.
Kirsten has an unwavering commitment to social justice, anti-racism, women’s LGBTQ and multi-racial leadership, the Milwaukee community, and our sacred Earth. Her happy place is the natural world – identifying plants, watching wildlife and being on, in, or underwater.
JANET VEUM
Director of Communications
Janet Veum joined Milwaukee Water Commons in 2024 as Director of Communications. Throughout her life, she’s been drawn to the power of shared stories and storytelling, first as a journalist, then shifting to marketing communications and public relations for a wide and diverse range of businesses, organizations and most recently in the labor movement. Her long-standing commitment to social and economic justice and life experiences continue to teach her the undefeatable power of people coming together to make change.
As a communications manager for an international labor union, she led issues-driven communications strategy in Milwaukee at the beginning of the Fight for $15 as well as for strikes and other mobilizations organized by local unions across the country. She has coached hundreds of working and marginalized people to tell their stories to local and national media, spurring people to stand up, fight back and take action.
Janet grew up on the shore of beautiful Green Lake, Wisconsin’s deepest lake, and has been a water enthusiast her entire life, canoeing, water skiing, swimming, boating, sailing and simply soaking up the pleasure of being in, on or near water. The daughter and granddaughter of social and environmental justice activists, she is proud to carry on their legacy.
JOE
FITZGERALD
Policy and Advocacy Manager
Joe Fitzgerald began volunteering with Milwaukee Water Commons in 2016. He now works as the Policy and Advocacy Manager, organizing initiatives to improve water quality and advance inclusive pathways to blue-green employment and water equity in Milwaukee and around the Great Lakes.
A product of the Milwaukee Public Schools, Fitzgerald graduated from Northland College with a double major in natural resources and geosciences, with an emphasis in ecological restoration and water sciences. Since graduating, Joe’s career has taken him throughout the Midwest to research the biological and chemical health of freshwater systems. Through his role with Milwaukee Water Commons, Joe has worked locally and with leaders around the country to reimagine and reform sustainable and intersectional water systems.
From a neighborhood, in the woods, or on a lake or river, Joe has always been interested in learning from the people and places around him. He carries those perspectives into his own work, advocating for social and environmental justice.
BETHAMIE WYATT
Branch Out MKE Director
Bethamie Wyatt is the Branch Out Milwaukee Director with the Milwaukee Water Commons. Bethamie joined the MWC team in 2024, bringing over 25 years of experience working in non-profit, community-based program development in Wisconsin, New York and Michigan. Her first professional role in the mid-90’s was as a community organizer with Sherman Park Community Association in Milwaukee. She also spent time as an adjunct professor in the departments of Women’s Studies and Health Promotion & Human Performance at Eastern Michigan University. During those decades, she honed her skills in program design, implementation and evaluation. Her areas of professional emphasis have been in public health, social justice and work within marginalized communities.
Bethamie entered MWC with a strong passion and commitment to decolonial and anti-oppression work that centers and prioritizes equity, specifically for BIPOC communities. As a decolonial practice, her organizational leadership approach emphasizes the wholeness and well-being of her team members by cultivating a sustainable work environment rooted in openness, collaboration and a sense of community care. Bethamie is excited to focus her justice work in the MWC space, a space that also recognizes nature as a part of our community.
Bethamie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Women’s Global Health Studies. She is certified in multiple holistic health modalities and enjoys sharing somatic movement practices as a Nia Technique instructor. When not engaged in powerful work with MWC, Bethamie leads inclusive groups online and in Mexico, emphasizing indigenous, nature-based healing practices.
MELANIE ARIENS
Creative Arts Manager
Melanie Ariens is a Milwaukee area mixed media artist who uses creative work to communicate about issues surrounding the Great Lakes and freshwater access. She has been with MWC from the beginning, playing a leading role in our annual We Are Water event which celebrates the city’s diversity, highlights local creatives, and engages the community in care, keeping and celebration of water right at the shoreline. Melanie also designs promotional materials, coordinates our social media and website, and coordinates water themed art projects for our Water School program.
Her goal is to get people to think about water issues in a non-traditional way, by evoking a simple metaphor or tapping into a spiritual connection to water. She loves unexpected and surprising ways to insert watery artwork and creativity into the public sphere. You can find her work on the public boat docks along the Milwaukee River, and on the new manhole covers she designed for Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. In addition, she has led many community art projects throughout the City, such as the Somos Agua mural on nine pillars under I-94 as part of the Watermarks project she facilitated with the United Community Center’s Acosta Middle School.
RHONDA NORDSTROM
Community Education Manager
Rhonda Nordstrom joined Milwaukee Water Commons in 2019 as a Water City Program Coordinator. She leads our Water School program and helps advance our Water City Agenda through her work on our Arts & Culture, Education & Recreation, and Drinking Water Initiatives.
Prior to joining Milwaukee Water Commons, Rhonda spent most of her career in public education and public health settings. Bringing education, advocacy, coalition, and equity building experience to work on behalf of our waters continues a career at the intersection of environmental, community, and personal health. Having always had a professional goal of working on water issues, she’s glad for the opportunity to widely engage with how people connect to, care for, and enjoy the benefits of our waters.
When not working, you’ll most likely find her biking, hiking, cooking, or dancing, ideally with friends and family.
CAITLIN REINARTZ
Branch Out MKE Coordinator
Caitlin Reinartz joined Milwaukee Water Commons as the Branch Out MKE Coordinator in 2023. She spent the last fifteen years as the Forester and Land Steward at the Riverside Park location of the Urban Ecology Center. There, she managed 44 acres of green space for biodiversity, habitat quality, and recreation. To this end, she planted over 14,000 trees and hundreds of thousands of understory plants, maintained trails, controlled erosion, and fostered relationships with volunteers and park users alike.
She also teaches classes in Tree Identification and Plant Physiology. Caitlin is passionate about Wisconsin’s native plant ecosystems and is a strong advocate for ecological restoration in urban areas.
ANDREW MCKEE
Branch Out MKE
Organizer
Born and raised here in Milwaukee, Andrew McKee is a passionate and skilled community organizer committed to investing in the city and the communities that they're part of. Andrew brings a wealth of interdisciplinary, trauma-informed and holistic expertise to the Branch Out Milwaukee Organizer role with local and extensive professional experience as an anti-violence advocate, resource navigator, artist and wellness service provider.
ATON FOX
Administrative Manager
Aton Fox joined the team at Milwaukee Water Commons in July 2022 as the Administrative Manager. His duties include overseeing office expenditures, record-keeping, event planning, and providing general administrative support.
Aton is a born and raised Milwaukee resident. He has been involved in community-based environmental work from his youth onward, which began when he started working with Walnut Way Conservation Corp. as an intern in the Growing Youth Leadership program. His love for hands-on learning, and desire to grow, develop, and excel in his work landed him a position as the Environmental Stewardship Program Assistant at Walnut Way.
Aton has 6 years of experience in administrative support and facilities coordination. He has worked with several non-profit organizations, partners, and municipalities. His work has revolved around the fields of environmental conservation, urban agriculture, and landscaping construction.
As part of Milwaukee Water Commons, Aton is excited to provide his support and energy to aid his colleagues, and is happy to continue contributing to his neighborhood overall.
WATER
Central Team Member
Water is the central member of the Water Commons team. Water is 60% of most mammal bodies, 70% of the earth’s surface, and over 90% of most plants. Constantly in motion, water changes from liquid to vapor to ice and is part of every season. The water most familiar to us in Milwaukee is the 10,000 year old great lakes system of above ground rivers and underground aquifers connected to the southwest shore of Lake Michigan.
In the Anishinaabe language, all of the Great Lakes are known by one name, Michigami, the vast place. Although we conduct our business in English, Milwaukee Water Commons serves communities who use many languages and we recognize the names for water given by the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Menominee, Ho-Chunk and Oneida nations who have been stewards of the water in this place for many centuries: Mbish Nibi Nepēw Nįįna and Ohnekanus. Like these nations, we recognize the role and the rights of water in our world.
Water is essential. It is spiritual. We are water.