People

Lori Mann has more than 40 years of experience in environmental education at the local, state, and national levels. Lori joined the NAAEE staff in 2012 as Program and Conference Manager and now serves as Director of Conferences and Programs. In this capacity, she manages all aspects of the NAAEE annual conference and coordinates several national projects related to building capacity to deliver high-quality environmental education. 

Ivaana Rungta is a music researcher, lyrical storyteller, and sound artist in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the Founder and Director of CCL.She explored new worlds of experience beyond the ordinary by incorporating genuine discoveries and scientific research.Her primary objective was to promote a fresh outlook on narrative, music, and creative writing by fostering a spontaneous interaction between technology, mythology, art, design, literature, science, and music.

Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center is a private, 501(c)(3) non-profit, accredited school dedicated to fostering awareness, enhancing respect, and promoting personal responsibility for the natural world through inspiring environmental education experiences.

Project Coordinator Iowa Conservation Education Coalition

Sydney spent the bulk of her childhood learning and growing under the canopy of the southeastern deciduous forests that make up her home state of Virginia. She earned her B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Following her undergraduate schooling, she began working as a youth environmental educator, leading her to eventually pursue her M.A. in the University of Utah's Environmental Humanities Program to study how nature-based programs can better support nature-connections across diverse groups. While in Utah, she also co-founded Camping in Color, an overnight program designed for black youth and their families in the Salt Lake Valley area to enhance a sense of belonging, appreciation, and engagement in the outdoors. She joins the Natural Start Alliance team excited to further her work in making quality early childhood environmental education more accessible to all.

Krysta works to advance environmental literacy in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed through online and in-person training for educators and network building with government and nonprofit partners.

NAAEE’s Senior Director of Capacity Building, Sarah Bodor comes from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, where she held a number of program management and leadership positions throughout the organization. She worked closely with state education agencies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to develop and pilot standards-based curricula and provide teacher professional development. Her background also includes communications and fundraising. In 2008, she served as the writer of Maryland’s Children in Nature Plan, which resulted in passage of Maryland’s environmental high school graduation requirement.

Matt Scott leads storytelling at Project Drawdown, translating complex, science-based climate solutions to everyday people to spread awareness, shift attitudes, and spark action. His work focuses on “passing the mic” to the underrepresented, underestimated changemakers who’ve often gone unheard.

I am the naturalist teacher for the upper school of Raleigh Oak Charter School.  My North Carolina license is for Science and Social Studies 6-9.  I love the outdoors and hiking.  I hope to take this passion into the classroom and beyond.

I am a senior at Rutgers University in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, majoring in Agriculture and Food Systems, and graduating in Spring 2026. I am preparing for a career in secondary agricultural education, with a focus on landscaping and turf management at the vocational high-school level.