Who We Are

Jacob founded Next Interior in March, 2025. He is the former Director of the Office of Policy Analysis for the U.S. Department of the Interior (Office of the Secretary - Office of Policy, Management, and Budget) and served as the acting Deputy Assistant Secretary - Policy and Environmental Management before resigning in February 2025. From 1998-2008, Jacob worked in the field for the Department at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service in Virginia, Michigan, New Mexico, and Arizona. He earned his PhD at the University of Texas - Austin, before moving to the nonprofit world for nearly a decade, first as a policy analyst and then the vice president leading the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders of Wildlife.

When not advocating for Interior and what it delivers for the Nation, he's very likely out enjoying public lands and waters, on bike or packraft or foot, usually with family and always looking for plants and critters.

Ryan Fleetwood joined Next Interior as a Policy Advisor in May, 2025. He is a former intern with the Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance in the Department of the Interior (Office of the Secretary - Office of Policy, Management, and Budget). He joined the Department of the Interior as a William A. Demmer Scholar through the Boone & Crockett Club. Ryan is a current senior at the University of Montana studying Environmental Science & Sustainability - Water Resources and Geography. He has interned with multiple federal agencies and has conducted research on drought, high-elevation climate, and ice sheet dynamics.

When not working or studying, Ryan enjoys hiking, fishing, hunting, and exploring the public lands and waters of western Montana. 

Haley McKey is a communications strategist living and working in DC with a passion for carbon removal and centering community leadership in building solutions that benefit people, our environment and our climate. Previously, she was a program analyst on the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management domestic engagement team, where she led the Responsible Carbon Management Initiative and co-developed the inter-agency Carbon Management Interactive Diagram. She has provided communications expertise and support for Carbon Removal Canada, Smart Surfaces Coalition and the American Forest Foundation. She led the announcement of the first-ever injection of atmospheric CO2 into concrete as senior manager of corporate communications at CarbonCure Technologies; provided technical communications assistance and training to over 80 community-led scientific research teams at the American Geophysical Union; and executive-edited the CDR Primer as a communications consultant at Spitfire Strategies. She lives in Washington, DC.

Beth is a quantitative ecologist that strives to develop tools and analyses to help improve decision making for stakeholders. She worked as an Assistant Unit Leader with the USGS South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit from 2016-2021 and a quantitative ecologist with Science Applications in the Southwest Region of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 2021-2025 before leaving DOI to start her own statistical consulting company, Ross EcoAnalytics. While her research background has focused on analyzing bird populations, she's been fortunate enough to collaborate on projects ranging from study design for lichen to forecasting sea turtle populations.

Beth is a proud native Kansan that resides outside Albuquerque, New Mexico on the traditional lands of the Tiwa peoples. She enjoys spending her free time biking, gardening, and crafting.

Interested in contributing to Next Interior? See a few of the ways you can join us. It could be as simple as signing up for our newsletter, Next Interior Memos, or more involved with volunteering or another form of partnering.

Are you a funder who is looking to invest in those who will make the Department of the Interior all it can be? As of May 2025, we're talking with 501(c)(3)s about the options that one might serve as fiscal sponsor. If and when that comes through, we will be ready to accept tax-deductible donations. 

Want to talk about some options now? Get in touch!