EJ serves as the Director of Equity and Environmental Justice for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. He leads the division designing assessment, education, and policy programs to incorporate Environmental Justice into state government. Prior to DNR, EJ served as the Public Policy Manager for the Group Health Foundation (now Inatai) where he worked to help set up the foundation's ambitious public policy and advocacy work. In that role he managed the Foundation's Public Affairs team comprised of policy and government relations professionals and the organization's Home Region grant portfolio that focused on community sourced projects, advocacy, and health equity.EJ reimagined the Community Partnerships and Government Relations Manager position for the Seattle Public Library, one of the country's most heavily used libraries with 27 branches and over six million visitors a year. In this role he managed the agency's intergovernmental affairs and a portfolio of programs related to racial equity, Museum Pass, and internal workplace culture. This culminated with his substantial work on programs that helped secure SPL's award as Library of the Year by LibraryJournal for their equity work. Previously, EJ served as the Executive Director at Amplify/ColorPAC (formerly Progressive Majority), an organization dedicated to recruiting, training, and electing progressive champions in Washington and Oregon. He led the merger of Progressive Majority and ColorPAC to create the Northwest's largest candidate recruitment and training organization. He also provided innovative fundraising and communications support as the Community Relations & Development Manager for the state's largest anti-poverty organization, Solid Ground. A graduate of Saint Martin's University, he was the driving force behind the establishment of the Student Health Center and served as a member on the Board of Trustees and in 2016 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award. He later earned his Master's degree from the University of Washington-Bothell where he was inducted into the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences Hall of Excellence in 2018.EJ currently lives in Seattle where he serves on the Executive Board of SEIU775 Benefits Group, Washington Conservation Action, and serves as Chair of both the Citizen's Election Oversight Committee for King County and the WA State Committee on Geographic Names.