Kelly is the executive director and founded Lighthouse in 2023 after a diverse career in grassroots organizing, social and political campaigns, environmental policy and advocacy, and technology.

Kelly is passionate about the environment and working with people. She loves the hard but crucial work of organizing partners and communities. Before starting Lighthouse, Kelly worked at the North Carolina Coastal Federation building state-wide support for the state’s Coastal Habitat Protection Plan and facilitating community engagement with the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative. Prior to her work at the Federation, Kelly started Upstate North Carolina, a state legislation tracker. She was the digital director for a successful congressional campaign in 2018, and led a number of successful grassroots campaigns in opposition to fossil fuel expansion and efforts to raise energy bills in the state. Kelly received her masters of environmental management in environmental economics and policy from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University in 2015 and her undergraduate degree in environmental sciences from the University of Notre Dame in 2010.

When she isn’t wearing many nonprofit hats at Lighthouse, she enjoys fishing, diving, surfing, hiking, and reading.