Meet the MNN Team
Joel Babbit
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder
Prior to launching Mother Nature Network, Babbit spent over 20 years in the advertising and public relations industry – creating two of the largest and most awarded advertising agencies in the Southeast – Babbit and Reiman (acquired by London-based GGT) and 360 (acquired by Grey Global Group). He also served as President of GCI, which was one of the world’s 10 largest public relations firms with 40 offices in 22 countries.
His clients have included The Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Dell, USA Today, American Express, Holiday Inn, UPS, and Citigroup.
He is especially noted for his marketing work related to corporate transitions which have included the acquisition of RJR Nabisco by KKR, BellSouth by AT&T, Georgia –Pacific by Koch Industries, and numerous acquisitions during the formation of Coca-Cola Enterprises.
With Atlanta’s selection as host city for the 1996 Olympics, Babbit took a leave of absence from the private sector to serve as Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for the City – responsible for all corporate and media relations, as well as serving on the mayor’s cabinet and executive committee during this historic period.
A native of Atlanta, Joel was chosen Georgia Citizen of the Year in 1997 and was awarded the John Drewry Award for Outstanding Achievement from The University of Georgia where he received his ABJ degree from the Henry Grady School of Journalism.
He has been active in many civic and charitable organizations including Young Presidents Organization, the CDC Foundation, SafeAmerica, The Atlanta History Center, and the Anti-Defamation League and was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist in 1997.
Chuck Leavell
Director of Environmental Affairs and co-founder
Chuck Leavell has been the keyboardist for the Rolling Stones since 1982. He was previously a member of the Allman Brothers Band and he has played with Eric Clapton, The Black Crowes, George Harrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler, Train, Montgomery Gentry, Lee Ann Womack and many, many more. In addition to being a well-known musical artist, Leavell is an avid environmentalist and the author of Forever Green and The Tree Farmer. He has been a featured guest on CNN, The Today Show, the Fox News Channel and has been profiled by The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Fortune, People, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. He and his wife Rose Lane were named National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year in 1999 for their management of Charlane Plantation in Macon, Ga. He is a board member of the U.S. Endowment for Forest Communities and he was the keynote speaker at The Presidential Seminar and Fortune Magazine’s Green Summit.
Emily Murphy
Vice President and Managing Editor
Emily Murphy was previously a producer at USA TODAY, where she worked on award-winning online projects covering stories such as Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 political conventions and the Iraq War. She was an editor and producer at National Geographic, where she helped launch National Geographic for Kids magazine and the accompanying web site in 2000. She started her career at CNN, where she was an Emmy Award-winning producer. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and a Ted Scripps Fellow of Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado. Emily is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Online News Association.
Hope Dlugozima
Vice President and Director of Community and Social Networking
Before coming to MNN, Hope Dlugozima was Vice President of Community & Social Networking at WebMD, where she launched the Web’s largest health message board community, blogging initiative, and live chats along with WebMD’s Facebook and Twitter presence. Hope's more than 20 years of editorial experiences includes serving as community leader at iVillage, producer at Time Warner, creative director at Creative Multimedia in Portland, OR and features editor of the Prague Post in the Czech Republic. She was also named one of the top 100 Multimedia Producers in the U.S. by Multimedia Magazine.
Michael Jacobson
Chief Financial Officer
Michael Jacobson has over twenty-five years of experience assisting numerous companies in strategic planning, financial procedures, financial statement preparation, business and marketing plan creation; and operation analysis and implementation. He previously held management positions with the international accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick. Michael is a member of the Georgia Society of CPA’s and the American Institute of CPA’s. He holds an MBA from Georgia State University and a BSBA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Fred Tanzella
Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Tanzella has led strategy, development and marketing of large scale enterprise and commercial software applications across multiple industries. Mr. Tanzella was the Executive Producer and VP of Publishing at Kaneva, a Massively Multiplayer Online Game platform and video distribution company, and has been successful in a wide variety of senior management positions at EAS, Critical Logic, i2Go, Air2Web, BEA Systems and Motorola AirDefense in roles that included CTO, Chief Security Officer, VP of Engineering, and VP of Product Management. Mr. Tanzella holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia Tech. He is the Founder and Chairman of Glick Interactive and Chairman of Colocube.
Dan Beeson
Director of Media Relations
Dan Beeson was formerly Senior Vice President and Director of Media Relations for the worldwide public relations firm Porter Novelli and served in a similar role with GCI Group. He specializes in creating high impact media communications programs and has counseled blue-chip clients including Dell, Coca-Cola, Sony Ericsson, Holiday Inn, Safeco, Equifax, Hewlett Packard, AT&T, Aflac and IBM.
Travis Bright
Director of Sponsor Relations
Travis Bright joins MNN after a successful stint as the Director of Marketing for the Shop At Home television network, where he was responsible for all on-air, direct, and online marketing for the network. Prior to Shop At Home, Travis was the Director of Channel Operations at WebMD where he led the development of new publishing tools and oversaw the creation of dozens of sponsor programs for Fortune 1000 Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and CPG companies.
Benyamin Cohen
Content Director
Benyamin Cohen was the founder and editor of the award-winning national magazine American Jewish Life and the online magazine Jewsweek. He was founder and editor of JW, a national niche news site. He is also the author of "My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith," published by HarperCollins in 2008.
Sarah Hicks
Senior Web Editor and Producer
Before coming to MNN, Sarah Hicks worked in a wide variety of roles at ajc.com and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, including planning, design and management roles. Most recently, she was part of a team that launched a successful channel aimed at the Atlanta luxury home market. In her 11 years the AJC newsroom, she managed the online entertainment site, accessAtlanta.com, served as the newsroom planning editor and designed the front page of the newspaper.
Steven Pollak
SEO Editor
Steve Pollak comes to the Mother Nature Network following six years at the Daily Report, an Atlanta-based legal newspaper. He led the newspaper through a redesign of its Web site in 2006 and launched several database journalism projects over the years. As the editor in charge of digital content for the Daily Report, Steve was equally comfortable writing prose or code. He originally came to the Daily Report as a staff reporter and covered the Fulton County, Ga., court system for two years. Prior to his tenure at the Daily Report, Steve worked at the Forsyth County News and the Atlanta Jewish Times. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park.
Andrew Golubock
Senior Account Director
Andrew Golubock brings a broad background in advertising, marketing and production to MNN. Before joining MNN, he worked for a social networking startup where he was responsible for sponsor campaigns and digital marketing initiatives including search, email and display advertising. Prior to that he spent eight years at global advertising agency, Grey Worldwide, on their account planning & management team working on campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world including Dell, AT&T, MillerCoors, Coca-Cola and Georgia-Pacific. He began his career producing TV commercials at CNN after graduating Cum Laude from the University of Georgia.
Abhi Goel
Technical Team Lead
Abhi Goel has held senior professional service positions at Accenture, IBM Global Services, Axelerant, and Core Concept. He has managed large projects for clients that include MCI/Verizon, General Electric Power Systems, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Sikorsky Aircraft, Cousins Properties, BellSouth, and Roche Pharmaceuticals. He serves as Vice President for Professional Services for Glick Interactive.
Ankur Gupta
Chief Architect
Ankur Gupta has held lead architect and management positions on numerous projects for both product-based and professional services organizations such as McKinsey & Co., Core Concept, Owens Group International, Axelerant, Air2Web, US General Services Administration, Roche
Pharmaceuticals and ECS. Ankur is active in the Open Source community and well respected in the development community. He serves as Chief Architect for Professional Services for Glick Interactive.
Russell McLendon
Science Editor
Russell McLendon writes the Daily Briefing blog and Translating Uncle Sam features for MNN, in addition to researching and editing infographics and special projects for the site. Prior to working at MNN, he was the copy editor for Creative Loafing in Atlanta, where he edited the alternative newsweekly and wrote for its news blog. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2005 with degrees in magazine journalism and environmental anthropology. While at UGA he spent four years working for The Red & Black independent student newspaper as a writer, editor and editorial cartoonist.
Ashley Chase
Executive Assistant to Joel Babbit and Associate Editor
Ashley Chase manages MNN's Local Correspondents, edits the Ecollywood series, contributes to social media and works on other video and editorial projects. Before coming to MNN in 2008, Ashley studied at the University of Georgia and earned degrees in both telecommunication arts and Spanish.
Barry Cantrell
Interactive Visual Designer
Barry Cantrell is a former web developer for Middle Tennessee State University. He also graduated from MTSU with a B.S. in electronic media communications and a minor in art. Prior to graduation, Barry worked as a graphic designer for the Shop At Home Network. He specializes in design, motion graphics and web development.
Nicole Milliken
Videographer
Nicole Milliken previously worked as the Video Editor and Motion Graphics Artist for Cars.com in Chicago. She was also the Production Manager for a green screen facility for clients including Pepsi, Discovery Channel Kids, Olympic Champion Kristin Armstrong and The XXI Century Kids First Foundation, among many others. She has a Masters degree in Digital Video Production from De Paul University and was an honorary guest lecturer for The Illinois Institute of Art and a teaching artist for Marwen Art Institute. One of her photos, "The Oldest Feet in the World" was published on Nat Geo's "The Daily Dozen" photo site. Nicole also writes and illustrates children's books in her spare time.
Laura Moss
Associate Editor
Laura Moss has worked as an editor for HowStuffWorks.com, VacationPlanning.net and several travel publications. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in journalism and political science and a master’s in mass communication.
Caitlin Leary
Associate Photo Editor
Caitlin Leary is a graduate of Georgia State University with a B.A. in journalism and minor in photography.
Noel Kirkpatrick
Associate Editor
Noel Kirkpatrick is a graduate of Georgia State University with a B.A. in film & video and he is currently pursuing a master's degree in moving image studies from the same institution. He is also an associate editor of In Media Res, a digital scholarship Web site.
Erika Ludwig
PR Assistant
Erika Ludwig is a graduate of Georgia State University with a B.A. in journalism, with a concentration in public relations, and a minor in music technology management. She is also the past president (2010 - 2011) for the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter at Georgia State University, and a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
- Learn more about MNN.
- Meet our Advisory Board.
- Meet our Board of Directors.
