Our Team
Anna Menke
Chief of Staff to the COO
"All that energy we expend to keep things running right is not what’s keeping things running right. We’re bugs struggling in the river, brightly visible to the trout below. With that fact in mind, people like me make up all these rules to give us the illusion that we are in charge. I need to say to myself, they’re not needed, hon. Just take in the buggy pleasures. Be kind to the others, grab the fleck of riverweed, notice how beautifully your bug legs scull.”
— Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
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Anna works across the organization to develop and implement cohesive strategy to advance and support Elemental’s mission.
Prior to Elemental Excelerator
Prior to her role as Chief of Staff, Anna worked at Clean Air Task Force managing a team of regional staff engaged with clean hydrogen hub efforts across the United States. Her team worked to advocate for climate and community beneficial development of clean hydrogen. Previously, Anna worked at Elemental to help launch the Policy Lab. She supported the development of policy coaching services for portfolio companies, the Policy Fellows program, and Elemental’s federal advocacy strategy. Anna has also worked in impact investing at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation where she led sourcing and due diligence for deals spanning education, racial justice, gender equity, income inequality, global and mental health, and climate. She started her career at the Environmental Defense Fund where she helped launch and organize a coalition of Fortune 500 CEOs to advocate for federal climate policies. Anna loves launching first-time programs and working with communities, companies, and innovators to scale new solutions to tackle climate change. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Environmental Studies from Princeton University.
Anna is based in San Diego, California. She has also lived in Maine, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Outside of the office
Anna loves to surf, run, practice yoga, hike, foster dogs, read novels, eat ice cream cones, bake scones, drink tea, write, and spend time with family and friends.