Anna Hoy, Operations Manager, designs and maintains key internal processes to enhance quality and efficiency. She provides unit-wide support for procurement, finance, event planning, communications, and customer service. Anna brings over a decade of experience in non-profit and public service.

She joined ACR after five years with the City of Greensboro (North Carolina) where she led evidence-based quality improvement for the City’s largest youth-serving program, advised youth-led leadership development programs, coordinated internship and volunteer opportunities, and facilitated the development and implementation of an annual marketing plan. While with United Way of Greater Greensboro, she held progressively responsible roles including administrative support for two departments and four volunteer committees, digital communications specialist, and manager of advocacy and communications. Anna has played key leadership roles in community initiatives for school safety, civic leadership development, infant-maternal public health, and early childhood environmental education/local food access. She holds a Bachelor of Science with a dual major in Organizational Development and Child Studies from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s in Public Affairs from University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Kate Johnston, Hunter Parks Conservation Fellow, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California and Washington compliance markets, and voluntary markets across the United States. She is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification, and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies.

Kate brings a strong foundation in forest ecology, fuels mapping, and geospatial analysis to the ACR team. Her graduate research evaluated the accuracy and biases of three national fuel mapping products – LANDFIRE, FCCS, and FastFuels – at varying spatial scales across Colorado’s Front Range. She gained experience implementing USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) protocols, modeling forest structure, and applying geospatial tools to extract and analyze fuels data from national datasets.

Prior to pursuing her graduate degree, Kate worked for the Bureau of Land Management, where she led Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ES&R) assessments to inform post-fire management decisions and secure restoration funding in accordance with federal guidelines. She also collaborated across agencies implementing Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) protocols and contributed to a variety of land stewardship efforts across western ecosystems.

Kate holds an M.S. in Forest Sciences from Colorado State University and a B.S. in Biology from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN.

Brad Kahn, Communications Director, brings 25 years of communications experience related to climate change and forests. He is responsible for institutional and programmatic communications for ACR and sister enterprise Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), including strategy, message development, and media relations. As carbon markets develop rapidly, Brad views communications as a way to promote understanding across interest groups and to translate complex standards into actionable information for decision makers. Prior to joining ACR, Brad worked as a consultant to nonprofit organizations and foundations. For 13 years he served as communications director for the Forest Stewardship Council US, engaging with companies, NGOs, forest managers and civil society to advance responsible forest management. He also served as communications lead for the Bullitt Foundation, owner and developer of the Bullitt Center, which is commonly known as the greenest commercial building in the world. Other clients included the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, International Living Future Institute, and Forest Carbon, a project developer based in Singapore. Brad has a Master’s degree in Watershed Systems & Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Brown University.

Marissa Kopp, Technical Officer, Forestry, provides technical expertise to support forest carbon offset projects in the California compliance and voluntary markets. She is responsible for reviewing project listing applications, data reporting, verification and the development and approval of new quantification methodologies.

Prior to joining the ACR team, Dr. Kopp explored how soil carbon dynamics changed across time and space in forests. She also examined how landowners make management decisions and taught students how to communicate their science to landowners, managers, and beyond. Her work has culminated in journal articles, book chapters, science curricula, and extensive outreach presentations. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and English from Elizabethtown College and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the Pennsylvania State University.

Kurt Krapfl, Director, Forestry, has served in various roles at ACR related to carbon market implementation, methodology development, policy setting, and strategic direction since 2016. Throughout this time, he has directly contributed to and overseen the registration, verification, and issuance of more than 150 million tonnes of high-quality forest carbon credits. He has also led and supported the development and publication of innovative methodologies at ACR related to improved forest management, afforestation and reforestation, avoided conversion of forests, wetland and grassland restoration, and new quantification tools and ACR program standard updates.

Kurt’s primary areas of expertise are forest carbon quantification and methodology development, forest resource management, and silviculture. He holds a PhD in Forest Management from Mississippi State University and MS and BS degrees in Forestry from Southern Illinois University. Kurt has also worked for government entities, including the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, as well as ecological consulting firms.

Kurt’s work has been published in peer reviewed academic journals as well as applied settings. He has given numerous presentations and testimonies in relation to the carbon market to stakeholders, policy makers, technical audiences, and the general public.

Patrick McCarthy, Senior Technical Manager, Industrial Programs, provides technical expertise on carbon credit project review and verification oversight for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. He also leads methodology development and provides technical guidance on project implementation and verification to advance CCS carbon market innovations. Patrick joined ACR in 2025.

Patrick brings 19 years of experience in the energy sector, engineering, and strategic operations. At Project Canary, as Head of Environmental Assessments and CCUS, he led a team in the product development for carbon and methane emissions quantification and accounting, ESG reporting, environmental assessments, and carbon credit consulting while managing the largest differentiated gas program in the United States. At Kinder Morgan, he served in various roles and levels in the Engineering Project Management division overseeing natural gas, crude, and CO2 projects across the United States, including transmission systems, gathering systems, integrity, and gas processing facilities. Patrick served as an Engineer Officer in the United States Army in a variety of engineering roles from Platoon Leader to Brigade Engineer, completing combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan where he led mobility, counter-mobility, and construction operations.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management and a Certificate in Construction Management from Missouri University of Science and Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, along with Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certifications. He serves as the Veterans Chair for the Rocky Mountain Pipeliners’ Club and maintains active membership in several professional and industry organizations.

Karen McCurdy, Technical Manager, Industrial Programs, provides technical expertise on carbon credit project review and verification oversight in the California and Washington regulatory markets as well as the voluntary carbon market. She focuses on projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of livestock anaerobic digesters, destruction of ozone-depleting substances, plugging of orphaned oil & gas wells, and reclamation of hydrofluorocarbons. Karen joined ACR in 2024.

Karen has over 20 years’ experience in environmental management and consulting. She has extensive experience conducting state and federal regulatory compliance, record-keeping and reporting projects for industrial and commercial clients, particularly in the specialty chemicals, wood products, and metal fabrication sectors. Her focus has been on Title V air permitting, GHG reporting, and air dispersion modeling. Karen has also worked with Clean Water Act compliance, nature-based solutions to flood mitigation, and sustainable agriculture throughout her career.

Karen is a registered Professional Environmental Engineer in Arkansas. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Arkansas.

Leah McKinley, Senior Technical Officer, Industrial Programs, provides technical expertise provides technical expertise on carbon credit project review and verification oversight in the California regulatory market as well as the voluntary carbon market. She focuses on projects related to landfill and mine methane capture and destruction and HFC reclamation. Leah joined ACR in 2022.

Prior to joining ACR, Leah worked as an Air Quality Analyst for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, where she wrote State Implementation Plans to allow Wyoming to keep primacy over certain environmental regulations. During her time with the State of Wyoming, Leah focused on reducing Regional Haze—which degrades the visibility of the air—in Wyoming’s National Parks and Wilderness Areas through emissions reduction technologies and methods.

Leah has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Master of Public Service and Administration degree from Texas A&M University.