Fresh Energy is excited to welcome our three newest members to the organization, each bringing valuable experience to advance our mission to equitably and rapidly decarbonize Minnesota. We are thrilled to welcome Katie Maxwell as our new associate, electricity, as well as Anna Edmunds as our Humphrey Fellow, and Makhai Hunt as our Capitol Pathways Intern.
Join us in welcoming Katie, Anna, and Kai and learn about how each of them will help us to build an equitable clean energy transition in Minnesota, the Midwest, and beyond.
Welcome Katie Maxwell, Fresh Energy’s new associate, electricity
Katie Maxwell joins Fresh Energy’s Electricity team as an associate, bringing a combination of policy expertise, communications experience, and a lifelong love of the outdoors that has shaped her career path in clean energy.
Katie grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, originally in Oak Park, then in Riverside, one of the nation’s first planned communities that was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The seeds of Katie’s environmentalism were planted young: Early educators fostered her love of nature, reading, and animals. Summers spent outside at her local YMCA day camp also left an indelible mark on her values. In high school, she joined the School of Environmental Education (SEE) Team that focused her core classes around themes of the environment, which led her to pursue her major in Environmental Studies with a Social Sciences emphasis at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Katie studied German and management and studied abroad in Germany, learning about climate change and keeping very active in the college choirs.
After college, Katie completed a year with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, working as a winter farmers’ market coordinator at Faith in Place, a Chicago-based multifaith environmental organization. She managed 17 markets at different houses of worship across the Chicago area, gaining experience in project management, stakeholder coordination, and event logistics while improving food access. She also got her first taste of policy advocacy, joining Faith in Place’s lobby days at the Illinois State Capitol as part of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition – experiences that gave her exposure to working with organizers building on the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) by advocating for what would become the landmark Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) in 2021. She later joined Faith in Place as a full-time communications staffer, developing webinars, podcasts, and video content that helped share the organization’s story.
In 2025, Katie earned her Master of Environmental Management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, concentrating in Economics & Policy and Energy & Environment. At Duke, she pursued work at the intersection of clean energy and environmental justice – following advocates at COP28 while supporting the Nicholas Institute’s announcement of nature-based climate solutions, as well as working on an environmental justice case through the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. Katie gained experience in understanding the history of energy markets and how they can become more just and equitable, especially for the most marginalized communities.
At Fresh Energy, Katie is focused on advancing Minnesota’s clean electricity transition. She is particularly excited to apply what she learned studying Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) at Duke to Minnesota’s own IRP process, and she is looking forward to contributing to our work on data centers and virtual power plants.
Outside of work, choir is still a central passion of Katie’s – she joined a choir during her time at Duke and is looking forward to joining one in the Twin Cities. She also loves travel, exploring independent book stores to pick up her next read, visiting coffee shops, and learning new mostly-vegetarian recipes.
Welcome Anna Edmunds, our Humphrey School fellow
Anna Edmunds joins Fresh Energy this semester as a fellow through the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where Anna is pursuing a Master of Public Policy with a concentration in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy. She is participating in this fellowship as part of a practicum course focused on state governance and the legislative process.
Anna grew up near the Apostle Islands in Bayfield County, Wisconsin, right on the shores of Lake Superior, where her deep love for clean water and a healthy environment first took hold. She studied environmental policy, politics, and government at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, before returning to the Midwest.
She entered the energy space after college when she began working at the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (our neighbor’s equivalent of Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission), where she wrote Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental Impact Assessments for energy projects like solar farms and smaller transmission lines. Anna became very interested in how utilities are regulated, how they interact with people’s lives and the environment, and how our energy mix is tied to the Midwest’s future.
At Fresh Energy, Anna is working alongside Shubha Harris, tracking key docket dates and comment deadlines for Fresh Energy’s work at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, as well as conducting research on energy affordability and our energy burden cap legislation at the Minnesota Legislature. At the Humphrey School, she is also completing research projects on PUCs and energy equity, as well as the impacts of data center development on energy and water resources in local communities.
When she’s not working, Anna enjoys cross-country skiing, swimming, tennis, cooking, and walking around the lakes in the Twin Cities.
Meet Mahkai Hunt, Fresh Energy’s Capitol Pathways Intern
Fresh Energy is pleased to welcome Makhai Hunt as our 2026 Capitol Pathways intern! Makhai is a junior at Macalester College studying Political Science with a concentration in legal studies. He has a deep interest in legal studies, community development, and learning first-hand how policy is created and moved through the Minnesota Legislature. Makhai has previously interned at the Neighborhood Justice Center, a criminal defense firm that provides services for low-income individuals, and he worked on expungement.
Fresh Energy has hosted interns in the Minnesota Capitol Pathways program since its inception eight years ago. This program works to make our government truly representative of our communities, connecting young leaders of color with established policy leaders. Makhai is working with Fresh Energy’s Public Affairs team, particularly with Brynn Kirsling, director, legislative and grassroots advocacy.
While Makhai stays busy in the Capitol Pathways internship, he’s also a full-time student, planning his school’s SpringFest, and still finds time to relax by cooking and hanging out with his friends.