Staff

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, Executive Director

Bill Moore-Kilgannon is the Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. Prior to joining Public Interest Alberta, he worked in Ottawa as the Director of Campaigns and Communications of the Council of Canadians from 2001 - 2004, and he was the Executive Director of the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta from 1997 - 2001. He was the coordinator of the Global Visions Festival from 1992 - 1997 and is also a documentary video maker (his most recent production is a video about the music, art and theatre of street children in Nicaragua). Bill studied Canadian and Latin American history, political science and economics at the University of Alberta and l'Unversité de Sherbrooke, and speaks both French and Spanish.

Karen Werlin, Office Manager

Karen is the Office Manager of Public Interest Alberta. Before joining PIA, she was on staff at the Alberta Federation of Labour for 27 years. A life-long activist, she served her union in many capacities, including as president of her local and as regional officer on the National and International Executive Boards. She played an important role in transforming the union into an all Canadian organization, the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union.

Over the years Karen has served on various committees including the AFL Women’s Committee, the Executive Board of the Edmonton & District Labour Council and the Edmonton May Week Festival Committee. She is currently involved with the Alberta Labour History Institute and sings with Notre Dame de Bananes, Edmonton's own left-wing socialist choir.

Russell Charlton, Communications Assistant

Russell began at Public Interest Alberta as the Environment Intern in early 2010, and has been working as the Communications Assistant since January 2011. In University, he developed a passion for international human rights and poverty issues, becoming active in organizations like Amnesty International and Oxfam. Mounting evidence and scientific consensus on the seriousness of the climate crisis brought Russell to the environmental movement and direct action in the lead-up to the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen. The following year he began working at PIA, completed the Next Up program for young social change leaders, and joined a solidarity caravan travelling through Mexico and converging on Cancun for the 2010 UN climate talks.