Management

A full listing of MPP staff and contact information is available at www.mpp.org/contact. Bios of key staff are below.

Rob Kampia
Executive Director

Rob Kampia is co-founder and executive director of MPP. Rob grew up in Harleysville, Penn., a suburban town north of Philadelphia. He was valedictorian of his high school graduating class, served three months in prison for growing his own marijuana for personal use at Penn State University, and was elected student body president two years later at that same school.

Upon graduating with honors from Penn State in 1993 with a degree in Engineering Science and a minor in English, he moved to Washington, D.C., for the purpose of ending the government’s war on marijuana users. He cofounded MPP in 1995; within two years, MPP established itself as the leading organization on Capitol Hill to call for the repeal of marijuana prohibition.

Rob has testified before legislative committees in California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Vermont, Washington state, and the U.S. House of Representatives.

He has debated the marijuana issue on national TV dozens of times against then-White House Deputy Drug Czar Andrea Barthwell, then- Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.), then-DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson, former California Attorney General Dan Lungren, and other prohibitionists.

Rob helped author most of the medical marijuana laws that are now on the books in 12 states.

Alison Green
Chief of Staff

Alison Green is chief of staff for MPP, where she oversees the day-to-day management of the staff. Alison has written extensively on management practices, including a recent article in The Washington Post giving advice on human resource issues, and MPP’s management practices are being used by The Management Center as a model for coaching other nonprofit organizations on how to improve their own operations.

Before taking on her current role, Alison served as MPP’s director of membership and publications, overseeing revenue-raising programs and printed and online materials.

Before coming to MPP, Alison worked as the communications director and publications director for two grassroots advocacy organizations and spent six years as a staff writer and campaign coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), where her accomplishments included making headlines for an effort that resulted in Procter & Gamble placing a moratorium on animal testing; designing and launching a campaign to reach college students; teaching students how to work with the media and organize on campuses; authoring a 100-page Guide to Campus Activism; and bringing the animal rights message into the pages of many conservative newspapers.

Her writings have been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Maxim, and more than 250 other newspapers.

Ray Warren
Director of State Policies

As director of state policies, Ray Warren manages MPP’s grassroots and direct lobbying efforts in all 50 state legislatures.

Before joining MPP, Ray served two terms as a state legislator in the North Carolina House of Representatives, including one term as the deputy minority leader. During a time when civil rights were still controversial in the south, Ray co-sponsored a bill to make Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday an official holiday in North Carolina. His speech on the House floor was widely hailed by newspapers across the state as integral to securing its passage.

Ray also served for seven years as a North Carolina Superior Court Judge and was one of only three openly gay elected officials in North Carolina at the time. As a circuit court judge, he held court in more than 25 counties, presiding over cases ranging from traffic violations to drug cases to capital murder. While serving as a judge, he came to realize that incarceration and prohibition are ineffective and expensive tools in controlling the use of marijuana and that significant public resources were being utilized to arrest, prosecute, and imprison otherwise lawabiding citizens.

Ray has been an attorney for more than 20 years and is currently admitted to the bar in North Carolina and the District of Columbia. He has been published in numerous publications, including The Washington Post, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News and Observer, and the National Law Journal.

Neal Levine
Director of State Campaigns

As director of state campaigns, Neal Levine oversees MPP’s state and local ballot initiative campaigns. He oversaw MPP’s groundbreaking campaign to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada, which received an historic 44% of the vote in November 2006. He also ran MPP’s successful medical marijuana ballot initiative campaign in Montana; the initiative passed with a record-breaking 62% of the vote. This campaign received a “Bally” award, handed out to the top progressive ballot initiatives in the country, winning in the category of “Against All Odds.”

Previously, Neal worked as MPP’s director of state policies, leading the lobbying campaigns that resulted in Vermont and Rhode Island passing MPP’s medical marijuana bills despite overtly hostile governors.

Neal started his political career as a field organizer for one of U.S. history’s most impressive political feats, playing an instrumental role in electing Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura as the governor of Minnesota. Directly following the Ventura victory, Neal was elected as a party officer and quickly ascended through the party ranks; he was elected a member of the party’s executive committee, central committee, and chair of the Minneapolis area.

He went on to work as a campaign manager for two U.S. Senate races, assistant campaign manager for a gubernatorial race, deputy campaign manager for a Minneapolis mayoral race, and campaign director of a Minneapolis city council race and has advised and volunteered on dozens of local campaigns.

Aaron Houston
Director of Government Relations

As MPP’s director of government relations, Aaron Houston is the only full-time marijuana lobbyist on Capitol Hill.

Aaron previously served as MPP’s national field director, coordinating more than 100 nearly simultaneous protests around the country and managing MPP’s campaigns to unseat incumbent members of Congress. Aaron also led Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana, MPP’s campaign to pressure the Democratic presidential candidates in 2003 and 2004 to support medical marijuana during New Hampshire’s presidential primary race. (The campaign resulted in six of the nine candidates adopting favorable positions.)

Before coming to MPP, Aaron worked as a political consultant in Denver, managing campaigns and advising various Democratic candidates. He worked as a top campaign aide to the Democratic Party’s 2002 nominee for governor and later managed a Denver City councilwoman’s bid for U.S. Congress. He concurrently served as the strategist and spokesperson for a winning statewide initiative campaign on ballot access, as well as the campaign manager for a winning candidate’s campaign for the state board of education.

Aaron also worked as the executive director and chief lobbyist for Colorado’s largest membership-based nonprofit advocacy group and spent three years as a staff member in the Colorado Senate leadership.

Aaron has appeared on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” C-SPAN, and NPR and has been quoted in The Washington Post, Washington Times, ABC News’ “The Note,” Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” and many local newspapers and radio programs.

Bruce Mirken
Communications Director

As MPP’s communications director, Bruce Mirken oversees MPP’s media strategy and serves as the organization’s primary spokesperson. He has appeared on dozens of local and national television and radio broadcasts and has been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and hundreds of other publications. His op-eds and commentaries for MPP have appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, San Diego Union Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, AlterNet, and many other print and online news outlets.

Bruce also serves as MPP’s liaison to the scientific community and has contributed articles to Medscape General Medicine and Prevention Forum, as well as serving on the editorial board of Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy.

Before joining MPP, Bruce was a freelance journalist specializing in health and social issues, including HIV/AIDS. His news articles and op-ed columns appeared in such publications as Men’s Health, AIDS Treatment News, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Advocate. Writing about and researching issues like needle exchange and medical marijuana made Bruce increasingly skeptical of U.S. drug policies and eventually led him to become directly involved in the effort to change them.

Stephanie Vogel
Director of Grants & VIP Outreach

As the director of grants and VIP outreach, Stephanie Vogel manages MPP’s $1.5 million grants program, which funds projects that foster measurable changes in marijuana policy.

Stephanie also oversees the organization’s work to leverage the credibility and popularity of celebrities to further MPP’s mission. She coordinates all of MPP’s major fundraising events, including MPP’s annual party at the Playboy Mansion and an annual activist training workshop for the top marijuana policy reform advocates in the U.S. Her work was instrumental in garnering 550 endorsements from economists nationwide in support of a fiscal analysis of taxing and regulating marijuana.

Before joining MPP, Stephanie served as an account manager for an international, full-service marketing agency based in Frankfurt, Germany, where she was responsible for implementing marketing and promotional campaigns for clients in the airline, auto, and sport industries, as well as organizing numerous sporting events and managing Major League Baseball’s annual $250,000 investment in a comprehensive youth sports initiative in Europe.

Joe Haptas
Outreach Director

As MPP’s outreach director, Joe Haptas manages MPP’s campaign to lobby organized medicine to take more affirmative stances on medical marijuana. He is also MPP’s chief strategist for online outreach, social networking efforts, and creative grassroots outreach activities.

Joe has a long history working with community and national advocacy organizations. Before coming to MPP, Joe worked two different stints for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) — coordinating and creating high profile campaigns, as well as writing op-ed columns. His op-eds have been published in the Houston Chronicle, Buffalo News, and throughout the former newspaper chain Knight Ridder. Numerous campaigns he worked on garnered national and international media attention.

Joe began his professional advocacy career working concurrently as the executive director of the Margaret Kyros Foundation and as the coordinator for the Northwest Animal Rights Network in Seattle. He co-founded Citizens for Cruelty-Free Entertainment, which successfully spearheaded a campaign to ban exotic animal circuses in Redmond and Seattle, and he worked as a key organizer on two successful state initiatives to ban bear baiting and hound hunting and separately to ban animal trapping. During the 2004 election, he was the state coordinator of the New Voters Project of New Hampshire; young voter turnout was among the top five in the nation that year, and the state was the only one in the nation to flip from red in 2000 to blue in 2004.

Joe is the co-founder of the Humane Research Council, a consumer and market research organization, and served on its board of directors from 2001 to 2007. He also served on the board of directors for the Progressive Animal Welfare Society of Washington State.

Salem Pearce
Director of Membership

Salem Pearce is the director of membership for MPP, where she leads the department responsible for raising millions of dollars each year in individual contributions and foundation grants. Salem writes almost all of MPP’s communications with its members and oversees all revenue-raising programs.

Before joining MPP, Salem taught Latin for three years at a girls’ boarding school.

In her free time, she volunteers for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center as a hotline counselor and hospital advocate, as well as for the Whitman- Walker Clinic as an HIV+ Support Group facilitator. She also runs marathons.

Eric Smith
Director of IT

As MPP’s IT Director, Eric Smith oversees all of MPP’s technology needs, including data management and MPP’s 25,000-page Web site. He specializes in helping MPP maximize the use of technology to amplify its campaigns and staff efficiency, and his expertise has attracted top-notch IT professionals to MPP.

Eric spent 15 years working in IT for the University of Minnesota, where he coordinated networks and systems administration, trained faculty and staff, and was involved with Web design, research, and a variety of scientific publications. His graphics and photography have appeared on multiple journal covers.

Mika Jones
Director of VIP Relations

As Director of VIP Relations, Mika Jones is responsible for the overall management of MPP’s VIP Relations program, including developing celebrity outreach efforts, managing ongoing recruitment for MPP’s Celebrity Advisory Board, and contributing to the planning of special events and fundraisers. MPP’s VIP Relations program is an important component of the multi-pronged strategy to raise awareness of the need to reform marijuana laws among the American public and elected officials.

Mika has worked in both New York and Los Angeles during the past 10 years. She has extensive experience in public relations and in commercial, video, and event production. As an account executive at an international PR firm, she gained a broad understanding of corporate and causerelated marketing and advertising. Mika also has a solid background in media relations after spending several years at Sony Music, where she was heavily involved in all aspects of press and promotions, from initial concept development to the implementation of artist publicity campaigns.