Meet Our Team
Natalie Miller
Natalie is from Evergreen, Colorado and currently serves as Pivotal Places’ President. She graduated from Colorado State University in 2020 with a degree in Biomedical Sciences and a minor in Global Environmental Sustainability. Natalie spends her free time backpacking, hiking, and enjoying all that Colorado has to offer. She was part of the first cohort of CSU students to travel to South Africa with the Communities and Conservation study abroad program where Pivotal Places was born.
Madison Campos
Madison is from Fort Collins, Colorado and currently serves as Pivotal Places’ Secretary. She graduated from Colorado State University in 2019 with a degree in Animal Science and a minor in Biomedical Sciences. Madison enjoys fly-fishing, traveling and all things plants. She joined Natalie in the first cohort of students to travel to South Africa in 2018, where they worked together alongside Dr. McHale and Dr. Bunn to co-found Pivotal Places.
Dr. Melissa Mchale
Dr. Melissa McHale is an urban ecologist whose internationally recognized work mobilizes cutting-edge urban theory and practical science for decision-making in cities. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, at Colorado State University, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Wits City Institute, at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. She received a BS in Conservation Ecology from Rutgers University, a PhD in Ecology from Colorado State University, and served as a postdoctoral research fellow with the Central-Arizona Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research site at Arizona State University.
Her transdisciplinary research program in South Africa is focused on sustainable urbanization processes, on resilient social-ecological systems, and on forging links between leading savanna scientists, conservation organizations, and local communities in the Global South.
Joseph Burke
Joe is from Batavia, Illinois and is currently interning for Pivotal Places. He will be graduating Spring 2021 with a degree in Natural Resource Tourism and a minor in Business. He also attended a leadership program with NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), while in the Alaskan wilderness. Joe enjoys traveling, talking to people and the outdoors; especially the mountains! He too joined Natalie and Madison in the first cohort of students to travel to South Africa in 2018, where they worked together alongside Dr. McHale and Dr. Bunn to co-found Pivotal Places.
Dr. David Bunn
Dr. David Bunn is a South African native currently serving as a Senior Research Scientist at Colorado State University’s Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory. His research and teaching is strongly interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on spatial theory, political geography, and cultural anthropology. He has worked for many years on the relationship between communities and protected areas in the savanna biome. In a long academic career, he has served as department head of various divisions, as a Head of School, and as deputy dean of research. In a long commitment to the cause of international education, he has directed, co-directed, or managed award-winning study abroad programs in South Africa for universities like Harvard, Chicago, Northwestern, Arizona State and Colorado State.
Outside academia, he has worked in government and environmental trusts, pursuing environmental justice for the groups that border protected areas. Exploring the intersection of race, ethnicity, and conservation management, he has produced films and studies of early African game rangers. During the dark years of apartheid in South Africa, he was a committed activist, opposing racism and totalitarian government.