Meet Our Team
Abby Braman, Executive Director and Riverkeeper
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Abby is an outdoor enthusiast who grew up in northern New Jersey, spending family time swimming in the numerous freshwater lakes, hiking and camping. She attended the University of South Carolina on a Navy ROTC scholarship, graduating with a BS in Marine Science and a commission as an officer in the US Navy. Her 10-year Navy career consisted of Navy Flight School, designation as a Naval Aviator, two deployments with Helicopter Squadron 7 as an SH-60F/H Seahawk Pilot, and another tour as a TH-57 Flight Instructor.
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In July 2017, Abby founded Pearl Riverkeeper, a licensed member of the global clean water advocacy group Waterkeeper Alliance, the first of its kind in Mississippi. As the Executive Director, Abby is responsible for strategic planning, public presentations, volunteer organizing, and community engagement. As Riverkeeper, Abby fights for a cleaner swimmable, drinkable, fishable river by responding to citizen pollution complaints, researching and analyzing polluters’ permits, educating the public about the importance of the river and threats to it, advocating for Clean Water Act compliance, and acting as a spokesperson for the Pearl River.
Board of Directors
Jessica Gauley
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Jessica Gauley is a lifelong native of Pearl River, Louisiana where she spent her youth playing in the Pearl River and the Honey Island Swamp. She is an outdoor enthusiast with a strong passion to protect the wetlands through environmental education. She helped form the Honey Island Conservation Program in 2011. Jessica started hosting yearly litter cleanups on the Pearl River in 2012 and hosted her community’s first environmental outreach festival in 2017. She is the owner and lead guide at Honey Island Kayak Tours. Her company’s main focus is to help educate the public about wetland loss and conservation through educational tours hosted on the Pearl River.
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Chris Lockhart
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Chris Lockhart graduated from Murrah High School in 2008. He attended Hinds Community College and then Mississippi State University, where he received a bachelor's degree in biology education in 2012. Chris teaches Biology at Clinton High School and, in 2015, he opened Capital City Kayaks as a way to share his love of kayaking with the community. He offers canoe and kayak rentals, as well as tours along local waterways such as the Pearl River and the reservoir.
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Jill Mastrototaro
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Jill Mastrototaro is the Policy Director for Audubon Delta. Prior to joining Audubon in 2017, she led the National Wildlife Federation's policy agenda in Mississippi and Alabama, striving to ensure billions of recovery dollars from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster are invested in projects that restore the Gulf and benefit local communities. In earlier roles with national and local non-profits, she was deeply involved in Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and led successful state and national initiatives on clean water, renewable energy, public health and conservation issues.
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Billy Mitchell, Treasurer
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Billy Mitchell grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and has lived at the Ross Barnett Reservoir on Pelahatchie Bay for over thirty years. He has spent countless hours enjoying the Reservoir’s recreational opportunities, including running the trails, cycling, swimming, fishing and paddlesports. He is an active volunteer with Keep the Rez Beautiful and Jackson Audubon Society. Billy attended Jackson State University where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, and received a Master of Business Administration from Mississippi College. He is a U.S. Navy Seabee veteran and is recently retired from Vertex Aerospace.
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Andrew Whitehurst
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Andrew Whitehurst is the Water Program Director for Gulf Restoration Network. Andrew works to develop and implement healthy waters campaigns in Mississippi, advancing GRN public policy positions through administrative comment writing, public education, and mobilization. Andrew has a B.A. in English from LSU; a Master's Degree in Wildlife Ecology from Mississippi State University; and a J.D. from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU. His experience includes work in coastal fisheries research, law, and conservation outreach.
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