Calvert Street Group

01/23/2025

Brook Fenstermacher, our digital advocacy coordinator, is celebrating her first anniversary at Calvert Street Group. She came to us from a background in marketing and communications. Over the past year, she has become a key player on our digital team - as well as being a lifesaver for the whole staff. Brook brings a smile and a can-do attitude to every project. And with her workload of dealing with some of the digital tools and regulations that are ever-changing and often for no apparent reason, her job would make most people pull their hair out. Thank you, Brook!

01/17/2025

Calvert Street staffers plan to attend quite a few conferences this year. Among them are AGG1, ACP Siting and Permitting, the Virginia Solar Summit, Waste Expo, American Clean Power, ICSC Las Vegas, CSEF, RE+, and the Illinois Renewable Conference, among others. What conferences are you looking forward to in 2025?

01/06/2025

We are celebrating last year and looking forward to an even better 2025.

12/16/2024

Many thanks to Darden Copeland, Geoff Patterson, and Mark Drury, who each represented Calvert Street Group as panelists at national conferences this year. It was our firm's honor to be selected to help lead sessions for professionals at the AGG1 Expo, the educational portion of the annual National Stone Sand & Gravel Association conference in Nashville in March; the Convention Sports Entertainment Facilities conference in Las Vegas in May; Midwest Energy Policy Series in Columbia in August; and the 2024 Tennessee Valley Solar + Storage Conference in Huntsville last month.

12/13/2024

Eight years. This senior director of strategic communications has been making his mark on our clients, the community, and the Calvert Street team for almost 3000 days. Our founder, Darden, has been teasing Mark Drury for the past three years that he's behind on taking his five-year sabbatical. But he can't help it - Mark cares deeply about his work and values his colleagues and their efforts. He received the highest award at our firm - the Lenz Award - in 2020. His background is impressive - years at NewsChannel 5 Nashville, Dell, working for two governors in the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, and communications for Nashville's mayor and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. But more important than any of that is Mark's generosity in the community and to his family and friends. We who get to work with him get the benefit of his experience, kindness, and sense of humor. Happy work anniversary, Mark!

12/02/2024

Lucky, lucky us at Calvert Street – we’ve had Tom Jurkovich on staff for a year. Our Senior Director provides wise counsel to our folks in the field and is a business development guru, always on the lookout for a new client or project and ways to expand our business. He’s also the first to arrive and last to leave the office and ever ready for a good chat about politics, strategy, Nashville, Vanderbilt University (his undergraduate alma mater), or the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he earned his law degree. Tom came to us with a wealth of experience from his time in three Nashville mayors’ offices, at BNA, and in the federal and corporate world. His earliest experience, though, was as a drawer assembler at a cabinet factory – his storied career seems to have no bounds! His kindness extends to helping someone stuck in our muddy parking lot to get moving again through an ingenious use of plywood. Thanks, Tom, for bringing such humor, hard work, and wise perspective to our crew.

12/01/2024

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Calvert Street! We’re thankful for our amazing team, our clients, and the communities we work with. Wishing you all a day filled with great food, laughter, and the warmth of good company. Enjoy the holiday!

11/25/2024

Calvert Street is excited to announce three recent hires who are already positively impacting our team with new ideas, keen insights, and a willingness to hit the ground running.

Ashton Pickard, operations coordinator, comes to us from Oracle, where she worked in business development. This isn’t her first stint at Calvert Street though - she interned for a semester each on our digital and campaign teams. Ashton graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2023 with a degree in public relations and a minor in business administration. With her passion for enhancing team efficiency and finding innovative solutions to everyday challenges, she’s keeping us organized and implementing new systems.

Also coming to us with an impressive background is Britton Stokes. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, as an intern with the Executive Office of the President at the The White House, and in local political campaigns before graduating from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). Britton is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, and now is already an essential part of projects in Kansas and Georgia. His political and community-organizing sensibilities are proving helpful, and we’re so glad he’s on the team.

Virginia Nash, who just started this week, is our new strategic communications manager. The former director of communications and public affairs at Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS) who has also worked at law firms and in Metro Nashville government, Virginia brings expertise to our team that will be instrumental for multiple clients. A Nashville native and two-time Lipscomb University alumna, she is a welcome addition to our growing staff.

11/22/2024

Congratulations to our stellar Director of Renewables, Geoff Patterson, who's celebrating his anniversary at Calvert Street Group. Our lawyer-turned-community-educator-and-persuader has been working hard for our clients, winning new business, and representing the firm like a boss for four years. He's been recognized for his work on two of our "project of the year," presented at multiple national renewable energy conferences, and mentors other staff reliably. Geoff's favorite movie is No Country for Old Men and back in the day, he kicked off his career in landscaping. This Kentucky kid does us proud, and we're lucky to have him on the team.

11/20/2024

At Calvert Street, we provide a unique opportunity for political campaigners looking to transition from the high-stress environment of electoral politics to meaningful advocacy that reshapes communities. Our firm leads campaigns that aren’t about getting a candidate elected but are focused on securing approvals for transformative projects like renewable energy developments and industrial upgrades across the United States. These projects not only promise to enhance local economies but also improve housing standards and bolster essential resources for such areas nationwide.

By joining our team, you’ll be part of crafting and executing strategies that navigate through the complexities of public approvals and community engagement, ensuring that each project receives the green light it deserves. This work offers the thrill of campaigning—building coalitions, strategizing communications, and mobilizing support—yet without the burnout commonly associated with political races. It’s a chance to apply your skills in a setting that values deep analysis and long-term impact over the rush to Election Day.

Explore a career with Calvert Street where your expertise in campaign strategy can continue to flourish in a balanced and rewarding environment. Learn more about how you can make a difference with us by visiting our newly updated website, where you can also get a glimpse of our team culture and the values that drive our work.

Calvert Street is a nationally-recognized consulting firm that specializes in crafting local campaigns to win land-use battles and nonpartisan elections across a wide variety of industries and communities.

11/11/2024

On this , Calvert Street Group honors all veterans, and we are especially thankful for outstanding employees who served in the United States military. Campaign Manager Andrew Escobar served as a Third Class Petty Officer in the United States Navy onboard the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). Campaign Coordinator Britton Stokes served as a Private First Class in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, 4th Marine Division. We also want to recognize the service of our alumni Wade Giltz and Marquis Gough.

11/06/2024

After seven years of debate, discussion, and bumper-to-bumper traffic, Nashville voters have approved a dedicated sales tax to fund the city’s transit system.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s Choose How You Move campaign ran a decidedly different campaign for his $3 billion transit initiative, focusing on improved bus service, 600 new synchronized traffic lights, 86 miles of new sidewalks, and a sales tax increase that pulled significant revenue from visitors to Music City as well as Nashville residents. But there was another significant difference as well: the timing.

Back in 2016, Calvert Street Managing Director Darden Copeland urged city leaders to schedule the referendum for Nashville’s $5.2 billion transit initiative to coincide with a presidential election, reasoning there would likely be a higher than normal turnout of progressives and as a result, stronger support for transit. Instead, the referendum was scheduled for a low turnout May 2018 city election and was rejected 64% against and 36% for, despite supporters outspending opponents 3-to-1. This time, larger turnout was a plus.

Credit should be given to Mayor O’Connell who took early steps to bring state leaders and former transit opponents into the fold. Also, the non-profit Green Lights for Nashville and the Nashville Moves Action Fund PAC made sure the transit campaign was adequately resourced. Convincing taxpayers to support transit is a heavy lift no matter which city undertakes the debate. A growing Nashville should be congratulated.

Transit proponents see this November's presidential election as their best bet for success. This private analysis points to some reasons why — and so does what happened in Austin.