Our Team Members
MaKara Rumley
Founder & CEO
MaKara Rumley, Esq., is more than an experienced community engagement strategist; she is an important thought leader related to the environment, education, the green economy, and public health. She has a knack for identifying what makes each stakeholder successful and leading the charge for how everyone can win. It takes the private and public sector as well as community viewpoints to reach a project’s full benefit potential.
Oyemwenosa Avenbuan
Community Engagement
Lead
OYEMWENOSA AVENBUAN is a recent graduate of New York University with an MS in Environmental Health Science. She has years of experience in the field of toxicology and scientific communication, she is particularly adept at communicating with other experts and laypeople. She applies her knowledge of environmental health to create plain language translation during community engagement with marginalized and underserved communities in urban and rural areas.
Marisa Carter
Community Engagement
Lead
MARISA CARTER is a graduate of Spelman College and holds an MFA in Interior Design from Savannah College Art and Design. She brings years of experience in schematic development and strategic planning by way of her professional design background. Marisa uses her background by helping with phase planning, visual presentation, and graphic design. Her aim is to assist in community engagement through developing presentations and creating informational material that will aid in the process of communication for all.
Laura McKelvey
Community Engagement Strategist
LAURA MCKELVEY is a Community Engagement Strategist at Hummingbird Firm where she applies the breadth of her expertise of more than 35 years of public service at both the US Peace Corps and the Environmental Protection Agency. She received a master’s degree from Duke University in Environmental Management and she has 20 years of experience working with the Native American Nations, and Environmental Justice communities to address air quality. She specializes in bringing parties together to solve community problems and helps to provide a bridge in communication between community members and technical governmental and industry personnel.
Danny Rumley
Chief Operating Officer
DANNY RUMLEY serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Hummingbird. He directs operations with the local context of the communities being served as the company’s most relevant line of interest. He brings a wealth of experience from the urban agriculture, engineering, and Sustainable Smart Cities fields. Danny believes that the collective access to clean food, clean water, and clean energy for local communities is only achievable through education.
Denise Smith, Ph.D.
Chief Strategy OfficeR
transportation professional who brings years of transportation experience to the team. She has developed an expertise in multimodal transportation planning and travel demand modeling. Dr. Smith is also very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics such as design, traffic operation and management, and autonomous vehicle technology. Her experience in academia, planning, and engineering, equip her with a unique perspective to contribute to projects.
Brendol Swygert
Executive Assistant
BRENDOL SWYGERT is a passionate, detail-oriented, committed professional with multiple years of operational support, client engagement, and organizational first line of communication. As the Executive Assistant for Hummingbird, she utilizes her skills to cater to the unique needs of the company’s clientele.
Di Mike Wang
Chief Financial Officer
DI MIKE WANG is the chief financial officer for Hummingbird. As CFO, he brings over 10 years of experience in finance with a career that has spanned from investment banking to corporate finance. Most recently, he served as the director of finance for an institutionally backed biotechnology company and was responsible for providing strategic insights and guiding the company through budgeting, financial planning, fundraising, and infrastructure transformation. Prior to that, he worked in investment banking and investment management at Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley respectively.
