Michael Kelly is a Project Director at Counter Tools and is passionate about policy change and making a positive impact. Learn more about Michael’s background in his staff profile below.

Tell us a little bit about your background before you came to Counter Tools.

I’m from St. Louis, Missouri, and attended the University of Missouri (Mizzou) for my Bachelor’s degree and my Master of Public Health degree. My MPH focused on Health Policy & Promotion and I also attained a Certificate in Epidemiology. While at Mizzou, I was a Corps Member and Team Leader for an AmeriCorps-funded preschool literacy and social-emotional development program called Jumpstart, interned with the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation advocating for and analyzing Tobacco 21 policies, and educated about and enforced the University’s new Tobacco-Free policy.

After attaining my MPH, I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico for three years. Through Rescue Agency as Campaign Manager of No Minor Sale, I led New Mexico’s leading point-of-sale tobacco prevention policy advocacy campaign. I also co-chaired New Mexico’s largest tobacco prevention & control conference, the NMACTion Conference, for three years before moving back to St. Louis in Fall of 2022.

How long have you worked at Counter Tools and what made you decide to work here?

I started working at Counter Tools in April 2023. I was also familiar with the great work that Counter Tools was doing at the point of sale as I regularly frequented Counter Tools’ website to learn of new ideas to further the point-of-sale work I led in New Mexico. With that said, Counter Tools’ expertise on policy efforts at the point of sale excited me to join the team as a Project Director!

What is something you enjoy about your role?

The scope of the work. Every day is an exciting opportunity to engage partners and clients about the importance of policy efforts that promote public health in states across the country.

Do you have any pets, children or other family members you’d like to mention?

Yes! I have two dogs. Teddy (Left) and Swansea (Right), who’s named after my favorite soccer club, Swansea City!