Senior Staff

Kenneth C. Passarella

Prior to founding Passarella & Associates in 1996, President and Principal Ecologist Ken Passarella was an environmental consultant and ecologist in both the public and private sectors. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Marine Science from Jacksonville University and the University of South Florida, respectively, and has guided a number of major public and private projects through the local, state, and federal permitting and environmental planning process.

Ken has over 30 years of experience and is certified as a Professional Wetland Scientist by the Society of Wetland Scientists and as a Senior Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America. He is also certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a wetland delineator. He is a member of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Ecological Society of America, the National Association of Environmental Professionals, Florida Association of Environmental Professionals, and the Florida Airports Council. Ken has served as president and board member of the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals and also was the founder and president of the Southwest Florida chapter.

Michael A. Myers

Michael A. Myers, Senior Vice President of Passarella & Associates, joined the firm in 1996, and provides expertise in ecological services for the Lee and Collier School districts (FL), private developments and transportation projects. Mike has extensive experience in permitting; preparing environmental impact statements and ecological assessments; conducting wetland delineations, listed species surveys and relocation; and wetland-mitigation design. He is a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Wildlife Biology and Management.

Mike has over 20 years of experience and is certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a wetland delineator and by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to perform gopher tortoise relocations. He is a member of the Society of Wetland Scientists and the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals where he served a two-year term on the board of directors. He is a past president and former board member of the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals Southwest Florida chapter. Since 2010, the Lee County Board of County Commissioners has appointed Mike to the Eagle Technical Advisory Committee which assists the County with monitoring of bald eagle nests and provides technical advice to landowners on Southern bald eagle biological requirements.

Andrew Woodruff

Vice President Andrew Woodruff joined Passarella & Associates in 1997, following five years as the lead environmental consultant on a variety of Florida statewide projects that required expertise in wildlife and protected species surveys. At Passarella & Associates he serves as an environmental and ecological consultant for private development, public enterprises, and transportation projects

Andy has over 20 years of experience and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology from Emory University and Environmental Engineering with a major in Florida-Specific Aquatic Science from the University of Florida, respectively.

He is certified as a Professional Wetland Scientist by the Society of Wetland Scientists, by the Florida Division of Forestry as a prescribed-burn manager, and by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a wetland delineator. Andy is recognized by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as a Qualified Mitigation Supervisor. He is a member of the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals and the Society of Wetland Scientists.

Shane Johnson

Shane Johnson joined Passarella & Associates in 2004. As a team leader, he supervises project teams and oversees business development, client relations and document preparation, as well as conducting jurisdictional determinations, environmental construction inspections, environmental-impact and ecological assessments, listed species surveys and wetland monitoring.

Shane has over 15 years of experience and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Before joining Passarella & Associates, he worked as a shorebird technician with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation where he documented the nesting behavior of the area’s bald eagles. He previously served as a research assistant with the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory in Carbondale, Ill., working on a meadow vole diet-composition study.

Shane is a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agent and has also completed a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission workshop focused on identifying and handling invasive exotic reptiles. He holds memberships in the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals, the Florida Airports Council, the Society of Wetland Scientists, and the Calusa Herpetological Society where he served a four year term as president.

Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan joined Passarella & Associates, Inc. in 2005. He has been involved in numerous projects involving wetland delineations, wetlands permitting, mitigation activities, exotic species management and listed species surveys. He has been assigned team leadership of the company’s Charleston-area office, which was a homecoming for him.

Chris has over 10 years of experience and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Presbyterian College in South Carolina. Before joining Passarella & Associates, he worked on special environmental research and management projects at the Medway Plantation in Goose Creek, SC. He also has held positions as a laboratory technician at the University of Georgia, University of North Carolina and Duke University.

Chris is certified as a Professional Wetland Scientist by the Society of Wetland Scientists, is a South Carolina Certified Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Inspector (CEPSCI), a member of the South Carolina Native Plant Society, and a member of the North Carolina Association of Environmental Professionals.

Bethany Brosious

Bethany Brosious joined Passarella & Associates in 2006. She provides ecological consulting services for private and public development and focuses on airports, mining projects, urban development, mitigation design and oversight, and public utility projects. She has had extensive experience preparing local, state, and federal permitting documents; conducing agency negotiations; environmental construction inspections; wetland jurisdictional determinations; and listed wildlife permitting, surveys, and relocation.

Bethany has over 10 years of experience and holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Animal Science from the University of Florida and Environmental Science from Florida Gulf Coast University, respectively. Prior to joining Passarella & Associates, she served as an intern with the South Florida Water Management District where she handled data management for Picayune Strand restoration projects. She previously also served as a graduate research assistant at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Coastal Watershed Institute where she conducted a zooplankton-monitoring project. Bethany holds memberships in the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals, Society of Wetland Scientists, and the Florida Airports Council. She served on the Board of Trustees for the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium for two years.

Lauren Edinger

Lauren Edinger joined Passarella & Associates in 2014. She has been involved in numerous projects involving wetland jurisdictional determinations, local, state, and federal permitting, agency negotiations, mitigation design and oversight, exotic species management, and listed species surveys and relocation.

Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science from Florida State University.  She is a life-long avid fisherwoman and member of the Society of Wetland Scientists and the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals where she served a 2-year term on the Board of Directors and as President of the Southwest Florida Chapter.  Lauren currently serves as Nominations Committee Chair for the Southwest Florida Chapter.

Heather Samborski

Heather Samborski joined Passarella & Associates in 2014. She has been involved in numerous projects involving wetland jurisdictional determinations, local, state, and federal permitting, agency negotiations, mitigation design and oversight, exotic species management, and listed species surveys, permitting, and relocation.

Heather holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology from Eastern Connecticut State University and Environmental Science from Florida Gulf Coast University, respectively. Her Master’s Thesis research was on habitat selection by Florida panthers in habitat with invasive exotic plant cover.  She is a member of the Society of Wetland Scientists and the Florida Association of Environmental Professionals where she served on the Board of Directors of the Southwest Florida Chapter from 2014 through 2018 and as Vice President from 2018 through 2019.

Melissa Kruse

Melissa Kruse joined the Passarella & Associates team in 2004. Prior to becoming the Marketing Director, she was the Executive Administrator managing the administrative team and assisting Ken Passarella. In her role as Marketing Director, Melissa creates and updates all print and electronic marketing content; prepares proposals, statements of qualifications, and presentations; creates ads and press releases; manages social media, public relations, and relationship marketing efforts; develops eMarketing initiatives; handles website development and management; and produces the company’s monthly newsletter. Melissa brings expertise in digital marketing, graphic design, relationship marketing, marketing communications, and public relations.

Melissa earned a Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and holds a Master’s degree in Marketing Communication from the University of Denver.

Felipe Lemus

Felipe Lemus joined Passarella & Associates in 2007. As the GIS Manager, he supervises the GIS and AutoCAD divisions and oversees GIS business development, client relations, and preparation of graphics, as well as provides expertise in GIS services on a variety of projects. Felipe has extensive experience in ESRI technologies and experience working with other open source software. Services include production of thematic and choropleth maps, raster & geospatial analysis, spatial and attribute queries, geocoding addresses, georeferencing images, database design, GIS online mapping, GIS modeling and python scripting.

He is a graduate of the University of Phoenix with a degree in Business and Marketing and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in GIS from Pennsylvania State University. He is a member of the Florida Urban and Regional Information Systems Association.