Before coming to WRI, Brad worked for a small environmental nonprofit to protect the last remaining wild places in the U.S. He assisted in monitoring the voting record of Congress regarding important wilderness legislation and wilderness related votes. He also appeared on multiple occasions around Capitol Hill as a Polar Bear and "Whirley the Fish". He also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the small town of Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan where he taught about the environment in local schools, organized environmental summer camps, and founded an NGO called 'Project Hope Petropavlovsk' which works to meet the needs of the poor in the community.