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2009 Election Candidate Forum:
The Questions

What leadership positions have you held in the Sierra Club, and what have you accomplished in those positions?

Boldman, Lane

• Chair, Cumberland Chapter Mountaintop Removal Task Force, 2008
     o Halted Mountaintop Removal valley fills in Kentucky through successful challenge of Army Corps permits.
• Chair, National Council of Sierra Club Leaders, 2005-2008
     o Advanced the Council’s efficiency through improved communications, dialogue, reporting and accountability. Improved connections between the Council and Board.
• Chair, Cumberland Chapter, 2002-2005
     o Stopped the world’s largest coal company’s first major new coal-fired power plant in a generation, three years before the Club made this issue a national priority. Longest-running legal challenge in the Club’s National Coal campaign.
• Chair, Bluegrass Group 1997-2000
     o Took on major battles regarding water privatization and sprawl.
• National Volunteer Leadership Advisory Committee, 2008
• Chair, Board Natural Gas Fracturing Task Force, 2008
• More: I have held many more leader positions in the Club since 1992, including forests and wildlands, and outings leadership roles. For details visit www.laneboldman.com

Gibson, Laurence

At the group level I have been Chair of the El Paso Regional Group since 1999, subsequently also serving as Outings Chair and Newsletter Editor. Perhaps our greatest achievement is working for and winning a national Environmental Justice Site designation for El Paso. We have also been active in working with city and state legislators, for their election and on our most passionate issue, keeping the ASARCO smelter closed.

At the Rio Grande Chapter I have been an ExCom member and Chapter Secretary since 2002. As secretary of a strategically important chapter active in litigation, New Mexico legislation/lobbying, and politics as well as conservation issues, I have endeavored to produce accurate minutes, promote collegiality within the committee, and to be available at all times for minute citations.

Mann, Robin

As local Group ExCom member, I have helped the Group conduct local conservation and political efforts and served as the lead on three local grassroots campaigns.  As chapter Water Issues Committee chair, I represented the Club in collaborative efforts to strengthen various state-level requirements and guided the related grassroots engagement, and helped launch and build a new state-wide clean water coalition.   I chaired three national campaign teams, working to build effective volunteer and staff teamwork, and guiding deliberations on strategy, outreach and grassroots mobilization.  I served on and chaired the national Conservation Governance Committee, prior to its sunsetting, and helped lead its efforts to oversee a broad range of conservation entities and to resolve conservation policy-related conflicts.  As a member of the Board, I have been particularly involved in helping implement the conservation-related Project Renewal restructuring and procedural changes, and overseeing early development of our new Climate Recovery Partnership.

Morris, Frank

I’m Chairperson of Long Island Sierra Club, and an elected member of the executive committee of NYS Sierra Club.  I am former vice chairperson of the NYC Sierra Club, where I was in charge of vice  : ). I raised over $20,000 for NYC Sierra club through wine tastings, the cultivation of major donors, and a member supported Walk For Clean Drinking Water. I’ve been extensively quoted in Long Island’s newspaper, Newsday, supporting a Sierra Club endorsed candidate in a critical State Senate campaign. (The candidate won, defeating an entrenched incumbent.) I’ve been featured supporting Sierra Club on Long Island Television News 12.  I’ve organized fundraisers (organic wine tastings, a concert for the environment, and a Kayakathon) that have raised over $5,000 for Long Island Sierra Club.   I’ve led effective executive committee meetings using Roberts Rules that consistently engaged 13 to 17 agenda items in two hours.

Reyes, Rafael

Member, SC Board of Directors: 5/06 – Present
Chair, Visibility & Outreach Advisory Cmte: 4/07 - Present
Chair, Cool Cities Mobilization Taskforce: 6/06 – 1/08
Organizational Effectiveness Committee: 1/05 – 5/06
Chair, Loma Prieta Chapter Bay Meadows Taskforce: 3/05 – 5/06
Chair, Sierra Summit Communications Cmte: 3/05 – 9/05
Chair, Beat Bush Campaign, Loma Prieta Chapter: 1/04 – 12/04
Acting Director and Chapter Chair, Loma Prieta Chapter: 1/02 – 1/04
Political Chair, Loma Prieta Chapter: 1/01 – 1/03

The accomplishments I’m most proud of in my Sierra Club leadership roles are:
• Board: ensuring our work on global warming has had the necessary resources, initiating our ClimateCrossroads.org online community, and building the technological and grassroots capacity of our Cool Cities campaign.
• Organizational Effectiveness: supported innovations such as the National Purpose/Local Action Project and the Sierra Summit
• Chapter leadership: leading in 2004 a highly successful battleground-state phone bank campaign, developing a top-notch local political team and revitalizing the chapter.

Scott, David

Current roles:

Co-Chair, New Administration Task Force. Coordinating the process for conveying Club recommendations on appointees and policy to the Obama Administration.

Member, Mission Strategy Advisory Committee.  Developing recommendations for the Board on long-term opportunities and threats facing the Club.

Member, Curbing Carbon Campaign Design Team.  Developing Club campaign to get comprehensive carbon dioxide emissions legislation.

Previous roles:

Vice-Chair, Conservation Governance Committee, 2007-08 (Appointed 2005).  Coordinated the Club’s National Conservation Program.  Helped develop our Smart Energy Campaign, including successful projects on car emissions, mercury reductions and renewable energy.  Also helped lead the  America's Wild Legacy Campaign.

Chair, Sustainable Planet Strategy Team, 2004-2005 (Appointed 2002).  Responsible for Population, Trade, and Energy Programs.

Regional Vice President, 1999-2001. Led the Arctic Refuge fight in the Midwest, where a former Republican senator cast crucial votes against drilling. Led campaign for stronger Great Lakes pollution standards.

Chair, Ohio Chapter, 1999-2002.  Conservation Chair, 1996-1999

Warshaw, Chris

I have held a number of Sierra Club leadership positions at both the chapter and national level. At the chapter level, I have served on the core team of the Loma Prieta Chapter’s Cool Cities campaign since I started graduate school at Stanford University in 2006.  I helped recruit and manage over 20 local Cool Cities teams as well as 2,400 local climate activists. At the national level, I have served on a number of major committees and task forces, including the Visibility and Outreach Committee, the Online/Offline Internet Committee, the Social Networking Committee, and the Cool Cities Task Force. On each of these committees, I sought to use my experience in grassroots strategy and tactics to build the Sierra Club from the bottom-up by helping to develop strategies to increase the activism of our online supporters and build the Internet infrastructure of local chapters.

Wheeler, Phil

Member of Finance & Risk Management (FaRM) Advisory Committee (2008-2009):
• Participated in development of Club’s 2009 budget
• Risk Management Liaison to Outdoor Activities Program Team
Member of Outdoor Activities Governance Committee (2006-2008):
• Leading role in Mountaineering and International Outings review task forces; prepared final reports
• Lead role in other OAGC initiatives
PV-SB Group ExCom Member and Six-Year Chair (1991-2008):
• Shaped development in community to protect open spaces
• Projects to protect native plants and habitat
• Election of environment-friendly city councils
• Chapter ExCom representative
Chair of Angeles Chapter Safety Committee (2008-2009):
• Revised Angeles Chapter Safety Policy
• Implemented Quick-Turnaround outings approval and website publishing to enable short-notice outings
Member of Recreation Issues Committee (2007-2008):
• Contributed to review of 2007 Forest Service rule making
Member of Training Governance Committee (2007-2008):
• Sunset in May 2008; contribution limited