Shabina N. Bahl
Chief Advancement Officer
(she/her)
Shabina is a seasoned fundraising leader and team builder having raised more than $400M while leading development teams at nonprofits ranging from public policy organizations and environmental advocacy groups to hospitals, universities and think tanks. As our Chief Advancement Officer, Shabins leads a team of professionals responsible for raising $65+ Million annually to fund programs that support the mission of Sierra Club.
Prior to Sierra Club, Shabina served as Vice President, Philanthropic Partnerships at Pew Charitable Trusts and raised $100 million+ in three years while fundraising for a range of issues from land and ocean conservation to criminal justice reform. Before she joined Pew, she spent fifteen years in fundraising and leadership roles at her alma mater, Johns Hopkins. Shabina's pivotal role at Hopkins focused on fundraising for cancer research and patient care. In partnership with surgeons and scientists, she led an unprecedented $100 million+ fundraising campaign aimed at preventing and curing urologic cancers. Prior to joining the non-profit community, Shabina spent her early career in the banking sector.
Shabina is an avid volunteer and a dedicated board member, and is currently serving on the board of Richcroft services in Hunt Valley, MD, an organization focused on providing opportunities for children and adults with disabilities. She is a first-generation immigrant to this country, having been born and raised in India. Shabina lives in Fairfax, VA with her fiance and family, and occasional foster dogs.
Holly Bender
Chief Energy Officer
(she/her)
As Chief Energy Officer, Holly brings more than 15 years of experience building winning strategic campaigns to address the climate crisis, including 12 years working on and helping to lead the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, which Politico described as the most extensive and effective campaign in the history of the Sierra Club and the environmental movement. Holly leads a team of Campaign Directors, Analysts, and Campaign Strategists who are responsible for developing the Sierra Club’s climate strategy through to the transformation of our energy systems away from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Holly grew up in Vermont, and spent her childhood hiking, canoeing, and exploring in the woods behind her house. A toxic chemical spill left her childhood home with dangerous levels of indoor air pollution, and at age eight, Holly knew she wanted to become a lawyer working with other families impacted by pollution. Holly became an attorney, and after internships working on environmental justice and air pollution, Holly started at the Sierra Club in the Environmental Law Program managing the organization’s litigation approval docket on issues ranging from endangered species protection to regulating toxic chemicals in consumer products. Over 15 years, Holly has held positions as a regional and national campaign leader with a focus on building teams and driving winning strategies that have a meaningful impact on people’s lives.
Holly lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband Dave (a fellow clean energy lawyer) and their two daughters Hazel and Margot.
Kia Brown
Chief of Volunteer Experience
(she/her)
Kia is a seasoned executive who has spent over 20 years working at the highest levels of government and non-profit organizations. Much of her professional career was at the NAACP where she was privileged to serve 4 National Presidents in the areas of Executive Management, Operations, Stakeholder Relations, and Strategic Advisement. Kia’s final role at the NAACP was Chief of Staff. She is known for her ability to develop policy and strategy, serve stakeholders and constituents, and create order from ambiguity. In addition to non-profit work, Kia has spent a number of years working in the area of politics as the treasurer for statewide and congressional campaigns. Most recently she was honored to work for a second time at the US House of Representatives as Director of Operations for Congressman Kweisi Mfume.
Kia is also the creator and executive producer of the YouTube show Grown Women Talk which prior to COVID-19 broadcasted weekly with information on politics, health, beauty, fashion, fitness, and relationships.
Kia is a proud Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Howard University where she received a degree in political science and attended as a legacy student following in her parents’ footsteps. One of her greatest honors was receiving the 2017 NAACP Medgar Evers Award for Excellence, the highest honor bestowed upon a national professional staff member of the NAACP for outstanding service.
Kia lives in Baltimore, MD with her husband and is the mother of 2 daughters. She was influenced by her health conscious grandparents who taught her the value of holistic health resulting in her love of walking in the outdoors and growing her own vegetables (particularly the best beefsteak tomatoes) and herbs. If in Baltimore, you may see her at a local farmers market or walking in her community.
Aida Mariam Davis
Chief People Officer
(she/her)
Born to an Ethiopian family in Baltimore, Aida Mariam Davis lived between multiple worlds. She is a descendant of anti-colonial fighters who kept Ethiopia free from colonialism when virtually all of Africa was carved out and divided among European powers. She was raised in Apple Valley, CA where her father was a member of the Mojave Desert Sierra Club and instilled a love of people and our planet. She left Apple Valley to attend UC Berkeley and it was there in Oakland that her life of activism sparked. In college, she worked for Malcolm X Grassroots Organizing (MXGM), then for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who invited her to join the Gathering of the Elders -- a meeting of civil rights leaders and young people to dialog across generations, experiences, and communities to advance social, economic and environmental justice.
These formative experiences are the foundation for her work with the People Team at Sierra Club. Before joining the Sierra Club, Davis led Decolonize Design, a boutique consulting firm with clients spanning the nonprofit sector, philanthropy, and Fortune 500 companies. She created the Belonging, Dignity, Justice, and Joy (BDJJ) framework as a powerful and sustainable alternative to the often superficial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) industrial complex. As a longtime community organizer-turned-founder of Decolonize Design, she believes that successful movement building is not rooted in transactional processes, but instead in deep relational efforts that speak to our universal sacred personhood and sustainability of our earth.
Davis lives in Tongva territory with her family. She acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the true stewards of the unceded territory of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). She pays respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.
Adrienne Frazier
Chief Financial Officer
(she/her)
Adrienne Frazier oversees Sierra Club’s accounting, financial planning and analysis, grants management, and chapter financial management functions while also partnering closely with the COO on managing organizational operations. She started at the Sierra Club in 2008 and has held various roles, most recently as Senior Director of Finance, working closely with the financial leadership team throughout her tenure. She has a strong interest in working within finance and operations to establish and promote policies, procedures, and allocation decision making that further the Sierra Club’s work on equity, justice, and inclusion. Adrienne also serves as the primary staff liaison to the finance and risk, audit, and investment advisory committees of the Board of Directors. Prior to the Sierra Club, Adrienne worked in auditing at KPMG with a focus on nonprofit clients. She is a CPA and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from University of Vermont. Adrienne lives in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts. Outside of work, Adrienne can be found practicing yoga and exploring the coast and mountains of New England with her husband and two young kids.
Ben Jealous
Executive Director
(he/him)
Ben Jealous is the 7th Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Founded in 1892, it is America's largest and oldest organization of local volunteers dedicated to exploring, enjoying, and protecting the outdoors.
Ben may be best known for being the youngest national President and CEO in the history of the NAACP. He led the organization through tough financial times and to record growth in membership and fundraising.
Born to parents who met as civil rights activists and became Sierra Club members, Ben's commitment to preserving wild places and defending embattled communities was evident early on. At 13, he completed a college marine biology course and became the youngest volunteer guide in the history of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. At 14, he organized high school students to help Jesse Jackson's pathbreaking 1988 campaign for president. At 15, he helped organize a protest against the clear-cutting of old-growth redwoods at the California State Capitol.
In his 20s, he was an investigative reporter for Mississippi's frequently firebombed Jackson Advocate newspaper. There, he helped free a black farmer who had been framed for arson and a white inmate who had been targeted for helping to convict corrupt guards who had murdered a prisoner. His most extensive reporting was on industrial poisoning and cancer clusters among children in a rural black community.
His first major action as head of the NAACP was to establish climate justice committees throughout its network of more than 2,000 local chapters and help lead them to support the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. Ever the coalition builder, he would later help convince the Sierra Club to join the NAACP in fighting to defend voting rights.
Ben is a natural-born bridge builder with deep American roots, the son of a black mother and a white father who left whose marriage was illegal in 17 states. He is cousin to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, Confederate General Robert E Lee, and the formerly enslaved American turned First President of Liberia, Joseph Jenkins Roberts. He is the direct descendant of 6 officers in the Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army, the youngest child combatant at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and two of Virginia's earliest Black legislators.
A Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, he teaches leadership and social entrepreneurship courses. The former Rhodes Scholar's latest book, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing, was published in January 2023. An avid paddler, skier, and hiker, Ben lives in a bird sanctuary on the Chesapeake Bay with his children Morgan and Jack and their dog Charlie.
Mikaela King
Chief of Membership Growth
(she/her)
Mikaela is an industry-recognized nonprofit fundraiser and fundraising operations leader with an award-winning track record in building and growing integrated fundraising, advocacy, and engagement programs for a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. With over twenty years of experience in digital marketing, direct mail, telemarketing, DRTV, canvass, (c)4 advocacy, planned giving, midlevel, and monthly giving programs as well the necessary data, systems, and analytics infrastructure, Mikaela has raised more than half a billion dollars for a variety of nonprofits including National Geographic Society, Defenders of Wildlife, Toys for Tots, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Wounded Warrior Project, Disabled American Veterans, American Heart Association and the U. S. Olympic Committee. Mikaela King has also served on the DMAW Board of Directors since 2011 and was DMAW's Board President in 2018.
Mikaela lives in Maryland on unceded Susquehannock lands with her husband Adam, daughter Sorcia, and two rescue dogs Twinkle Toes and CeCe. She serves as the Treasurer of her daughter’s Cub Scout pack, loves spending time at the ocean, reading, traveling, DIY and home decorating, and finding local adventures to explore with friends.
Erica McKinley
Chief Legal Officer
(she/her)
Erica is a seasoned attorney and trusted advisor with twenty-four years of litigation, risk management, compliance, and regulatory experience. As Chief Legal Officer, Erica oversees legal work arising out of the Sierra Club’s corporate governance, strategy, operations, people, culture & equity, business development, political compliance, and enterprise risk management functions.
Erica also manages litigation outside of the Environmental Law Program. Erica provides strategic advice and counsel to the Executive Director and the Sierra Club Board of Directors. She works closely with senior leadership to advance the Sierra Club’s mission, values, and programmatic activities. Under Erica’s leadership, the Sierra Club will expand the breadth of legal services available to its community through the Office of General Counsel. Prior to joining Sierra Club, Erica served as Chief Legal Officer for the Big Ten Conference, as well as the University of Mississippi. She was also Chief of Litigation in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Erica’s union experience includes serving as Chief Operating Officer for the National Basketball Players Association. Erica started her career at two prominent international law firms, Arnold & Porter and Akin Gump. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Mississippi. Afterwards, she clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Michael Parrish
Chief Operating Officer
(he/him)
Michael comes to Sierra Club after 25 plus years as a Strategic Planning and Operations executive in the private sector. His experiences give him a diverse lens honed by overseeing business process redesign at West Marine, cultivating small, fast-growing businesses, and leading operations in multinational enterprises as they navigated dynamic regional markets. His versatility enables him to digest the big picture, develop innovative strategies, and implement relatable tactics that embrace and adapt to ever-changing conditions.
Michael spends his free time playing tennis and spending time outdoors or traveling with his family. Michael has immersed himself within his son’s Boy Scout troop as an Assistant Scoutmaster, hiking and car camping throughout the California wilderness.
Phil Radford
Chief Strategy Officer
(he/him)
Twenty eight years after first knocking on doors for the Sierra Club in Missouri, Phil Radford returned to the Club as the Chief Strategy Officer. Phil has served as the CEO of Greenpeace US; the founder and CEO of Champion.us, Progressive Multiplier, and Power Shift; and the co-founder of the Democracy Initiative, Membership Drive, and the Grassroots Team. He has a background in grassroots organizing, corporate social responsibility, climate change, and clean energy. New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin referred to a Greenpeace campaign during Radford's tenure as "Activism at Its Best."