Meet the Board

Patrick Murphy, Vice President for Chapters, Groups and Volunteers

Since first joining a Sierra Club Activist Outing to defend Utah wilderness in the 1990s, Patrick has been a volunteer leader for over 25 years. His work has broadened in those decades – from wilderness preservation to climate change, and from Sierra Student Coalition activism to Sierra Club’s internal coaching, conflict resolution, and transformation into an equitable and anti-racist organization. He is an Outings leader, Group and Chapter volunteer, and member of the Board’s Equity and Finance committees. Outside of Sierra Club, Patrick is a sustainability and social impact consultant with Point B, helping business and nonprofit leaders build the world we need.

David Scott, Secretary

Dave Scott is serving in his fifth 3-year term on the Board (May 2023 - May 2026). As Secretary, he’s serving in his eighth year as a member of the Board Executive Committee, having previously served as Vice President (2010-2013), President (2013-2015), and Treasurer (2018-2020). He has also chaired the Board’s Conservation Policy Advisory Committee.

Prior to his time on the Board, Dave held leadership positions that included Ohio Chapter Chair, Regional Vice President for the Midwest, and leadership roles on the national Conservation Governance Committee. First drawn to Sierra Club activism by a desire to protect Alaska wilderness and the Great Lakes, Dave has spent months in northern Alaska, the Tongass National Forest and other places Sierra Club played a major role in protecting.

In addition to his Sierra Club roles, Dave has had a long career as an attorney. Initially, he worked as a poverty lawyer in Appalachia and several midwestern cities, and later worked to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities. He’s taught university writing courses with an environmental theme, and he’s been a contributor to the NY Times Letters and Book Review pages since 2000. Over the past 25 years, he has cared for six rescue dogs.

Cheyenne Skye Branscum, Treasurer

Cheyenne Skye Branscum is an educator and environmental justice leader based in Oklahoma. Her work the past several years has been especially focused on improving the lives of tribal members and rural Oklahomans through better access to education and a clean environment. Within the Sierra Club, she has served as Oklahoma Chapter Chair, Oklahoma Beyond Coal volunteer, CCL delegate, CCR chair, History and Future Task Force member, Restorative Accountability Implementation Team co-owner, and Governance Task Force member. She also runs the Oklahoma Geo Team, a nonprofit focused on improving GIS education to middle and high school students, especially those typically left out of STEM programs.

Clayton Daughenbaugh, Director

Clayton’s first steps as a Sierra Club activist were taken in a 1995 Activist Outing to the red rock wilderness of southern Utah. He hasn’t stopped since. That work led to an appointment to the National Wildlands Campaign Committee (equivalent to the current Conservation & Outdoors Campaign) and a subsequent appointment to the Our Wild America Leadership Team. In addition he’s been a long standing member of the National Utah Wilderness Team. His work on southern Utah has contributed to that state having more permanent public lands protections in the last 2+ decades than any state other than California. Clayton was also a founding member of the Grassroots Network Support Team (national and regional volunteer driven issue teams) in 2012, a position he continued until his election to the Board of Directors. He is a long time member and past Chair of the Wildlands and Wilderness Grassroots Network Team. Early on in his activism Clayton served two years on the Chicago Group Executive Committee.

In addition to Sierra Club roles Clayton is a retired organizer having spent 20 years working as a community organizer, most all of it in Chicago neighborhoods, followed by a similarly long period as a conservation organizer working on public lands protection ( 1+ years with the Sierra Club but otherwise with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance). He’s now retired. He loves to hike, enjoys baseball (a lifelong Houston Astros fan), and treasures time with his family. He moved to Chicago 40 years ago to join his wife. Before that he lived primarily in “downstate” Illinois but his childhood was spent in the New Orleans area. He can claim to be a born Texan and attended college in Dallas. His father is a retired United Methodist minister and Clayton remains an active participant in his local church.

Michael Dorsey, Director

Dr. M. K. Dorsey is a recognized expert on global energy, environment, finance and sustainability matters. In 1997, Rotary International bestowed him their highest honor: The Paul Harris Medal for Distinguished Service to Humanity. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Yale and the Johns Hopkins University, presently Dr. Dorsey is a limited partner in the Spanish utility-scale solar concern IberSun, s.l, a JV partner in the Indian based panel manufacturer Pahal Solar, and the inaugural board secretary of Black Owners of Solar Services.

Dr. Dorsey is a serial organization builder and leader in for-profit, non-profit, scholarly and governmental realms. In the for-profit arena, Dr. Dorsey is an active investor, as well as co-founder and principal of Around the Corner Capital—an energy advisory and impact finance platform. In non-profit realms, in 1997, Dr. Dorsey helped co-create the northern California headquartered Center for Environmental Health. In 2013, Dr. Dorsey and two former student collaborators co-created the predecessor to the Sunrise Movement.

In academia, Dr. Dorsey was a professor in the environmental studies program at Dartmouth College and has also been guest faculty at leading institutions around the world. Dorsey’s significant government engagement includes his role as a task force member of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development, a member of then Senator Obama’s energy and environment Presidential campaign team, and appointment to the EPA’s National Advisory Committee.

Beyond boardrooms, Congressional hearings and multilateral summits, Dr. Dorsey has a long legacy of exploring, researching and working to protect wild places and spaces–around the U.S. and across the planet.

Erica Hall, Director

Erica Hall, an experienced member of the Florida Chapter and the Suncoast Group's Executive Committees, has also forged strong partnerships with Sierra's national campaigns. As the former Vice Chair of Sierra Club's Council of Club Leaders (CCL), Erica demonstrates a profound commitment to the environment and the Sierra Club's mission, advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization.

With a wealth of experience as a community organizer, advocate, and legal professional specializing in urban agriculture, food policy, and neighborhood revitalization, Erica has actively participated as an Executive leader in various initiatives and organizations across different cities including the Florida Food Policy Council, the North American Food Systems Network, and the Inter-institutional Network for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability (INFAS) which connects food system scholars, educators, and action-researcher activists across the United States. INFAS envisions a US food system that is environmentally sustainable and socially just. Erica’s diverse expertise, spanning nonprofit management, legal administration, and legislative affairs, positions her as an invaluable member of the Sierra Club's board of directors, in perfect alignment with the organization's goals and mission.

Rita Harris, Director

Rita joined Sierra Club 21 years ago and has served in numerous capacities such as Environmental Justice Organizer, Beyond Coal Organizer, diversity & anti-racism trainer, and environmental conference coordinator. Her work has revolved around working with neighborhoods seeking a healthy community, clean air and water, and adequate green spaces free of toxic hazards. Current volunteer activities have included serving as co-leader of the Organizing Department’s Leadership Team and co-facilitating anti-racism training workshops. In Sierra Club’s early efforts around diversity and inclusion, she served on the original Diversity Council (2006-2009) that was the catalyst for the establishment of the Office of Equity & Inclusion. Ms. Harris has worked with several other non-profit organizations and has advocated for a variety of environmental causes.

David Holtz, Director

David’s passion for environmental protection, social justice and belief in people-powered political change led him to become a Sierra Club volunteer. David has served at local, state and national levels with Sierra Club and has held staff and management positions with Michigan and Florida-based environmental and progressive groups, including Sierra Club. For more than a decade David worked as a newspaper reporter and is a former senior aide to a Member of Congress from Michigan, where he resides. He is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

Cynthia Hoyle, Director

Cynthia Hoyle is a Life Member of the Sierra Club having joined the club in 1983 working to create the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. After moving to Illinois, she worked with the Prairie Group as Vice Chair and on the Transportation Committee. She served on the national Stopping Sprawl Campaign and the Clean Transportation for All Healthy Communities Campaign. She was a member of Urban Infill Policy Task Force which produced the Guidance for Smart Growth and Urban Infill Policy in 2021.

She has served on the American Institute of Certified Planners Commission, American Public Transit Association Climate Change Standards Working Group, and the Champaign County Blue Ribbon Environmental Panel. Cynthia is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and is the author of Traffic Calming published by American Planning Association. She is a League Certified Instructor through the League of American Bicyclists and President of Ride Illinois.