Executive Committee Nominees
Sierra Club Maine’s Executive Committee, composed of up to 11 volunteers, sets the long-term goals and strategies for the Chapter’s critical climate justice work here in Maine. There are currently six open positions for two-year terms starting in 2025. Voting for Executive Committee positions will occur between October 25th and December 12th and can be done at myaccount.sierraclub.org.
Prefer to vote via a paper ballot? You can download one here.
Questions about online voting? Please contact Sierra Club Maine at 207-761-5616, or maine.chapter@sierraclub.org.
Becky Bartovics
Becky is a grandmother, farmer/gardener, networker, community and environmental activist. Working in alternative energy and water conservation, and as a teacher, she has long been involved in promoting energy and water conservation, in Massachusetts as well as Maine. Formerly President of Penobscot Bay Alliance, she became involved with Sierra Club Maine through the Sears Island Planning Initiative during the Baldacci Administration. Ever more concerned about her grandchildrens’ future, she has become increasingly involved in climate change activism and protecting biodiversity. Serving on the Sierra Club Council of Club Leaders, Legislative, Climate Action, Political and Advancement Teams, she has been involved in most aspects of the Chapter and its growth.
At home, she has participated in the Comprehensive Planning Committee for North Haven and has been an elected member of the North Haven Planning Board and the North Haven Budget Committee. Founding member of a new group on North Haven to address significant invasive intrusion, she has been experimenting on her farm with livestock, primarily eradication followed by cover cropping. Collecting native seeds and starting a native plant nursery, the goal is to create a biodiversity found on this island only during the time of Indigenous habitation.
When not on zoom or working on Sierra Club Maine programs, she can be found midwifing a flock of dual breed sheep, broad forking the market garden, laughing at chicken antics or pulling grandchildren in the garden cart. She firmly believes that activism is empowering and inspiring.
Laura Berry
Laura Berry is a climate and democracy advocate and long-time Maine resident dedicated to empowering local communities to protecting Maine's environment. Based in Portland, she currently works as a Community Planner for the City of South Portland, where she co-leads the City's climate resilience, community engagement, and long-range planning work.
In 2021, Laura led the planning and implementation of the Washington State Climate Assembly – the first-ever citizen’s assembly on climate change in the United States – with the deliberative democracy group People's Voice on Climate. In her former role as Research and Policy Director at the Climate Mobilization, Laura also helped facilitate the growth of the climate emergency movement in the U.S. and abroad, including developing the climate emergency resolution framework now adopted by over 180 governments in 25 U.S. states, including Maine communities like Bangor, Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Saco, Portland, and South Portland.
Whether facilitating public forums or designing effective legislative campaigns, Laura brings an interdisciplinary perspective to her work, backed by over a decade of experience in climate policy, environmental conflict resolution, and deliberative civic engagement. She is excited for the opportunity to once again serve Sierra Club of Maine as a member of the Executive Committee in support of the vision of a democratic, zero emissions Maine where equity and justice are central tenets of climate policy and environmental protection. Laura holds a MSc in Global Environment, Politics and Society from the University of Edinburgh and a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic.
Jonathan Fulford
I was a carpenter, builder, and small business owner for thirty eight years. I was driven by my wanting to do more to effect climate change to run for state senate twice and enter the Democratic primary for CD2. I have put my focus on activism and organizing as the most key ways to create the needed change.
I live in Belfast where I served on the Belfast Energy Committee for eight years. I am a co-founder and board member of Waldo County Bounty, (a multi-faceted food security initiative). Our Power (running the Pine Tree Power campaigns), and Upstream Watch (fighting Nordic Aquafarm and working to protect Penobscot Bay). I have also served on the boards of Waldo County Habitat for Humanity, and Come Boating (a community access rowing and sailing organization)
I have been on the Sierra Club Executive Committee for five years. I represent the Sierra Club on the Maine Climate Action Now coalition (MCAN) which has served to empower youth and their voices on climate issues. I have been a volunteer leader of the SC Legislative Team for four years. I have also represented SC with the Environmental Priorities Coalition (EPC). I have found that my service on other environmental organization boards has been a useful communication bridge in building strong coalitions for social and environmental justice
When I am not working to transform society, I love being on the water: from whitewater kayaking and back country canoe expeditions in my younger days, rowing and coxing 32’ pilot gigs, to sailing the coast of Maine and higher latitudes, including in 2019, sailing to the northern tip of Labrador, and in 2022, sailing around Newfoundland. I love sharing the healing and connection I find on the water and in wilder places with others.
I am running for re-election to the Maine Chapter of Sierra Club Executive Committee because it is an excellent way to make a real impact on the direction of society around climate change and environmental justice. I believe one of the most important services Sierra Club provides is to support and train citizens and volunteers to create legislation, testify on bills, lobby legislators and the governor. I would like to continue helping SC in this capacity around effective, empowering advocacy, as well as coalition building and collaboration with organizations and agencies, and working to bring resources to all of SC’s program areas.
Philip Mathieu
Philip Englund Mathieu (he/him/his) is a MS Data Science student at The Roux Institute, Northeastern University’s campus in Portland, ME. He currently works as a Software Development intern for Kelson Marine, an ocean engineering company based on the Portland waterfront that specializes in design and simulation of offshore structures. Prior to starting his master’s program, Philip worked in conservation, most recently as the Program Coordinator at the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust. He also hosted and produced Ecology is Everywhere, a podcast about careers in environmental education and adjacent fields.
In addition to his studies, Philip is a volunteer co-lead of Sierra Club Maine’s 30x30 team, the chapter's representative to the Council of Club Leaders, and a member of the Executive Committee. He is also Vice Chair of the Portland Rent Board. When not juggling all the above responsibilities, he enjoys gardening, playing and recording music, cooking, home brewing, and skiing (both alpine and Nordic).
Grant Provost
I was raised in central Maine and graduated from Skowhegan Area Highschool in 1999. I joined the Ironworkers that year. I am a 25 year member of Ironworkers Local 7. During my career I have worked all over the Northeast and as far away as Hawaii. In my 20’s I traveled to 14 foreign countries on 5 different continents generally spending one to two months at each. Currently I am the Business Agent/Industry Analyst for Ironworkers Local 7 in Miane, Vice President of Maine State AFL-CIO and Recording Secretary for Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council. I am on the Climate Jobs National Resource Center’s Advisory Board, the State Workforce Board, the Central Maine and Western Maine Workforce Board, the Maine State Prevailing Wage Board and served on the Offshore Wind Roadmap Advisory Board. I have been proud to participate in some of our state's largest gains for working families centered around green energy infrastructure. Our membership continues to grow, and work is looking good well into the future. I am happily married to Kelly Czerwinski and we have two wonderful children, Roland 7 and Lyra who is 3. My children will be the 6th generation of my family to grow up in Maine. We spend as much time as possible in our natural environment. As a family we sail in Casco Bay, island hop, hike, ski (cross country and downhill), and fish year round. I grew up fly fishing in Eustis where my grandmother (1 of 10) was from. My great aunt taught my father to fly fish there, also where and when to catch the biggest Brookies! The protection of our wonderful natural resources here is paramount to my family. Always has been, always will be.
Luke Sekera-Flanders
My advocacy began in my hometown of Fryeburg, Maine at the age of 9, when I testified at a public hearing against Fryeburg’s private water supplier’s 45-year contract with Poland Spring. I co-founded Community Water Justice, a statewide network of frontline communities resisting water privatization and working toward sustainable access to clean water for all. I have spent most of my life traveling to the statehouse and impacted communities testifying, educating and mobilizing people in support of clean drinking water for future generations.
I am an elected Fryeburg Water District Trustee, where it is our responsibility to act as a counterweight to the profit-driven model of the town’s privately owned water supplier by representing consumer and community interests.
I currently work for Needlepoint Sanctuary, a harm reduction organization primarily serving the unhoused community in Bangor. I am passionate about supporting lasting, compassionate approaches to housing justice, especially after witnessing the disproportionate impacts of severe weather events and a lack of public water access on the unhoused population.
In 2022, I received a Clean Water Champion award in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act and was a Maine Environmental Education Association Changemakers Fellow. I am also a member of the Core Team of Maine Youth for Climate Justice.
Understanding that the climate crisis will further strain water sources, I recognize the humanitarian, economic and ecological crises that come with allowing for-profit interests to control water distribution and access. While we in Maine are extremely fortunate now with the relative abundance of drinkable water this land provides, the impacts of climate change will pose unique challenges to water access on all scales. I believe that we have to pivot hard and fast on a policy and cultural level to protect water for future generations.
Jacob Stern
Jacob has been organizing and leading progressive grassroots campaigns at the state, regional, and local level – in Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey – since 2014. From 2017 until 2021 he served as a staff member at the Sierra Club Massachusetts Chapter, most recently as Deputy Director. In 2020, he co-founded a Political Team within Sunrise Movement Boston to help elect climate champions in the Boston area. More recently, Jacob has stepped back from full-time political work and is currently pursuing a J.D. degree at the University of Maine School of Law. A Maine native, Jacob is equally at home in both the state's granite mountains and on the cold waters off the coast. When he’s not reading his textbooks, you'll find him in one place or the other. Jacob currently lives in Pownal with his partner Madelyn and their dog Ziggy.
Jacob has been a volunteer with Sierra Club Maine since 2021, has served on the Executive Committee since 2022, and as chair since April 2024. In seeking a new term, he hopes to continue to leverage his professional background as an organizer, lobbyist, strategist, coalition-builder, and communications professional to grow our volunteer-base, build stronger connections in rural communities, and strengthen our commitment to economic, racial, and climate justice.
David Zachow
I am a retired Master Electrician and Green Builder, LEED AP and (Retired) NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional. I spent almost 5 decades in the construction industry working on residential and commercial job sites using a blend of modern technologies along with traditional construction techniques such as cob and strawbale. I am an active in local Town government serving on elected committees and representing the Town of Brooksville with HCPC. There is a huge disconnect in America between working class people and those who have enjoyed the benefits and privileges afforded by an advanced educational degrees and the income and job opportunities that education has given them. As a person with a high school education, I have witnesses this disconnect first hand. I believe the artificial separation of "environmentalists" vs. working class people needs to be dealt with because EVERYONE suffers as a result of our foolish misuse of the planet that gives us our Life. I believe my lived experience can bring a different perspective to the discussion and help heal that separation of people who basic interests are closely aligned.