By Joe Testa • Chapter Parliamentarian and Council of Club Leaders Delegate
In November 2022, the Sierra Club’s national Board of Directors selected Ben Jealous, 49, to be the Club’s next executive director after a nine-month search process that involved extensive input from volunteers, staff members, and donors; and the screening of hundreds of applicants.
Jealous’ career has ranged through roles as community organizer, environmental activist, and civil rights leader, starting with founding, as a teenager, the first high school chapter of the Student Environmental Action Coalition. As a student at Columbia University, he led protests against student aid cutbacks. He was the youngest person to serve as president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, 2008-2013); during his tenure there, the NAACP launched its climate justice program and issued its 2012 report “Coal Blooded: Putting Profits before People,” which assessed the impact of the nation’s 378 coal-fired power plants on communities of color and low-income communities. Most recently, Jealous has served as president of People for the American Way. He has also been a partner at a venture capital firm leading an investment portfolio of green startups; run as the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland in 2018; and served on the boards of the Trust for Public Land, the Wilderness Society, and the Environmental Defense Fund.
It is notable that Jealous comes to the Sierra Club after having led organizations of comparable complexity with significant volunteer components. Club President Ramón Cruz said of Jealous, “He’s been a staunch advocate for the health of our planet since he was a child growing up in California and has worked tirelessly at the intersection of the environment, equity, and social justice.”
In a statement following his appointment, Jealous said, “Early trips with my parents and sister to the Sierras and the copies of Sierra magazine in our house inspired me to become an environmental activist. They steeled my commitment to supporting local and national efforts to preserve the wild places and to save the planet.” He continued, “As a nation, we are on the cusp of finally cutting bait with dangerous ‘either/or’ strategies and embracing a ‘both/and’ future in which all communities become more prosperous and we help save the planet in the process. I am proud to join the nation’s largest army of environmentalists and conservationists to help hasten that day.”
Jealous will be starting in this position on January 23, 2023, and he will spend his first month on a nationwide listening tour visiting with Sierra Club volunteers, staff, donors, and partners. He will assume full oversight and management of Sierra Club after his listening tour and the February 2023 Board of Directors meeting. Until that time, Interim Executive Director Loren Blackford continues to manage the day-to-day activities of the Club.
More information about Ben: www.sierraclub.org/meet-ben-jealous