Photo: Seattle Times, Steve Ringman
For Sierra Club, every year is an election year. In our most recent statewide leadership elections, Juan Mancias, Brandon Morton, and Andrew Balinsky were elected to the Executive Committee that governs the Lone Star Chapter.
One of the strengths of Sierra Club is that it is a volunteer-led organization with elections for leadership at all levels, from local to statewide to national. The state Chapter’s Executive Committee has 10 elected members plus nine members appointed by each of the local groups.
Congratulations to these Sierra Club leaders!
Juan Mancias is the chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe, an Indigenous people of the Rio Grande Valley. He brings organizing experience from the fight against the Liquefied Natural Gas export terminals in the Valley. He splits his time between the Valley and Floresville, TX.
Brandon Morton returns to the ExCom for the second time. He is the Sustainability Project Coordinator at Brookhaven College in Dallas. He brings a lot of experience working with other organizations on sustainability and equity.
Andrew Balinsky is the current ExCom chair, from Austin. He is currently retired from an IT career, and has been focused on administrative and fundraising issues for the Chapter.
Local Sierra Club groups around the state are also governed by elected committees. Several of them participated in a combined online ballot this year with the Lone Star Chapter to minimize administrative costs, which helps us put more resources into our programs and advocacy. The group election results for groups that combined their ballot with the chapter ballot are as follows. Each group has some existing leaders whose terms are continuing. (If you don’t see your local Sierra Club group, please check their website or contact them directly).
Austin Group
Bob Hendricks
Chris Cruz
Chris “Kaz” Wojtewicz
Alamo Group
Karen Weehler
Wendell Fuqua
Bill Barker
Greater Fort Worth Group
John MacFarlane
Larry Goodman
Diane Lancaster
Houston Group
Linda Mundwiller
Kristen Schlemmer
Alex Paul
Arjumand Mubaarak
Heather Lander
Golden Triangle Group
Celia Carver
Bo Baggs
Tera Adler
2020 is a crucial year for the ability of people to live on a healthy planet. The Chapter and Group Executive committees look forward to working together with our amazing staff in 2020 to meet the challenges that we all face. All ExCom members represent the interests of members, so feel free to reach out to any of us with comments or concerns.