Since January, Community Environmental Council (CEC) has welcomed new members to its advisory bodies and staff as the organization continues to grow. This strategic growth is aimed at accelerating CEC’s capacity and momentum to tackle pressing climate impacts across the central coast region.
“With less than a decade to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, collectively we need to be scaling up solutions and doing twice as much, twice as fast,” said Sigrid Wright, CEO/executive director “This is why the Community Environmental Council nearly doubled its staff in the past year and has been building out our board and advisory councils.
“CEC is going all-in on unrelenting, focused, and inclusive climate action on the California Central Coast,” Wright said.
CEC’s Board of Directors is composed of 16 community leaders with experience in business management, nonprofit governance, and financial oversight, providing direction and leadership to help CEC fulfill its mission.
Geoff Green, CEO at Foundation for Santa Barbara City College, and Chandler Buie, local strategic business leader and venture capitalist, joined the board in January.
In addition to the Board of Directors, CEC has two other key groups that bring energy, insight and advocacy to the work: the Partnership Council and the President’s Council.
Jessica McLernon, partner at Randy Solakian Estates Group, joined the Partnership Council earlier this year. The council is comprised of business and community leaders who champion CEC’s mission by guiding, networking, advocating, and fundraising in the community).
Community Environmental Council also added the following four new staff members this year. They bring expertise to their posts and share concern for the climate action needed on the Central Coast and beyond:
Vania Fong, Energy & Transportation associate
Olivia Hernández Harnish, Climate Education & Leadership Program associate
Trace Sykes, Climate Resilience Program associate
Kristen Weiss, communications associate
Green is the former long-time executive director of the Fund for Santa Barbara, chair of the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce of the Santa Barbara Region, and co-leader of the three-way merger with the Goleta and Carpinteria chambers in 2020.
He served on the Leadership Council that drafted Santa Barbara County’s 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in 2006-07, and continues to serve on the newly merged Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Buie has spent the last 20 years as a strategic investor in early-stage companies and funds in the growth and venture space, specializing in food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, direct to consumer and media. His primary roles have been in the areas of strategic planning, financial oversight and capital structure.
Buie believes in taking a positive and inclusionary approach to climate threats, and is an advocate for market-based solutions to climate change.
McLernon is a partner at Randy Solakian Estates Group where she specializes in residential real estate. She brings experience working in the public and private sectors in Washington, DC, New York City, and Santa Barbara County, focusing on bringing economic opportunity to underserved populations.
See full list membership lists and bios at the following links: Board of Directors, Partnership Council, President’s Council, and CEC staff.
Recognized as a 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year and 2020 City of Santa Barbara Climate Hero, CEC has worked since 1970 to incubate and innovate real life environmental solutions that directly affect the California Central Coast. Learn more at CECSB.org/impact.