The Community Environmental Council is proud to announce the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors — Laura Burton Capps and Christopher Hahn, both of whom bring a range of experiences and expertise important to the organization’s mission and direction.

Capps has spent more than 15 years developing strategic communications and issue advocacy campaigns for the nation’s highest profile public officials — including President Bill Clinton, Sen. Edward Kennedy and Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign — as well as to academic and nonprofit organizations.


She recently established her own public affairs consulting firm in her hometown of Santa Barbara. Her current work involves national and local issues of immigration reform, child hunger, interfaith education and climate change.

Capps has built a reputation as a respected advocate for environmental and climate issues through her roles as senior vice president for government affairs and communications at Ocean Conservancy (2007-09) and as communications director for the Alliance for Climate Protection (2009-10). She is currently serving her first term on the board of Ocean Conservancy, the nation’s largest ocean conservation organization.

She is also on the Board of Trustees for UC Berkeley, her alma mater (1994, history), and was recently appointed as a commissioner to the Santa Barbara County Commission for Women. She also serves on the board of America’s Voice (a national immigration advocacy nonprofit), Faith in Public Life (a national progressive faith organization) and the Santa Barbara Committee of Human Rights Watch.

Hahn, J.D., joins the CEC board with more than 20 years of experience in developing a broad litigation and transactional practice in real estate, trust and probate, and business.

He received his juris doctorate from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, where he was awarded the Order of the Coif, and he joined the California Bar in 1989. Currently, he is a senior associate at Allen & Kimbell law firm.

Hahn actively supports the Santa Barbara community, serving as a board member or volunteer at local nonprofits, including the Environmental Defense Center, California Rural Legal Assistance, the Braille Institute and AYSO. He is also a former national champion bicycle racer and enjoys surfing, creative writing, and whichever local league sport his son is playing any given Sunday.

— Sigrid Wright is assistant director of the Community Environmental Council.