I was particularly pleased that six board members could attend the 16^th annual Employee Recognition Awards Ceremony. Larry Fahn, Robin Mann, Rafael Reyes, Chris Warshaw, Nathan Wyeth, and I helped honor and celebrate this year’s recipients…as well as make a presentation on behalf of the Board. I’ll just tease you with a snippet of the stories that exemplify these remarkable Sierra Club staff. You can read more here.

YuYu Thein received the Community Service Award in recognition of her efforts over the past 15 years on numerous humanitarian causes related to her native Burma. YuYu and her husband, Coban Tun, have raised public awareness, raised funds, and help reconstruct school for those oppressed by military junta and Cyclone Nargis.

Adrian Cotter received the Behind the Scenes Hero Award for both his design and technical leadership for the makeover of the Club’s public website, which has received praise both within and outside the Club. He has also been instrumental in development of the Club’s social networking effort to foster an expansive community of activists. 

Oliver Bernstein was honored with the Virginia Ferguson Award for demonstrated consistent and exemplary service to the Club. As our Deputy Press Secretary of Diversity Programs, Oliver excels at being able to “work with peoples’ personalities to craft a message that fits them and their work.”

The Coal Team (Bruce Nilles, Jesse Simons, Sarah Hodgdon, Pat Gallager, Virginia Cramer, Mary Anne Hitt, and Heather Cusick) was recognized with the Larry Mehlhaff Award for Excellence. Coal plants stopped – 99 and counting!

Bill Corcoran received the Special Achievement Award for the pivotal role he played in crafting the Tejon Ranch conservation agreement, which resulted in setting aside 270,000 acres of wildlife habitat in southern California.

Dave Muhly is the Mike McCloskey award winner and recognized for serving with distinction always – whenever and however called upon.

Vicky Barrett-Putnam received a Special Recognition Award from the Cabinet for work over and beyond the call with a crucial assignment assisting the Political Team in negotiating with mail and other vendors, saving the program hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Board of Directors awarded the John Muir Award to Greg Haegele.  This award established in 1961 is the Sierra Club's highest award and honors a distinguished record of leadership in national or international conservation causes. Greg brought to the Club an extraordinary ability to turn strategic thinking into organizational form and habit.  Although the award is usually (and will be) presented at the National Awards Banquet in September, we could not pass up the opportunity for staff to participate in celebrating and congratulating Greg.

You can learn more about the annual staff awards and submit a nomination here.

A volunteer recently asked me, when I spoke about our search for a new executive director, "who's the face of the Sierra Club?"

My view is that every Sierra Club member or activist is one of the faces of the Sierra Club. For a number of years we had a regular page in Sierra magazine highlighting a Club member, one who didn't fit the media stereotype of a Sierra Club member — and it was called "Faces of the Sierra Club."  Kim Haddow, our former Communications Director used to wish she had the budget to do something as high profile and ubiquitous as the American Express "membership has its privileges" ads.

Obviously, some Club leaders and staff are more visible in their roles than others. Sometimes this is because they have created their own megaphone — former Georgia Chapter Chair Sam Booher knew how to get the message out.

Some see the executive director as the face of the Club since, in Carl’s case, he is blogging or tweeting  almost daily, is regularly quoted in press releases, and engages more frequently in media events. For example, last night he debated Chevron CEO Dave Reilly in San Francisco.

The Club president changes every year or two and, in my case, maintaining biweekly messages, monthly open house conference calls, and averaging a couple engagements a week in addition to visits with Club leaders is a pretty full plate. There are lots of opportunities for all of us and more than enough to go around.

In fact, all of you who make a commitment to a Sierra Club role — as staff or volunteer, as an ongoing responsibility or a one-time task, with local focus or national scope — are the face of the Club when you engage with others.

An outings leader is the face of the Sierra Club to those hikers or backpackers on the outing. An activist who asks someone to contribute financially to a local conservation effort is the face of the Sierra Club to that donor. Staff are the face of the Sierra Club to everyone they connect with in the course of their daily work. You are as much the face of the Sierra Club when you speak to an audience as is Carl or me. We are all the face of the Sierra Club. That's what makes us strong.

You can see many faces of the Sierra Club here in Scrapbook.

I'd like to invite you to the Open House Conference Call this coming Tuesday, June 16. I'll be sharing the hosting with Council of Club Leaders (CCL) Chair Tina Schulstad — we'll be focusing on the Board and CCL Executive Committee's commitment to opening up the channels of communication, efforts that are already underway to prepare for our joint meeting in September, well as taking questions. RSVP here.

Speaking of faces of the Sierra Club — on June 30, you'll have an opportunity to "meet," if you haven't already, our new Conservation Director Sarah Hodgdon. Sarah has the distinction of being the first woman to serve in this role. She will introduce herself and together with Club Vice President Robin Mann, they'll give an update on the Climate Recovery Campaign. RSVP here.