As you know, a year ago Carl announced plans to step down from his position as executive director of the Sierra Club after eighteen years of service, and hand the leadership of the organization over to someone new.
Our dedicated search team, working with an executive search firm, has spent the past year looking high and low for a stellar, talented leader to take the helm at this exciting moment when the Sierra Club’s strong work is more critically important than ever.
We were blessed to have a very strong set of applicants for the position, and I am thrilled to inform you that Michael Brune will be the Sierra Club's next executive director.
Mike comes to the Sierra Club from Rainforest Action Network (RAN), where he has served as executive director for seven years and gained a reputation as "a hard-nosed activist with a twist." Mike led a winning campaign at age 26 to convince Home Depot to stop selling wood from endangered forests. Time magazine called that victory "the top environmental story of 1999." Under Mike's leadership, RAN won more than a dozen landmark commitments from America's largest corporations, including Citi, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Kinko’s, Boise Cascade, and Lowe’s.
We are extremely lucky too that, after 18 years as executive director, Carl will continue to support the Sierra Club by providing strategic guidance and assisting with fundraising and media outreach.
As executive director, Mike will guide our remarkable staff and help to implement the visionary policies adopted by the all-volunteer Board of Directors. Hitting the ground running, Mike will oversee the key components of the Climate Recovery Partnership: directing Club efforts to move America into a clean energy future by advocating for the end of coal-fired electricity, supporting market growth for clean energy alternatives, pushing for economic sanctions against greenhouse gas-intense energy, transitioning the nation to a green transportation system, and protecting habitats and communities against inevitable climate change.
This is a critical time for the environmental movement. The coming years will present us with tremendous challenges as we face the threat of global warming. But in recent years we’ve stopped more than one hundred coal fired power plants, protected millions of acres of open space, and helped move our economy towards green jobs and cleaner transportation. Working together, we have the power, resourcefulness, and creativity to make a huge impact.
Mike is exactly what the Sierra Club and the environmental movement need right now. Mike has the rare combination of activist fire, managerial savvy, and crystal-clear vision to lead the Club through the most critical period in our history.
Mike’s first official day will be in mid-March. Please join me in welcoming Mike to the Sierra Club. You can get to know Mike and send him a welcome note at www.sierraclub.org/ED .
Sincerely,
Allison Chin
President, Board of Directors
