LEADERSHIP PROFILE Executive Director Sierra Club

LEADERSHIP PROFILE

Executive Director

Sierra Club

“Climate change is urgent. It intersects with other crises.

We must work together, centering justice and equity.

Sierra Club exists for this challenge.”

—RamÓÓn Cruz, President, Sierra Club

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

The Compelling

Opportunity

Sierra Club has played a critical leadership

role in virtually every major environmental

victory over the past 130 years. America’s most

inuential and enduring grassroots environmental

organization empowers over three million

members and supporters, 7,000 volunteer leaders,

over 800 staff, and many partners to take action,

and to win against powerful adversaries, on behalf

of humanity and the planet.

Together with partners and allies, Sierra

Club has fostered the largest, most effective

environmental movement the world has ever

seen. Recent accomplishments include forcing

the closure of 356 coal-red plants, cancellation of

the Keystone XL pipeline, defeat of the Millennium

Coal Terminal, establishing and protecting

national monuments including Bear Ears, electing

climate champions up and down the ballot, aiding

conrmation of the rst Native American cabinet

secretary and rst female African-American

Supreme Court Justice, and achieving suspension

of new oil and gas leases in the Arctic Region. Each

year, Sierra Club outings get 200,000 people out in

nature.

Sierra Club brings unparalleled capabilities to

the ght against climate change, to advance

federal, state and local lobbying, advocacy and

legal action, grassroots organizing, national

campaigns, public education, outings and

partnerships. With annual revenues of $160 million,

Sierra Club has 64 Chapters spanning all 50

states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. No other

environmental organization has the breadth, depth

and expertise of Sierra Club.

The new Executive Director (ED) will engage

Sierra Club’s full talent, capacities and heart at

a time of profound transformation and promise.

“

America’s most inuential

and enduring grassroots

environmental organization

empowers over three

million members and

supporters, 7,000 volunteer

leaders, over 800 staff,

and many partners to take

action, and to win against

powerful adversaries, on

behalf of humanity and the

planet.

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

The ED will lead Sierra Club to accomplish bold,

necessary changes that center justice, equity and

inclusion, and to fully engage its unique capacities,

in order to reverse the climate and biodiversity

crises.

Signicant transformation is underway at Sierra

Club. As can be expected with major change

processes involving an organization with more

than a century of history and thousands of leaders,

some reforms are controversial. There are differing

perspectives about Sierra Club’s founder and

legacy, actions to address harms to volunteers and

staff, and structural reforms connecting Chapters

and National and modernizing the organization.

This is also a time of immense progress and

promise. The Board of Directors adopted Core

Values and a new 2030 strategic framework,

Powerful Together, in December 2021. These have

earned wide acceptance and provided a roadmap

to a promising future. An 18-month Structural

Assessment is providing guidance for evolving

and unifying Chapter/National structures. All are at

initial stages of implementation.

The strategic framework sets out broad plans

to achieve transformative protection of land

and water, broaden equitable access to nature,

replace fossil fuels with clean energy, expand and

diversify the movement, and advance the Sierra

Club mission. The framework recognizes the

intersectionality of the climate and biodiversity

crises with democracy, systemic racism and

economic oppression.

The majority of Board members, staff and

volunteers believe this direction is right, and

the organization has a bright, impactful future.

Volunteers and staff alike believe in the power

and necessity of transforming and uniting as “one

Sierra Club,” collaborating and living into its full

capacities, potential and mission.

“

Volunteers and staff alike

believe in the power and

necessity of transforming

and uniting as ‘one Sierra

Club,’ collaborating and

living into its full capacities,

potential and mission.

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

Mandate for the

Executive Director

The new Executive Director (ED) will be a

strategic, condent and humble leader of Sierra

Club at this time of transformation and promise.

The ED will bring leadership and management

experience in complex, transformative contexts,

including experience with dispersed organizations

and engaged volunteers. The ED will have a

dedication to justice combined with expertise and

passion for environmental issues, gained through

movement building and proven leadership,

ideally in the climate and/or environmental justice

movements.

The ED will embody and be a spokesperson for

the Sierra Club core values and 2030 strategic

framework. The ED will be a builder of trust,

shared purpose and unity, collaborative teams,

passion for mission, and a strong, sustainable

future. Sierra Club values diversity in race, class,

culture and religion, and welcomes a diverse pool

of candidates.

The ED will:

1. Be a trusted, strategic leader of the whole

organization. With an open, transparent

approach, the ED will embrace all facets of

Sierra Club’s dispersed constituency—including

staff and volunteers at the National, Chapter

and Group levels, as well as members and

partners. The ED will be an inclusive, motivating

leader, able to crystallize and clarify vision,

values and purpose, make strategic decisions,

establish priorities, and communicate in ways

that resonate and engage people across the

organization. The ED will be a trusted advisor to

the Board, improving cohesion among Board

leaders and fostering clear decision-making.

2. Embrace and unlock the full potential of

Sierra Club. The ED will inspire and unite

“

The ED will have a

dedication to justice

combined with expertise

and passion for

environmental issues

gained through movement

building and proven

leadership.

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

volunteers and staff around the 2030 Strategic

Framework, core values and ongoing change

processes. The ED will help Sierra Club dene

its role and its voice in the greater movement

for progress. They will embrace Sierra Club’s

broad, tremendous range of talent and

capacities, across the Chapters, National ofces

and grassroots entities. The ED will lead and

empower the organization to leverage its full

potential, power and impact.

3. Be a great leader of leaders. The ED will be

skillful at empowering and developing trusted,

capable leaders and teams. With current and

new leaders, the ED will build an effective

organizational structure and a cohesive team.

The ED will be comfortable with distributed and

matrixed leadership, and with delegating and

sharing power across and beyond senior staff.

The ED will champion bottoms-up ideas and

innovation, personal growth and organizational

transformation. The ED will strongly support,

and delegate, much of the work of internal

transformation. The ED will foster collaborative,

transparent processes and decision making,

ensuring all needed voices are included and

instilling trust around strategic choices.

4. Be a compelling fundraiser and external

representative. The ED will be a dynamic,

credible and visible Sierra Club leader and

fundraiser. The ED will connect with donors

of all kinds, partnering with National and

Chapter team members and volunteers on

strong, diverse, and values-driven fundraising

in order to deliver resources across all parts

of the organization. Sierra Club is a member-

based organization, and building and

developing a strong base calls for work to

develop leaders and effective strategies. With

movement colleagues, legislative leaders,

donors and partners, the ED will be an inspiring

communicator, storyteller and ambassador.

They will model equitable partnering and

“

The ED will select, empower

and develop trusted,

capable leaders, create

an effective organizational

structure and build a

cohesive team.

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

collaboration, and will help ensure Sierra Club

remains a core partner of choice for climate

and environmental justice allies, governmental

agencies, national advocacy organizations and

community leaders.

5. Position Sierra Club for a high-impact,

sustainable future. The ED will embrace

and support Sierra Club’s transformation.

The ED will help Sierra Club move forward in

strong and sustainable ways, through strategy,

organizing, nancial and nonprot savvy,

effective risk management, and advancing

commitment to the core values and equity

transformation. The ED will have knowledge

of marketing, brand building, technology

and digital strategies, and will seek to raise

Sierra Club prole and awareness. The ED will

relish working across the whole organization,

strengthening culture and capacity at Chapter

and National levels, expanding grassroots

power and inuence, and building operational

strength and resources for the long haul.

Personal Characteristics

and Assets

The ideal candidate aligns with Sierra Club

core values, is inspired by the 2030 strategic

framework and goals, and can articulate a vision for

transformation that unites all of the constituencies

to be powerful together. The ED will engage

effectively with the Board, staff and stakeholders,

and be someone with whom others enjoy

partnering. Passion for the mission, and extensive

relevant experience, are essential. Personal

characteristics will include:

• Integrity, self-awareness, self-condence and

humility

• Authentic lived values that center justice, equity

and inclusion

• Conict mediation and resolution skills

• An energetic and energizing persona

“

The ED will have

knowledge of marketing,

technology and digital

strategies, and will seek

to raise Sierra Club brand

prole and awareness.

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

• Relationship building, listening skills and

emotional intelligence

• Proven ability to collaborate, build cohesive

teams and positive culture

• People management: hiring, developing,

delegating and empowering

• Change management expertise

• Organizational development

• Communication, advocacy and persuasion skills

• Record of valuing others’ ideas and

contributions

• Resilience and adaptability

• Able to stay calm, centered and thoughtful

under pressure

• Enthusiasm for working with leaders and

donors at all levels

The Organization

Founded in 1892, Sierra Club is now an

organization with over $160 million in annual

resources. There are over 800 employees with

three Unions, 64 Chapters spanning all 50 states,

Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, and over three

million members and supporters. The organization

is working for a world where every person can

exercise the right to clean air, fresh water, public

access to nature and a stable climate.

Sierra Club is a 501-c-4 nonprot advocacy

organization with a 15-member governing

Board of Directors that is elected by the general

membership. Board members serve three-year

terms. Five directors are elected each year in

April. Sierra Club’s President and other ofcers

(Vice President for Conservation, Vice President

for Chapters, Groups and Volunteers, Treasurer

and Secretary) are elected by the Board each May

for one-year terms. As a grassroots organization,

“

The organization is working

for a world where every

person can exercise the

right to clean air, fresh

water, public access to

nature and a stable climate.

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

Sierra Club’s work is shaped by more than seven

thousand volunteer leaders who participate

through Chapters, groups, and national entities.

Sierra Club works closely with the Sierra Club

Foundation, a separate, independent 501-c-3 with

a 14-member Board of Directors. The Foundation

supports the charitable and educational work

of the Sierra Club and other grantees through

fundraising and assets under management of $250

million. The Sierra Club President has a seat on the

Foundation Board.

Sierra Club is committed to achieving a just,

equitable, and sustainable future built on a

foundation of environmental, racial, economic

and gender justice—where all people benet from

a healthy thriving planet and a direct connection

to nature. We must create a world where humans

respect their interconnectedness to the living

environment and treat each other, the earth, and all

species with humility, care and respect.

Organizational Core Values are anti-racism,

balance, collaboration, justice, and transformation.

With its large, geographically dispersed staff,

volunteers and members, Sierra Club has long

been a force for environmental victories and

other progress. Its unifying strategic framework,

Powerful Together, establishes 2030 goals and

the premise that a healthy climate depends on

a foundation of racial, economic and gender

justice. Intersectionality spans across sustainability,

economic, democracy and racial equity issues.

Following are the major themes and goals of

Powerful Together:

1. Protect our ecosystem. By 2030: Protect 30%

of U.S. lands and water.

2. Ensure outdoors for all. By 2030: Cut

the nature equity gap by half, ensuring an

additional 50 million people can exercise their

human right to connect with the outdoors.

3. Act for Justice. By 2030: Restore clean air and

water, provide affordable clean energy, support

“

To explore, enjoy and

protect the planet. To

practice and promote the

responsible use of the

earth’s ecosystems and

resources; to educate and

enlist humanity to protect

and restore the quality of

the natural and human

environment; and to use all

lawful means to carry out

those objectives.

–Sierra Club mission

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

family-sustaining jobs, and address inequities in

our response to climate disruptions.

4. Transform our energy system. By 2030: Stop

the expansion of the oil and gas industry;

achieve 80% carbon pollution-free electricity;

shift trillions of public and private dollars from

the fossil fuel economy to restore clean air

and water, provide affordable clean energy,

support good paying jobs, and increase the

ability of communities to be resilient to climate

disruptions.

5. Build a powerful base of support. Invest

in Chapters as our permanent organizing

infrastructure and the anchor for a long-term

vision and strategy. By 2030: Empower,

diversify and expand our base of millions of

members and supporters through our Chapters

and Groups.

The Relationships

The ED reports to a 15-member Board of

Directors and leads the organization, comprised

of over 800 staff, 7,000 volunteer leaders, and

64 Chapters in 50 states, Washington, DC and

Puerto Rico. Currently, Sierra Club operates in

a matrix management structure across seven

national departments, an Executive ofce and a

distributed network of Chapters. Chapters work

interdependently and trans-locally. They are a hub

for Sierra Club long term work. The new ED has

the opportunity to implement a more streamlined

executive organization.

The Location

Sierra Club is headquartered in Oakland, CA. The

organization has a signicant ofce in Washington,

DC, and additional ofces at many of the Chapters.

The ED can be based in the San Francisco Bay

area or another location, with availability to

spend substantial time at headquarters and in

Washington, DC. Travel will be a meaningful part of

the role.

“

Sierra Club advocates

beyond the leading edge of

what’s probable to achieve

what is possible.

–Powerful Together

strategic plan

Executive Director,

Sierra Club

“We can—and we must—create a world where everyone can exercise their human right to have

clean air, fresh water, public access to nature and a stable climate.”

–Dan Chu, Acting Executive Director, Sierra Club

Sierra Club values diversity in race, class, culture and religion,

and we are seeking a diverse pool of candidates.

For potential consideration or to suggest a prospective candidate

for the Executive Director position, please email

SierraClub@BoardWalkConsulting.com

or call Kathy Bremer, Diane Westmore, Lysondra Somerville

or Crystal Stephens at 404-262-7392.

For the status of this and other searches,

please visit www.BoardWalkConsulting.com.