Veteran Leader Anne Woiwode is New Conservation Director as New State Director is Named
January 5, 2015
Media
Contact: David Holtz, 313-300-4454
Lansing, MI—Sierra
Club announced today that Anne Woiwode,
director of the Michigan Chapter since 1985, has stepped into the newly created
role of Michigan Chapter Conservation Director and Assistant Director Gail Philbin is taking over as the organization’s
new Chapter Director.
“Gail and Anne will lead a stronger Sierra Club team in
Michigan that is prepared to take on the really tough challenges to protecting
Michigan’s lakes, rivers, streams, air and public lands,” said David Holtz, Chair of the Michigan Executive Committee. “This new
arrangement culminates a transition process that began with the hiring of Gail
Philbin and the opportunity to focus all of Anne Woiwode’s extraordinary
talents on the critically important task of protecting the Great Lakes state
resources and the public health.”
Philbin takes over day-to-day management of the Michigan Chapter,
which has 62,000 members and supporters.
She joined the Sierra Club Michigan staff in 2011 as the assistant
director. She is a non-profit
administrator and communications professional with a background in the
environmental field. She began her career with The Nature Conservancy in
Chicago in the 1980s and, prior to coming to the Sierra Club, served as
outreach and education coordinator at the Chicago non-profit CNT Energy (now
Elevate Energy). Her diverse career path
includes forays into the arts and social services, having been assistant
director at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids and
donations manager at Second Harvest Gleaners Food Bank (now Feeding America
West Michigan).
Anne Woiwode has been involved with the Sierra Club since
1980 and helped lead a 10-year battle to protect 90,000 acres of old growth
forest, lakes and dunes through the Michigan Wilderness Act, which passed in 1987
and gave protection to Nordhouse Dunes and other well-loved wilderness
areas. During Woiwode’s time as
director, the Michigan Sierra Club has been instrumental in:
·
Passing and implementing Michigan’s first
renewable energy law in 2008
·
Forcing Michigan’s Department of Environmental
Quality to regulate water pollution from large-scale livestock operations in
2002
·
Designating 150,000 acres of national forest
lands in Michigan as old-growth forest
·
Protecting the pristine Mason Tract and the
south branch of the Au Sable River, one of the world’s premier trout streams,
from oil and gas development
·
Blocking eight proposed new or expanded
coal-fired power plants in Michigan
·
Passing the Superfund Right to Know provisions
in Congress
·
Advocating for environmental justice by fighting
waste incineration and toxic contamination
Philbin is a passionate advocate for a more sustainable,
healthy and humane food system, and has been involved in West Michigan’s
sustainable agriculture movement for a decade. She is a co-founder of the West
Michigan Co-op, an online farmers market. At Sierra Club, she works on agriculture
issues and is the coordinator of Less=More, a coalition of organizations,
farmers and consumers that seeks to end subsidies for factory farms and support
sustainable farming in Michigan.
“I’m honored to be
leading the Michigan Chapter of the nation’s oldest, largest grassroots
environmental organization,” said Philbin. “I look forward to working with Anne
and David and all the excellent volunteer leaders around the state who have
brought us to this point. We’re stronger than we’ve ever been.”
Woiwode, who will spearhead policy and advocacy work for
the Michigan Chapter, will focus on martialing Sierra Club volunteers and staff
around the organization’s conservation priorities, including mitigating climate
change, protecting the Great Lakes system, safeguarding forests and other
public lands, and ensuring that the public health is protected through
enforcement of state and federal environmental laws.
“I’ve been honored to serve as a staff member of the
Michigan Sierra Club for the past 30 years, and I’m eager to move into the new
role of Conservation Director to focus on the issues and challenges confronting
Michigan today,” said Woiwode. “Our strong leadership team led by Gail Philbin
and David Holtz, our deep volunteer ranks and strong staff promise great things
ahead during this critical time for the planet.”
