April Moore – Board Chair
April Moore is a climate activist, speaker, organizer and writer who works to help people understand why the climate change crisis has come to be and what we must do to address it. She currently serves as the Fundraising Chair and Vice-President of Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River and is also a member of the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley’s Speakers’ Bureau. As a champion at writing inspiring pieces and giving motivating climate talks to local communities, April’s passion is reflected through her blog, The Earth Connection, and her book The Earth and You: Eating for Two. April joined CCAN’s Board of Directors in 2013 and began serving as Board Chair in 2022.
Sat Jiwan Ikle-Khalsa – Board Vice Chair
Sat Jiwan has been an environmental advocate and activist since 2000, working and volunteering in non-profit environmental consumer advocacy and energy efficiency consulting. He recently completed an intensive green renovation of his family’s home. Sat Jiwan works closely with a team of green architects, designers, builders and energy consultants (Helicon Works) to make green homes. Sat Jiwan is a green-building and environmental consultant, current president of the Save Our Sky Home Heating Cooperative (aka “Corn Coop”), and the monthly “Going Green” columnist for the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Voice.
Sat Jiwan previously worked at Whole Foods Market and Center for a New American Dream. He graduated from Brandeis University with BAs in linguistics and cognitive science, and psychology. He joined the CCAN board in 2007.
Ted Rouse – Board Secretary
Ted formed an urban redevelopment and construction company, in 1977 in Baltimore, MD, specializing in adaptive reuse of historic buildings. In 1980 Ted merged with another firm now known as Struever Bros., Eccles and Rouse, which grew to be a Mid-Atlantic leader in urban public/private partnerships and historic tax credit renovations. As Partner, Ted created Struever Rouse Homes, which brought quality, green design and value to homeowners in urban areas. Ted sold his interests in both companies to his partners in 2004.
Ted now serves as President of Healthy Planet LLC, focusing on sustainable economic and real estate development projects in North, Central and South America. Ted is an early investor/financial advisor for a carbon credit financing of a 7500 acre reforestation project in Honduras. In Costa Rica, Ted is an investor/advisor to Kopali Communities which will build two organic farm communities. In Mexico, Ted is an advisor to the Loreto Bay sustainable second home community and on the board of Sierra Madre Alliance working to preserve cultural and bio-diversity in the Copper Canyon region. In Brazil, Ted is financing and developing an urban permaculture demonstration center. In Canada, Healthy Planet is involved in land preservation through ecosystems management.
Ted joined the CCAN board in 2008.
Natalie Pien – Board Treasurer
Natalie Pien is a climate activist who studied Environmental Science at the University of Virginia. After working in the environmental field for almost a decade, Natalie transitioned to public education where she was a middle school science teacher until 2017. She has maintained her passion for the environment and is now spending her time assisting organizations in actively addressing climate change and stewarding the local environment through natural resource preservation and protection. Natalie is the Chair of 350 Loudon and representative to the Virginia Green New Deal, is a member of the Advisory Board to PEC Loudoun Board, and is active with the Sierra Club Great Falls Group where she is on the Executive Committee. Natalie is also on the MWCOG Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee, is a member of the Loudoun NAACP, where she is on the Environmental & Preservation Justice Committee, and is the Earth Justice Team co-chair at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun.
David Goodrich
David Goodrich is the former Director of the Climate Observations Division for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He also served as Director of the Global Climate Observing System at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Earlier research interests included the physical oceanography and biology of Chesapeake Bay. David also taught science in Montgomery County, MD.
After retirement in 2011, David rode by bicycle from Delaware to Oregon, talking to groups about climate change along the way. His book about climate and the ride is A Hole in the Wind, which was released from Pegasus Books in June 2017. David received a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Stony Brook University and his B.A. in Biology from Dartmouth College. David joined the CCAN Board in 2013.
Reverend Lennox Yearwood
Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, is a minister, community activist and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life. He works tirelessly to encourage the Hip Hop generation to utilize its political and social voice.
A national leader and pacemaker within the green movement, Rev Yearwood has been successfully bridging the gap between communities of color and environmental issue advocacy for the past decade. With a diverse set of celebrity allies, Rev Yearwood raises awareness and action in communities that are often overlooked by traditional environmental campaigns. Rev Yearwood’s innovative climate and clean energy work has garnered the Hip Hop Caucus support from several environmental leaders including former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, National Wildlife Federation, Earthjustice, Sierra Club and Bill McKibben’s 350.org.
Rolling Stone deemed Rev Yearwood one of our country’s “New Green Heroes” and Huffington Post named him one of the top ten change makers in the green movement. He was also named one of the 100 most powerful African Americans by Ebony Magazine in 2010, and was also named to the Source Magazine’s Power 30, Utne Magazine’s 50 Visionaries changing the world, and the Root 100 Young Achievers and Pacesetters.
Rev Yearwood is the subject of a Discovery Network Documentary for the Planet Green Channel. The film, ‘Hip Hop Rev’ follows a year in the life of Rev Yearwood, capturing a stunning but often unseen side to environmental activism. It is a one-year journey where the cameras capture the highs and lows of Rev Yearwood’s efforts to involve urban communities in climate activism and green economy solutions. DJ Biz Markie, musician Wyclef Jean, actress Gloria Reuben, musician D. Woods, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, activist Van Jones, and Rep. Barbara Lee, are all featured in the film.
Rev Yearwood entered the world of Hip Hop Politics when he served as the Political and Grassroots Director of Russell Simmons’ Hip Hop Summit Action Network in 2003 and 2004. In 2004 he also was a key architect and implementer of three other voter turnout operations – P. Diddy’s Citizen Change organization which created the “Vote Or Die!” campaign; Jay Z’s “Voice Your Choice” campaign; and, “Hip Hop Voices”, a project at the AFL-CIO. It was in 2004 that he founded the Hip Hop Caucus to bring the power of the Hip Hop Community to Washington, DC.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Rev Yearwood established the award winning Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign where he led a coalition of national and grassroots organizations to advocate for the rights of Katrina survivors. The coalition successfully stopped early rounds of illegal evictions of Katrina survivors from temporary housing, held accountable police and government entities to the injustices committed during the emergency response efforts, supported the United Nations “right to return” policies for internally displaced persons, promoted comprehensive federal recovery legislation, and campaigned against increased violence resulting from lack of schools and jobs in the years after Katrina.
Rev Yearwood is a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Officer. In the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq he began speaking out against such an invasion. He has since remained a vocal activist in opposition to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007 he organized a national pro-peace tour, “Make Hip Hop Not War”, which engaged urban communities in discussions and rallies about our country’s wars abroad and parallels to the structural and physical violence poor urban communities endure here at home.
He has been featured in such media outlets as CNN, MSNBC, BET, Huffington Post, Newsweek, The Nation, MTV, AllHipHop.com, The Source Magazine, Ebony and Jet, Al Jazeera, BBC, C-Span, and Hardball with Chris Mathews and featured in the Washington Post, The New York Times and VIBE magazine.
He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first in his family to be born in the United States, his parents, aunts, and uncles, are from Trinidad and Tobago. Rev Yearwood currently lives in Washington, DC with his two sons, who are his biggest inspiration to making this world a better place.
Andres Jimenez
Andres Jimenez is the executive director of Green 2.0. Most recently he served as the Senior Director of Government Affairs, at Citizens Climate Lobby, where he worked with both the House and Senate to help expand the voice of CCL and advocate for relevant legislation. Previously Andres served as the Associate Director of Government Relations at Ocean Conservancy with a focus on creating bipartisan solutions for critical issues like ocean acidification and sustainable fisheries in the United States.
Andres has a strong history of public service, having worked for New York City’s mayor’s office, the House Judiciary’s Immigration Subcommittee, Congresswoman Linda Sanchez and Congressman Howard Berman. His work also includes being an active member of the GreenLatinos as well as serving on the board for Ecotropics and being a member of the Green Leadership Trust. Andres was appointed as Planning Commissioner for Fairfax, Virginia in 2020.
Terry Ellen
Terry Ellen is Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist for Social Justice of the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia Area. His work includes providing networking opportunities, training in effective advocacy and community collaboration, and conducting workshops on global warming, health care for all, affordable housing, marriage for all as a civil right, etc. to area UU congregations. He has testified at EPA hearings on Co2 levels as an environmental issue, and speaks often at UU congregations on global warming as the ethical issue of our time. He served as Consulting Minister for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Greater Cumberland (MD), a leader in the area of global warming and mountaintop removal issues for the local religious community.
A graduate of Amherst College, Terry received his Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and his Doctorate from the Andover Newton Theological School. Terry joined the CCAN board in 2010.
Charlie Garlow
Charlie retired in 2015 after serving as an Air Enforcement Attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He helped sue air polluters who violate the Clean Air Act since 1987. Since 1967, he has been an advocate for smart transportation alternatives, alternatives to carbon based fuels, and environmental protection generally. A graduate of Harvard University’s undergraduate college, and West Virginia University Law School, Charlie has served in a number of public interest positions as an attorney, including Nader’s Corporate Accountability Research Group, Legal Aid of Passaic County, NJ, Sierra Club of Connecticut, West Virginia Citizens Action Group, and the WV Attorney General’s office Consumer Protection and Health Divisions. As a volunteer, Charlie has served on the boards of several community and national non-profits including solar energy, electric car, Rotary Club and PTSA groups. Charlie joined the CCAN board in 2004.
Jessica Sims
Born and raised in Central Virginia, Jessica holds a lifelong passion for protecting Virginia’s waterways. Fine art degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and UNC–Greensboro led her to the nonprofit world, where she volunteered extensively with Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the James River Association and as President of artspace, a gallery in South Richmond. With fellow environmental advocate Stacy Lovelace, she founded Virginia Pipeline Resisters, a Richmond-based advocacy group created to support the directly impacted communities leading the fights against the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. Volunteering led to working at the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, where she was the Central Virginia organizer, focusing on environmental justice and a transition to renewable energy, and leading their anti-pipelines campaign. She is currently the Virginia Field Coordinator for Appalachian Voices, where she works in solidarity with those fighting the MVP and other extractive industries like large-scale metals mining. She is a Board member of the Virginia Community Rights Network, and an Executive Committee member of the Sierra Club Falls of the James Group. She enjoys singing in a klezmer band, creating artwork and canoeing on the James River with friends and family.
Monique Sullivan
Monique Sullivan is an activist and educator. She is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. For nearly 15 years, she worked as a professional organizer and campaigner, advocating for aggressive reductions in carbon emissions and a transition to clean, renewable, energy. In her role as CCAN’s Field DIrector she planned, staffed, and launched field campaigns in support of RGGI in Virginia and a ban on fracking in Maryland, as well as campaigns to stop two major fracked-gas pipelines in the region, the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines. While managing CCAN’s field staff, fellows, interns, and volunteers, she increased the racial and economic diversity of all of these teams. Monique is now a 4th grade public school teacher at Watkins Elementary school. She teaches reading, writing, social studies, and – of course – activism. Over the last three years, her students have worked with CCAN and other advocacy groups to commit DC to 50% clean energy, rename Columbus Day, and grant Safe Passage to students. She lives with her partner and their two children, 7 year old Adeline and nearly 4 year old Levi, in NE DC.
Lise Van Susteren
Lise has maintained a private practice in psychiatry for over twenty years, and is board certified in both general and forensic psychiatry. An Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University and an active member of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, she has worked to educate the public on mental health issues through writing in professional journals, the press and other media outlets.
A frequent guest on local and national radio and television, Lise has addressed a range of issues on violence, trauma, and mental illness. Through Physicians for Human Rights, she has conducted evaluations of victims of torture seeking asylum in this country and has advocated on their behalf. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Lise traveled to Houston to assist those in need of mental health treatment.
In 2005, concerned about the direction the country was taking — and believing that a background in science and human behavior would strengthen the political process — she ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Maryland. In September, 2006, she was chosen as one of the first fifty persons to be trained in Nashville by Al Gore to give her version of his global warming slide show, the basis of the documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth. She has presented her slide show to over 100 educational, religious, political, environmental and business audiences in the United States and abroad. In the spring of 2008 she developed a second slide show on the “health effects” of global warming which she has presented to the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, educational institutions, and medical professionals. During the summer of 2008 she traveled to the Arctic Circle to give presentations on the impact of Global Warming in the Arctic. In collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation she organized a conference held in March 2009 on the mental health and psychological impacts of climate change.
She is on the board of the National Wildlife Federation and is a member of the working group of the Maryland Commission on Climate. Governor Martin O’Malley named her to the board of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. In July 2009 she was named to the Metropolitan Council of Governments. She has served on the CCAN board since 2006.
Ladelle McWhorter
Ladelle McWhorter joined the CCAN board in January of 2023. She also sits on the state governing board of Virginia Organizing, which she chaired from 2015 through 2022. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Richmond, where she held the James Thomas Chair in Philosophy from 2005 to 2015 and the Stephanie Bennett Smith Chair in Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies from 2015 to 2022, as well as the title of Professor of Environmental Studies. She has published two monographs, Bodies and Pleasures: Foucault and the Politics of Sexual Normalization and Racism and Sexual Oppression in Anglo-America: A Genealogy, and one anthology, Heidegger and the Earth: Essays in Environmental Philosophy. Currently she is finishing a book tentatively entitled Unbecoming Persons: The Rise and Decline of Modern Moral Selfhood. She lives in East Henrico, Virginia, with her spouse Carol Anderson, and enjoys dancing and haphazard organic gardening.
In Memoriam
Carol Brantley
The CCAN Board and staff cherish the memory of former board member Carol Brantley, who served on the board with distinction after a long career of helping others. Carol passed away on October 17, 2018.
