A Decade of Partnership with Dr. Heather Hairston
There is something almost magical about the way a climbing plant tendril finds a trellis. It does not need direction, just something sturdy to hold onto so it can climb higher than it could alone. When we think about Dr. Heather Hairston’s decade-long partnership and service to EcoRise, that image comes to mind. She built conditions for growth, and the work climbed. This summer, as Heather closes out her final Board term, EcoRise is welcoming its largest Board of Directors in its history, seven new members, new executive Board leadership, and a new strategic plan pointing the way forward. It is a milestone worth pausing on, and it starts with her.
In 2015, two EcoRise staff members showed up to host a teacher workshop at C.W. Harris Elementary School in southeast Washington, DC. EcoRise had just launched its first programs outside of Texas and was new to the DC landscape. The principal who met them at the door was Dr. Heather Hairston.
“She didn’t have to welcome us the way she did, but that’s Heather,” says Co-Executive Director Jon Stott. “Warm, open, present. She made room for us, and that changed everything.”
Heather closes out her third term this summer after six years of service on the EcoRise Board, including two years as Chair. Before she was a Board member, Heather was an integral partner and school leader who helped bring EcoRise’s Student Innovation Fund to C.W. Harris and schools across DC, and she opened the door to a partnership with Perkins Eastman that wove sustainability into her school’s modernization, with students and faculty shaping the design of their own building. She led through a stretch of years that were intense, challenging, and energizing all at once, and she was steady through every one of them.
“Her belief in young people, her care for educators, and her willingness to ask hard questions made our work better at every turn,” says Co-Executive Director Abby Randall. Heather is now joining the EcoRise Advisory Council, so this is a shift rather than a goodbye.
Welcoming New Board Leadership
Josh Wiener returns as Board Chair, joined by Sean McPhillips as Vice Chair, Keith Wright as Treasurer, and Brook Capps as Secretary. Josh guided EcoRise through an earlier period of real growth, building the governance and systems that carried a Texas nonprofit into national work. From a family of educators, he leads global sustainability strategy at MetLife, where his work spans corporate real estate, procurement, carbon footprint management, and employee engagement.
Josh steps back into the role at a different kind of inflection point. EcoRise’s new strategic plan calls for deepening place-based work across six core regions while broadening access to programs nationally, and it asks the Board to engage directly in programs, strategy, and fundraising rather than from a distance. That is a bigger job than governance alone, and it takes more hands.
Meet EcoRise’s Seven New Board Members
At the annual Board retreat in May, EcoRise welcomed seven new members, the largest incoming cohort in the organization’s history and the largest Board to date. They arrived asking important questions and stayed for the 10th Annual Central Texas Student Innovation Showcase, where K–12 students and the Youth Climate Council presented to a packed house.
The seven bring expertise from across the map of what sustainability work actually looks like. Camille Forde, Michael Berg, and Michael Chen advise global companies and brands on climate strategy and operations. Clarke Harned and Wan Mokhtar-Cox work at the intersection of technology and climate, in mapping data and network security infrastructure. Pranjal Mehta serves as Senior Attorney for the Office of Legal Services at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Rebecca O’Brien leads the IREM Foundation, strengthening sustainability practice across the real estate management industry. Several are parents. Two are former classroom teachers.
EcoRise is excited to have a Board that leverages its diverse and creative experiences to grow EcoRise and the environmental education movement. You can learn more about our Board members, new and tenured, on the EcoRise People page.
Get Involved and Support Environmental Education
“It’s the courage, creativity, and collaboration of young people that will help lead us out of the challenges we face,” Heather says. “They are ready. We just have to keep investing in them.” If you’d like to help us continue making environmental education more accessible for educators and students across the U.S., donate to our programs.
