Executive Committee
The Executive Committee (ExCom) is the governing body of the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, with responsibility for overall activities, budgeting, and strategic planning of the Chapter.
Fifteen members comprise the ExCom, elected by Minnesota members of the Sierra Club for rotating three-year terms. Members serve as volunteers and reflect a diversity of backgrounds and talents. They are brought together by their common interest in environmental protection and a commitment to help the North Star Chapter thrive and grow in its work as the leading grassroots voice for Minnesota’s environment.
Constance Carlson
Luther Dale
Luther Dale has been involved in environmental issues for over 30 years and has held many volunteer roles in the North Star Chaper and national Sierra Club. He is an avid hiker, biker and canoeist and was previously a pastor at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Shoreview.
Email: Luther Dale
Drew Davis
Bio coming soon...
Email: Drew Davis
Katie Eukel
Katie Eukel joined the Executive Committee in 2010 and has served on the communications committee. Katie is the President and CEO of Fourth Sector Consulting, a national consulting firm that uses strategic communications to work across sectors and advance social change. She was previously the communications director at Transit for Livable Communities, where she worked closely with the North Star Chapter to advocate for a stronger regional transit system. A graduate of Macalester College with a B.A. in Communication & Media Studies, Katie has also worked as a philanthropic communications consultant, partnering with national foundations and nonprofit organizations seeking to change America’s food system.
Email: Katie Eukel
Gaagigeyaashiik-Dawn Goodwin
Protector and advocate for the environment and the Anishinaabeg traditional lifeways. She is a lifelong resident of northern Minnesota and has lived next to Lower Rice Lake on the White Earth Reservation since 2001. Dawn graduated from Bemidji State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Visual Arts and is near completion of a B.A. in Native American Studies.
In 2009 she began to learn about the tar sands industry and climate change. This knowledge and concern for the health of our waters has led her into advocating for the protection of the lands, plants, animals, people and nibi/water for the next seven generations. She is a board member of the 1855 Treaty Authority, a trained Climate Reality Leader and a presenter at the 2019 Climate Reality Leadership Corp Training. Dawn was the expert witness for the White Earth Reservation during the Line 3 MN PUC hearings.
Her work centers around networking with other nonprofit environmental organizations and building community. Dawn works as a representative of the Indigenous Environmental Network, and is a co-founder of RISE Coalition; an indigenous led group of women calling on others to “RISE TO PROTECT ALL THAT IS SACRED”
Email: Gaagigeyaashiik-Dawn Goodwin
Michelle Hesterberg
I currently volunteer on the Sierra Club North Star Chapter's Political Committee, and I have 15 years of political organizing, environmental advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and fundraising experience.
I've worked as a fundraiser and organizer for Quinn Nystrom for Congress, OutFront Minnesota, Save the Boundary Waters, Environment Minnesota, Friends of the Boundary Waters, and MPIRG. I am also currently a member of the YMCA Camp Menogyn Board and Out After Carleton Board.
I’ve rallied for racial justice, fundraised to protect the Boundary Waters, organized events on climate change, lobbied to protect clean water, canvassed on public health issues, and much more.
As an LGBTQ+ woman, I am dedicated to fighting for those in our community who are most marginalized, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
I am a passionate advocate for environmental protection and would be honored to be part of the Sierra Club North Star Chapter's Executive Committee to continue working towards a sustainable and equitable future.
Email: Michelle Hesterberg
Sasha Lewis-Norelle
Sasha Lewis-Norelle is a youth climate activist who has worked on a number of climate and environmental justice campaigns and issues. He got his start organizing with the divestment campaign Fossil Free Macalester, pushing for his college, Macalester, to divest from the fossil fuel industry. After learning that the school had tens of millions of dollars invested into the industry that is destroying his future, he knew he had to act. He has continued to volunteer and help lead groups like the Twin Cities chapter of the Sunrise Movement and MN350’s Pipeline Resistance Team. He spent much of last year organizing around the Line 3 pipeline, and continuing to advocate for his school to divest, which they eventually did. Since graduating, he has worked at Clean Water Action Minnesota, advocating for healthier communities and equitable systems.
Email: Sasha Lewis-Norelle
Emma Needham
Secretary
Emma Needham is an Anishinaabe mother, writer, and media professional. She has experience in communication, leadership, and cultural competency. Her background includes everything from live on-air radio personality, media contracting, customer service, marketing and social media, food safety, grassroots organizing, political and legal experience, and human services. She is a lifelong Minnesotan with a love of music and the outdoors. She received her AAS at St. Cloud State University and is currently majoring in Communication Arts and Literature, seeking a B.S. Ed., also at SCSU. She is proud of her strong work ethic, abundant kindness, and desire to be a good role model and future ancestor to her children and other Indigenous relatives through hard work and intellectual curiosity. She believes strongly in the mission of the Sierra Club and how its work serves the Next Seven Generations. She also serves as vice chair of the Discovery Woods Charter School Board and donates blood whenever she can fit it into her schedule. She loves all children, especially those in her life, including her two daughters, nieces, nephews, and niblings, and the children of her dear friends. She never turns down a chance to talk about changing the systems that prevent change in the world.
Email:
Lois Norrgard
Lois Norrgard has been volunteering with the North Star Chapter for many years and currently serves on the Forests and Wildlife Stewards. She has served on many non-profit boards and action committees and has been working full-time in the environment field for the last decade as lobbyist and grassroots organizer, presently working for Alaska Wilderness League. Prior to the environment field she was a small business Co-Owner/Partner and Manager of the Creative Department for a Presentation Graphics Service Bureau in Minneapolis.
Email: Lois Norrgard
Rhyan Schicker
Bio coming soon...
Email:
Tom Thompson
Executive Committee Co-Chair
Tom Thompson moved to the Arrowhead of Minnesota in 2010 after a career in special education in Kansas teaching in a state psychiatric hospital. There he had been an active Sierra Club member for over 30 years, serving on the Kansas Chapter Executive Committee as Vice-Chair, Political Chair, contract lobbyist in Topeka and Kanza Group Chair. He also served as a member of the Kansas Legislature, served on the City of Mission Business Development and Sustainability Committees and chaired the Third Congressional District Democrats. After moving to NE Minnesota, Tom continued to be active in the Sierra Club as a member of the chapter's Political and Mining Committees. He has rallied for clean air and water testifying against sulfide mining, fossil fuel powered electric plants and the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. He traveled to Washington D.C. to protest the XL pipeline and participated in civil disobedience in Bemidji to protest Line 3. He has also participated in protests against wolf hunting in Minnesota. More recently he has been a member of the Duluth Leadership Team, Chapter Coordinating Team, North Star Executive Committee and represented the Chapter on the Council of Club Leaders. He worked with others to start the DFL Environmental Caucus, serving on its first Board. Today, Tom resides in Northeastern Minnesota with his wife Mary and cat Tinker. He is a member of the Pequaywan Lake Garden Club and the Brimson Area Volunteer Fire Department.
Email: Tom Thompson
Kamau Wilkins
Executive Committee Co-Chair
Sarah Wovcha
Sarah is the Executive Director of Children’s Dental Services and has a background in law, public health, and advocacy. She brings over 20 years experience in board service including for the Wedge Community Coop, Ain Dah Yung Shelter, the Minnesota Oral Health Coalition, the Ramsey County Public Health board, and several others. Her family, originally from the Iron Range of Minnesota, spends part of every summer at an old log cabin along the Canadian border. Sarah is excited to serve on the North Star ExCom to contribute to preservation of this wild place, among the many others that grace Minnesota.
Email: Sarah Wovcha
Volunteer Leaders
Please find contact information for our grassroots teams below.
| Greg Allison | Outings Chair |
| Bob Graves | Forests and Wildlife Stewards Chair |
| Marya Hart | Communications Chair |
| Michelle Hesterberg | Political Co-Chair |
| Mat Hollinshead | Conservation Chair |
| Risa Hustad | Land Use and Transportation Chair |
| John Krenn | Clean Energy Chair, Legislative Chair |
| Ben Kuhnke | Sierra Action Co-Chair |
| Marcy Leussler | Beyond Oil Chair |
| Matt Mikesell | Inspiring Connections Outdoors Chair |
| Lori Olinger | Zero Waste Chair |
| Steve Ring | Stewards - Water & Wetlands Stewards Chair |
| Sam Rosemark | Sierra Action Co-Chair |
| Adaline Shinkle | Political Co-Chair |
| Delaney Russell | Change & Equity Team Co-Chair |
| Tom Thompson | Executive Committee Co-Chair |
| Michelle Weinberg | Legal Chair |
| Kamau Wilkins | Executive Committee Co-Chair |