Executive Committee Candidates

Executive Committee Candidates

  1. Are you a potential Candidate for the Chapter or a Regional Group Executive Committee? 
  2. Schedule for Nominations and Elections
  3. Petition Form

1. Are you a potential Candidate for the Chapter’s Executive Committees?

Did you know that the Sierra Club is the largest nationwide volunteer-driven environmental organization in the United States? To accomplish that with a consistent voice, our Club has been carefully organized into bylaws-governed chapters. The Loma Prieta Chapter is one of 13 Chapters in California each of which is administered by an elected Executive Committee composed of environmentally conscious Club members willing to provide leadership as we pursue the Club’s goals at the local level.

The Loma Prieta Chapter boundaries encompass San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Benito counties. The Chapter Executive Committee provides final policy approval for the chapter and is responsible for ensuring that chapter actions are compliant with Sierra Club and chapter policies and interests.

There are 9 elected Chapter Executive Committee members who develop and facilitate execution of an overall strategy to grow and engage our membership, strengthen the chapter and provide support to our chapter’s local entities to carry out the Club's mission of exploring, enjoying, and protecting the planet. Our chapter alternately elects 4 or 5 individuals to serve on its Chapter Executive Committee for 2-year terms starting in January of each year. We are seeking the interest of people who love the Sierra Club’s work in conservation of nature and outings, who are concerned about the environment, and who can commit for two years to making the Executive Committee and Sierra Club objectives a high priority.

Executive Committee members should be willing to assist our chapter in various leadership areas. Executive Committee members are expected to spend a minimum of 5-10 hours a month on chapter business, and typically take on additional duties such as serving on other chapter level committees covering membership, communications, fundraising, finance, conservation, nature outings, endorsements, education, and as liaisons to chapter internal entities, other Club chapters, and to the state and national Club organizations.

The ideal candidate is well-informed in one or more aspects of conservation stewardship and/or public and ecosystem health advocacy (clean air, water, and land), and has had experience working with Chapter members on local chapter-level conservation and public and ecosystem health issues.

Similar to the Chapter’s Executive Committee, our regional groups also have Executive Committees that guide their activities.

  • Peninsula Regional Group serves the northern portion - 7 members
  • Guadalupe Regional Group serves the southern portion including San Jose - 5 members.

We hope you'll consider applying to serve on our Executive Committees. The deadline to apply is August 1, 2026. Please contact the Nominations Committee.

2. 2026 Executive Committee (ExCom) Nomination and Election Schedule

June to July 31: Application to Nominating Committee (NomCom) and interview process

  • NomCom receives applications. Send and receive questionnaire responses from members seeking to run for Chapter and Group ExComs.
  • NomCom interviews with applicants (after questionnaire responses are received).

August 1: Deadline for questionnaire responses

August 5: Nom Com presents list of nominated candidates for Chapter and Regional Groups at August 5 Chapter ExCom meeting. 

August 6: Notify candidates who were not chosen as nominated candidates. Inform them about the petition candidate process and the August 20 deadline for submitting petitions and signatures (see below). Petitioners shall use the 2027-2028 petition forms including the signer’s pages.

August 20, 5:00 pm, Deadline for submitting original hard copy petitions. We advise sending your petition packets, with all the required documentation, by certified mail, to Loma Prieta Chapter, 3921 E. Bayshore Rd.  Palo Alto, CA, so that there will be no dispute about the date you mailed it.

October 5: Paper ballots mailed to members and an alternative online voting portal is opened. 
November 20: Postmarked deadline for members to return ballots. The online voting portal closes at 5:00 pm. Ballot counting shall start on November 21. The Election Committee (ElectCom) reports election results shortly after this date to the Chapter Secretary who will officially notify candidates, ExCom members, and other interested parties.

December 2: Last ExCom Meeting of 2026: ExCom Members notified of 2027 members. 

If you are interested in being a candidate please contact the Nominations Committee.

3. Petition Form

The 2026 Petition Form will be available starting August 6th. Candidates are required to fill out the Petition Form and include a photocopy of the petition candidate’s current driver’s license or notarized signature. Petition candidates must include, by the deadline, a typed or printed  list of their petition signers full names, complete contact information and membership numbers, including their signatures, as part of their petition - 40 members for Chapter ExCom and 15 for Regional Group ExCom. If membership numbers are not known, indicate "not known" and we will look these up. Signers are required to be current members.