Outgoing Maryland Sierra Club Chapter Chair Rosa Hance, front row third from right, with Maryland chapter staff and volunteer leaders
The leadership of the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter has changed as of January 2024. Rosa Hance, who began in 2020 as the youngest female chapter chair in Maryland Sierra Club's history, has transitioned out of the role after four years of impactful work. Carlo Sanchez, who served as chapter vice chair in 2023, has been elected as the new chapter chair.
Staff and volunteers deeply appreciate Rosa's dedicated and active service as group chair for the Southern Maryland Group and the Maryland chapter chair from January 2020 to January 2024. They consistently recognize her welcoming and inclusive approach, which brought about a dozen new people into leadership positions in Sierra Club around the state.
During Rosa’s tenure as chapter chair, the chapter has been a key player in the negotiation of the retirement dates the last six coal fired power plants in the state, endorsed over 150 environmental champions for office including early endorsements of the state comptroller and attorney general, brought a lawsuit to challenge the largest proposed highway expansion in the region, worked with allies to form new climate and transit coalitions, supported and advocated for dozens of local and state regulations in forest conservation, single use plastic reduction, native plants, and savvy land use. The chapter has also made organizational strides including starting an equity focused mini grant program and a Youth Leadership Council and hiring four new staff members. Rosa also led monthly chapter executive committee meetings and was heavily involved in recruiting, volunteer orientation, fundraising, advocacy, and political work.
Rosa helmed the organization from an outing-heavy, in-person organization in January 2020 to an increasingly powerful hybrid (virtual/in-person) organization after April 2020 when the pandemic impacts forced major changes. Hance notes, "I had no idea what was on the horizon when I took on the responsibility of chair and we had our last in person lobby night just before the world turned upside down. It has been a full four years of change, adaptation, resilience, and progress."
Rosa says what she appreciates most about the Sierra Club is "the commitment to inclusive values and ability to bring people from all walks of life together around our expansive mission to explore, enjoy, and protect the planet."
Chapter Director Josh Tulkin stated, “Rosa has had an immeasurable impact on the Maryland Sierra Club on so many different levels from helping win huge conservation victories to establishing strong processes that help us work better together. Her work to strengthen the chapter’s social media, invigorate our grassroots activism, and welcome young leaders deserve special mention.”
Rosa was recently appointed by the Moore administration to the Chesapeake Conservation Corps Program Board and the Critical Areas Commission, and she consults for High Street Strategies and for the Choose Clean Water Coalition as their energy policy contractor.
Rosa won a prestigious Maryland Department of Planning award two years ago, and upon receipt of it, she said: “I'd like to thank the amazing volunteers and staff of the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club who I work with and the many different wonderful organizations and coalitions that I'm proud to collaborate with." These words reflect the spirit she brought to the role and the collaborative attitude she embodied and continues to embody as she moves into new ways to make a difference in the environmental realm and beyond.