Cyrus Reed, Ph.D., Interim Director & Conservation Director
Cyrus has a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin, with a focus on water policy and the dispute over the Rio Grande water with Mexico. Prior to becoming conservation director, he served as Sierra Club's lobbyist on energy and air quality issues during the 2005, 2007 legislative sessions, and directed the Texas Center for Policy Studies, an environmental policy and advocacy organization based in Austin, for five years. He is presently working on energy issues and their impacts. Cyrus has also worked as a journalist and has spent considerable time in Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Shane Johnson, Distributed Clean Energy Organizer
Shane leads community organizing in Austin, Denton, Garland, and Bryan and support organizing in San Antonio to achieve 100% renewable energy goals in each city. His particular focus will be base building to develop self-sustaining networks of activists and build political power with communities first and worst by pollution and climate change. Shane is a native Austinite and has been community organizing since high school when he first joined the Austin Beyond Coal Campaign. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. degree in Engineering Physics. Since moving back to Austin at the end of 2016, he has dived back into community advocacy at the local- and state-level as a volunteer on the policy team of the criminal justice reform and black empowerment organization Austin Justice Coalition, as a board member of Indivisible Austin, and as a new member of the city's Resource Management Commission.
Greg Harman, San Antonio Clean Energy Organizer
Prior to joining the Sierra Club, Greg Harman worked for more than 15 years as a reporter and editor, writing extensively on environmental health and justice struggles in Texas and beyond. His work has appeared in the Austin Chronicle, Guardian Sustainable Business, Indian Country Today, Yes! Magazine, and Texas Observer, among many others, He has been honored by a range of media and environmental organizations. He was selected by the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter for its annual environmental reporting award in 1999 and 2009. His knowledge of San Antonio's many environmental challenges and opportunities is informed by his time as a staff writer and editor at the San Antonio Current, where he worked from 2007 to 2012. He is a former contributing editor for Texas Climate News and current a Master’s candidate in International Relations (emphasis on conflict transformation) at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
Neil Carman, Clean Air Director
Neil is involved in a broad range of Texas air quality issues including: reviewing emissions and technical data on industrial sources of air pollution and particularly their impacts on communities of color and low-income neighborhoods; commenting on one-hour ozone nonattainment programs; implementation of the new EPA eight-hour ozone standard; EPA's Title V federal air operating permit program; educational outreach to Sierra Club members on local air quality; evaluating air toxics monitoring around industrial sources; working with citizens to train them how to take air samples near industrial sources; and more.
Matt Johnson, Poltical & Communications Director
Matt is responsible for developing and executing the Lone Star Chapter's political and communications plans. Prior to joining the chapter, Matt was a Sr. Account Executive at the clean technology communications and market intelligence firm Mercom Capital Group. He also worked for Public Citizen’s Texas Office and the Environmental & Energy Study Institute in Washington, DC. In 2009, he was selected to represent consumer interests on the Austin Generation Resource Planning Task Force, and organized the Clean Energy for Austin Coalition in 2010. Matt is a returned Peace Corps volunteer (Zimbabwe) and holds an MA in Sustainable Development from the SIT Graduate Institute as well as a BA in History from Augustana College.
Courtney Naquin, Communications Coordinator
Courtney is responsible for creating written and digital content and buidling the Lone Star Chapter's online voice. She provides digitial communications support to the Chapter's various campaigns across the state, and helps amplify the hardwork of the Chapter's organizers and raise the voices of community leaders around Texas. She additionally helps connect reporters to our organizers and program directors and establishes working relationships between news outlets and the organization. Courtney is a recent graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a double B.A. in Sustainability Studies and Asian Studies. In the summer of 2017, she worked as an environmental communications intern with the Texas Sierra Club before leaving for a year in India to continue her language studies with the Hindi-Urdu Flagship. She’s worked in communications, fundraising, and event planning for various nonprofits around Austin, including Austin Parks Foundation, Save Our Springs Alliance, and The Austin Chronicle.
Natalie Martinez, Executive Coordinator
Natalie graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, with a dual degree in Clinical Nutrition and Culinary Arts and Business Management. While in school, she became an advocate for supporting sustainable farming and restaurant practices, while exploring the health and environmental benefits of the plant-based diet. After graduation, she ran a small nutrition program called Nourish Nutrition Solutions that offered free plant-based cooking lessons, recipes, and nutrition plans, while emphasizing the importance of living green in your kitchen and beyond. She was the Lone Star Chapter’s Administrative Assistant for almost two years from 2017-2019. Natalie's current responsibilities include daily administrative and office management operations, coordination of chapter events and meetings, coordination and support of Chapter and Group volunteers, and response to inquiries from members and the general public.
Dr. Ken Kramer, Chapter Director (Retired)
Ken is retired as Chapter Director and volunteering as Chair of the Water Conservation Committee for the Chapter Executive Committee. Ken has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Rice University and his special area of interest during his academic career teaching and conducting research at Texas state universities was environmental policy and administration. He has 25 years experience working on water and other environmental issues as an academic, an environmental group leader, and public policy specialist. He has been appointed to numerous task forces and advisory committees by Texas state officials, including the Governor of Texas and the Speaker of the Texas House.