About Us
The Seattle Group focuses on transportation, affordable housing, equity and supporting climate-friendly political candidates and initiatives. The Executive Committee of the Seattle Group meets the first Monday of each month at the chapter office in Seattle.
Follow us on Twitter at @SierraClubSEA, check out our blog at https://medium.com/@SierraClubSEA, and join us on Facebook.
Volunteer Opportunities
The success of our efforts will depend on having a dedicated group of volunteers! If you're interested in working on local Seattle issues or others, please contact our chair, Brittney Bollay, Seattle Group chair (brittneybush at gmail dot com).
Political Endorsements
The Seattle Group leads the Sierra Club endorsement process for Seattle City Council and Mayoral races, Seattle-based seats in the Washington State legislature, and other local and regional offices and ballot measures.
Outings
The Washington Chapter runs frequent outings throughout the state. See the statewide Meetup page for upcoming events.
Executive Committee
Members: Brittney Bollay, Robert Cruickshank, Bonnie Gail, Patience Malaba, Leah Missik, Rebecca Monteleone and Whitney Rearick.
Executive Committee Elections
The Seattle Group is governed by a nine-person Executive Committee (ExCom). ExCom members are elected to two-year terms by Club members in Seattle.
Seattle Group Executive Committee Members and Bios
Brittney Bollay - Brittney is an urban environmental advocate with special interests in housing, transit and transportation policy. In addition to having served on the Seattle Group ExCom since 2017, she is an elected leader within the 36th District Democrats and a board member of the Vera Project. Prior to moving to Seattle in 2006, she lived in five other countries and three states. She enjoys birdwatching, gardening, and baseball, and when she goes on vacation she loves trying every type of public transit she can find.
Robert Cruickshank - Robert has been a longtime environmental and sustainability activist, committed to carbon reduction and protecting our natural environment. Before moving to Seattle in 2011, he worked to protect California's cap-and-trade system from an oil company funded effort to repeal it at the ballot box, and promoted sustainable community development on California's Central Coast. Here in Seattle, Robert has worked in the office of Mayor Mike McGinn, doing communications work to help carry out his leading environmental and climate action initiatives. He has also fought for better transit in Seattle and in the Puget Sound region. Currently, Robert works as Senior Campaign Manager for Democracy for America, a job that includes supporting anti-fracking activism on both coasts, as well as supporting Sierra Club-endorsed candidates for local, state, and federal offices.
Bonnie Gail - During Bonnie's time on the Seattle Group Executive Committee, she has focused her energy on community engagement, volunteer recognition, urban density, and has served as the Seattle Group's representative to the chapter Political Committee. Bonnie is now the chair of the Washington State Chapter Political Committee. She is committed to bringing the environment to the forefront of Seattle and Washington State public policy making. Bonnie is also the events chair for the National Women's Political Caucus of Washington, a nonpartisan organization that encourages women to run for office. She strongly believes that encouraging diverse groups of people to engage in the political process is critical for creating positive change.
Patience Malaba - Patience has been a member of the Seattle Group Executive Committee since 2016 and also serves as the Group’s Representative to the Sierra Club State Chapter Political Committee. She has a decade of experience in community development, organizing and policy advocacy. She has worked as Lead Organizer at SEIU Local 6; organizing 800 low wage service workers, having joined the SEIU6 in the final phase of the fight for $15 campaign. Prior to that she had worked as an organizer with One America. Patience currently works as Housing Policy and Outreach Coordinator for Futurewise and leads the outreach work of the Seattle for Everyone, a coalition of organizations united on a foundation of support for the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA).
Leah Missik - Leah has been involved with the Sierra Club with her family from a young age and was the first Beyond Coal Campaign intern in Kentucky, her home state, in 2009. Leah has worked in the environmental sector for her entire career, specializing in environmental policy, sustainable development, green building, and most recently, climate and transportation policy. She currently works for Climate Solutions as their Washington Transportation Policy Manager, where she helps develop and implement policies that will accelerate our transition to a clean energy economy. Leah is particularly interested in highlighting the intersections of sustainability, green building, urban density, affordability, and equity in Seattle. She also does Russian to English translation for Russian environmental activists and is eager to facilitate international connections between environmental groups and foster dialogue on effective activism.
Rebecca Monteleone - Rebecca has worked on sustainability issues in Seattle since 2000, focusing on policy, communications, and outreach work for places both wild and urban. As a policy and communications analyst in the Office of the Seattle Mayor, she worked on transit, biking, walking and road safety efforts, along with other sustainability-oriented policy projects. Prior to working for the City, she advocated for walkable communities at the Seattle non-profit Feet First, working as interim director and policy director. She began her career working on wildlands issues, and has also worked on climate change advocacy for the national organization Environmental Entrepreneurs, as their first Pacific Northwest Advocate. Currently, she's working as a marketing and communications professional, focusing on digital strategy.
Whitney Rearick - Whitney brings decades of experience in affordable housing and land use policy to the Sierra Club. She believes that cities are key to addressing climate change, and that an ample supply of affordable housing is critical to keeping cities vibrant and sustainable. Whitney managed campaigns and was a campus planner at Boise State University, and worked to make Boise’s zoning regulations less car-focused and more people-friendly. In Utah, she campaigned to secure millions in funding for the state’s housing trust fund, and successfully helped to preserve the homes of hundreds of low-income renters throughout the state. Here in Washington, Whitney managed the development of multifamily affordable housing projects in Seattle and Olympia for the Low Income Housing Institute. She spends her weekends sailing and exploring the wilds of Seattle and environs.