Transitions at Sierra Club BC

True to the inherent nature of all ecosystems – when one thing changes other things change in response. So too in the case of Sierra Club BC. When Executive Director George Heyman began his leave of absence to seek election in the riding of Vancouver-Fairview, it became necessary to add organizational capacity to help do some of the work George has been doing in such superb fashion for the last four years.

Sarah Cox now moves into the role of Acting Executive Director for the duration of George’s leave of absence. Sarah has been at Sierra Club for six years and has a deep understanding both of the organization’s inner workings and core priorities. Having served as Director of Strategy and Communications, Sarah is well equipped to seamlessly move into a more prominent leadership and management role so that this time of change unfolds on a solid foundation.

Joining the Sierra Club team in Victoria, John Young began work in the opening days of 2013 as Acting Director of Strategy and Communications. John has been away from Canada for the last five years, living in France, Spain and the United States. He is delighted to be back in Canada and offering his many years of professional experience to Sierra Club.

John spent his youth in Toronto and Ottawa but has lived the majority of his adult life in the Pacific Northwest. His work experience has been diverse and that diversity brings richness to Sierra Club’s already highly diverse staff team. In the mid-1990s John served in an advisory capacity in the Premier’s Office in Victoria, working on a wide range of strategic and policy priorities for the Premier and Cabinet. Following his time with the provincial government, John did a great deal of project and consulting work with fishing communities on the West Coast; working to bring together environmental organizations, commercial fisheries organizations, First Nations and coastal community groups in proposing positive, sustainable alternatives as the federal government pushed unpopular restructuring programs.

John was Executive Director at Citizens for Public Power and played a central role in debates around privatization of public resources in British Columbia. And he was the founding Executive Director of ACORN Canada, a national organization focused on social and environmental justice. John recently taught on leadership at Antioch University’s Graduate Program in Environmental Studies (in New Hampshire) and he looks forward to bringing all that he has learned about leadership to his work with Sierra Club BC.