Who We Are

Sarah Diefendorf, Director

Sarah is the Director of the Environmental Finance Center West at Earth Island Institute. She has founded and managed numerous nonprofit organizations throughout her career and has specialized in building financial, communications and leadership capacity in the US and abroad.    Sarah serves as a Leadership and Communications trainer for the Environmental Finance Center Network and most recently Sarah co-facilitated leadership and internal/external communications workshops to elected officials, water systems and government agencies as part of a USEPA grant in 28 states to gather support for sustainability and environmental health initiatives. 

In addition to her leadership work, Sarah has worked with Native American Tribes throughout the American Southwest for over ten years to help build their green economies through strengthening Tribal codes and regulations and supporting strategic, solid waste and recycling, climate vulnerability and adaptation, and water protection planning.  Sarah has served as a national and international capacity building and leadership trainer for the League of Women Voters and the Center for Collaborative Exchange.  She has trained in capacity building, advocacy, community outreach and leadership in countries around the world including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Jamaica, Armenia, Uganda, Kenya and Thailand. She has been an Expert Witness for the USEPA National Environmental Finance Advisory Board and is the immediate past Board Chair of the Carbon Cycle Institute.  She holds a BA in International Relations from San Francisco State University and an MS in Environmental Geography from Cambridge University.

Elaine McCarty, Associate Director

A dedication and commitment to healthy people and planet have been the trademark of Elaine’s professional life spanning more than 20 years. Elaine has worked with companies, government agencies and nonprofits on issues such as climate change, reducing plastics, recycling, composting and water contamination by through training, research and analysis, feasibility studies and analysis of markets and businesses. She brings over fifteen years of management and consulting experience in education, sustainability, and health care, with an emphasis on developing and implementing strategic, marketing and sales plans with multidisciplinary teams. Elaine has built and managed education programs in sustainability, such as Dominican University’s Green MBA program. As VP of Operations for a start-up medical device company, she helped bring the world’s first biodegradable medical device to market. She holds an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University of California and a B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics from Southern Illinois University, summa cum laude.

Cynthia Naha, Senior Associate

Cynthia Naha is a Senior Associate at EFCWest and the Director of Natural Resources Department for the Santo Domingo Tribe. She is an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe and is Tewa and Ihanktowan Dakota Oyate (Yankton Sioux). She has been involved in Tribal Environmental Programs since 2005 when she started working for the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA) as an Environmental Program Coordinator, in which she was responsible for the coordination and facilitation of the Tribal Solid Waste Working Group and various workshops. While employed at ITCA, she worked with the 21 Federally Recognized Tribes, and the Navajo Nation on solid waste program development, illegal dumping, and development of recycling programs. Upon a successful two years, Cynthia gained employment with the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, located near the urban centers of Scottsdale, Tempe and Mesa, Arizona.

Throughout the past 15 years, Cynthia has worked to build Tribal environmental capacity and seeks to ensure that the communities she works with and for, maintain a balance between environmental protection and public health and safety. She enjoys establishing partnerships with neighboring Tribes, Pueblos, Federal and State agencies and holds the Tribal Government seat on the New Mexico Recycling and Illegal Dumping Alliance (NM RAID), is a former member of the Tribal Waste Response Advisory Program Steering Committee. And is currently the Regional Tribal Operations Committee (RTOC) Secretary for US EPA Region 6. Cynthia is a graduate of Arizona State University, where she obtained her BS in American Indian Studies. Since graduating from college in 2003, Cynthia has vowed to always work with and for Tribal Governments/Organizations in the area of environmental protection.

Jill Sherman-Warne, Senior Associate

Jill is a Senior Associate at EFCWest and the Executive Director of the Native American Environmental Protection Coalition (NAEPC). Jill supports efforts to reach out to Tribes in California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona to provide guidance on new and existing Tribal approaches and programs in the solid waste arena. Formally established in 1997 by tribal leaders and elders from La Jolla, Pawma, Pechanga, and San Pasqual, NAEPC assists member tribes in establishing their own environmental offices and providing environmental and health training.  Jill is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. Jill has also served as the Assistant Government Manager for the Viejas Band of the Kumeyaay, Environmental Director for the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians. Jill is also a recently elected member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe Tribal Council and she is the newest, and the first Native American Tribal member of the AB32 Environmental Justice Advisory Committee for the California Air Resources Board.

Lauralee Barbaria, Senior Associate

Lauralee has an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise and is the past Director of Dominican University’s GreenMBA program. Her executive management and leadership expertise gathered from 25 years in the financial, hi-tech and health care industries reflect her success as a change agent working with organizations and communities of all sizes domestically and internationally.   Her experience with a wide variety of hands-on tools and communication methods help individuals and teams, organizations and Tribes to identify and implement techniques and strategies to build capacities, partnerships and gather support for complex challenges. Most recently Lauralee co-facilitated leadership and internal/external communications training to water systems and government agencies in over 26 states to gather support for water initiatives.   In addition, she has led efforts to develop integrated waste management plans and recycling enterprises for Tribes in Arizona and Northern California, has overseen the development of a business plan for grid-scale solar development for a large Arizona Tribe and has worked with several southern California Tribes on vulnerability assessments focused on the health impacts of climate change.

Lauralee has provided multiple workshops in Latin America to participants from Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and multiple Scandinavian graduate students, focusing on the business case to integrate sustainability into operational efficiencies, strategic plans and entrepreneur business ideas.

Kathleen Kirkpatrick, Project Co-Director, The Capacity Collaborative

Kathleen Kirkpatrick is an environmental engineer and climate activist with a passion for helping rural communities in the South become more resilient and sustainable. She grew up mostly in Alabama, left the region to attend college and pursue a career in environmental protection, then returned in 2012 after her hometown of Tuscaloosa was devastated by a tornado. A dedicated advocate for environmental and social justice, Kathleen earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical and ocean engineering from the University of Rhode Island and pursued graduate studies in sustainable building and Biomimicry. With a diverse career ranging from environmental policy, sustainability education, and nonprofit management to movement politics, she continues to work collaboratively with others in the climate & environmental justice movement towards a Just transition for Southern communities. She also serves on the boards for Coosa Riverkeeper and the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network. Kathleen has held a LEED Accredited Professional (AP) credential since 2009, and was the first Sustainable SITES AP and first EcoDistricts AP in Alabama. 

Lindsay Crowder, Project Co-Director, The Capacity Collaborative

Lindsay brings experience running local to global campaign offices, developing digital & field campaigns and programs for a variety of organizations, and providing strategic planning and anti-oppression approaches to organizations. She grounds her work in building community and transformational change and is committed to building capacity directly for communities carving towards a more just future. Currently, she’s supporting coalition efforts in the Arctic to stop oil and gas extraction, providing impact strategy to a variety of climate storytelling projects, and supporting strategic planning across different movement spaces. She recently served as Organizing Director for the Peoples Climate Movement, moving bold climate action centered in racial and economic justice through mass mobilization, coalition building, and movement alignment and also ran the climate program at Exposure Labs, a film and impact company, to serve as a pathway for storytellers, organizers, and the broader storytelling ecosystem to build narrative power in their communities and beyond. She is rooted in Detroit, MI and is inspired by her home base as a space for movement building and social change. She’s worked on campaigns and built programs with Exposure Labs, Doc Society, Southeast Climate & Energy Network, Netflix, Young Entertainment Activists, New Orleans Film Society, New Zero World, Peoples Climate Movement, Prospect Park, GLSEN, Fujifilm, Trulia, Blue Bottle Coffee, Timbuk2, HBO, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Google Photos, Land Rover USA, General Electric, the National Park Service, AETHER apparel, Save Sutro Forest, Human Rights Campaign, the Sierra Club, the PIRGS, MoveOn.org, and Environment America.

Eleni Canisz, Lead Associate, Puerto Rico

Eleni is based in Vieques and works with the local municipality and several NGOs on a wide range of sustainability projects.  She is one of the lead coordinators of the Vieques Recycling Partnership and the founder of Vieques Earth Week. Eleni is managing the Water Resiliency and the Closing America’s Wastewater Gap projects, focused on the communities in Vieques without access to running water or other utilities. She is an environmental leader on the island and is passionate about how to bring sustainable solutions to the community. Eleni graduated with an M.S. from the University of North Texas in Behavior Analysis and did her undergraduate degree at Western Michigan University in Organizational Psychology. She specializes in implementing sustainability initiatives in community settings and looks forward to helping the island become more resilient. 

Idarys Torres Garcia, Outreach Coordinator, Puerto Rico

Idarys is driven by a desire to serve her community, and especially to ensure the availability of safe, clean drinking to her community in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. In 2016, when the community organized formally, My Garcia was elected to serve as secretary of the Board of Directors of their community water system, Camino Pagán. Since that time, she has participated in innumerable activities to ensure the effectiveness and longevity of Camino Pagán, including attending workshops and actively participating in meetings with other water systems. Most recently, Ms. Garcia has combined her formal education with her service in rural water systems to provide communications and outreach to non-PRASA systems in central Puerto Rico. Ms. Garcia studied at The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, and later obtained a second Bachelor’s in Administration at the University of Puerto Rico in Office Systems, achieving Magna Cum Laude.

ADVISORY BOARD

Janet MacGillivray, J.D., LL.M. 

Executive Director, Seeding Sovereignty

Janet is an environmental attorney and social change activist. She founded and directs The Seeding Sovereignty Project birthed at Standing Rock to amplify the role of indigenous knowledge for environmental justice. Janet is a former whistle blower, and has worked in legal and leadership positions at USEPA and national and international NGO’s on the interconnected issues of water rights, land and food sovereignty, global trade, climate refugees, environmental health, and the rights of nature. Janet, is of Muscogee (Creek) heritage.

Julianne Maurseth, PhD.

Founder, Awake at Work

Julianne E. Maurseth, Ph.D., founded Awake at Work - a consulting firm since 1996 - to build and support organizations, teams and leaders committed to creating consciously ethical, healthy, effective and socially responsible work environments.   She has over 20 years of management experience in various industries and non-profit organizations, and is an expert in organizational psychology, group dynamics and human behavior. Julianne completed her Ph.D. and M.S. in Organizational Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. 

Todd Barnell

Program Manager, Institute of Tribal Professionals (ITEP) Waste and Response

Todd is the Program Manager for the Institute of Tribal Professionals (ITEP) Waste and Response Division.  Todd joined ITEP in 2002, and currently manages ITEP’s programs involving solid waste, source reduction, brownfields, Superfund and other contaminated sites, USTs, and emergency response issues.  Todd also leads the ITEP annual Tribal Lands and Environment Forum which routinely attracts over 500 Tribal members from throughout the United States.

Heather Himmelberger

Executive Director, Environmental Finance Center at University of New Mexico

Heather is a registered professional engineer in environmental engineering specializing in water and wastewater issues. She has been the director of the New Mexico Environmental Finance Center, which serves USEPA Region 6, since 1996. She has more than 20 years of experience in all areas of environmental engineering including planning, design, operation, and troubleshooting. As the director of the EFC, she has assisted numerous states with capacity development strategies under the Safe Drinking Water Act, including development of the strategies and implementation of the programs.

Eve Thompson

Founder and Director, FemPo.net South Africa

Eve has a long history of promoting the advancement of women in political life in Africa and in promoting value-centered leadership in the world, in general.  She has held several Country Director posts in promoting democracy and good governance in Africa and also directed the United Nations University’s International Leadership Academy in Amman, Jordan. When Eve first came to Africa over 20 years ago, she was struck by the persistent marginalization of women, particularly in the realm of politics.  In all the projects she led thereafter, she worked to ensure that the empowerment of women and the expansion of their numbers in leadership ranks, were key objectives.  FemPo.net represents the culmination of these efforts. She studied English Literature and Law before working as an associate at a law firm in Washington, DC and making the transition to working in Human Rights Law and contributing to the fall of Apartheid in South Africa and fighting for the rights and advancement of women and youth throughout Africa and beyond.