Elenor Hodges has been EcoAction Arlington’s executive director since 2000. Her previous experience includes environmental consulting with DynCorp, developing the Animal Tracks environmental education program for Wal-Mart and program management in the education department at National Wildlife Federation. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Education from George Mason University. She lives in Arlington with her husband and two daughters.
Joslin Gallatin joined EcoAction Arlington in August 2015 as the program and administrative coordinator. She has worked with non-profit conservation organizations, notably the State Arboretum of Virginia and the Flora of Virginia Project, for over 30 years. Joslin completed a Masters of Sustainable Urban Planning with an emphasis in Sustainable Landscapes at George Washington University in 2014. She is a certified Tree Steward, Master Naturalist, and Master Gardener in Arlington where she lives with her husband, her dog, and her native garden. She enthusiastically shares EcoAction Arlington’s goal of a sustainable Arlington.
Lydia Cole joined EcoAction Arlington in May 2016 as communications manager. Her experience includes senior management experience overseeing branding, program scheduling, program acquisitions, and program production for a national cable television network and leading the internal communications organization for Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics business area. She has a bachelor’s degree in Television and Film Production from Howard University and a master’s degree in Public Relations and Corporate Communications from Georgetown University. She is a native of Arlington, Virginia and currently lives in Columbia, Maryland with her husband. She enjoys the opportunity to apply her diverse communications skills to advance sustainability in Arlington.
Michele Bianchi joined EcoAction Arlington in April 2019 as the program and outreach assistant. She has worked as an ESL teacher with the NYC Department of Education, and became interested in green initiatives and sustainable living after having her son and becoming a SAHM. Michele has a BA in English Language Arts and a Masters in TESOL, both from CUNY Hunter College. Michele moved to Arlington with her husband and son in 2016 and began volunteering at cleanups with EcoAction Arlington. She is excited to be a part of promoting sustainability in Arlington.
El Hadji Gueye is a senior at T.C Williams High School and has been interning with EcoAction Arlington since November 2019. He has interned previously in New Target doing web designs. He is currently preparing for university and is excited to help EcoAction Arlington accomplish its goals.
Read about our board openings.
Joan McIntyre, Chair
Jill Barker, Vice Chair
Alex Chacaltana, Treasurer
Amna Bibi, Secretary
| Jill Barker | Bethanie Harper |
| Chris Baumgartner | Steven Lanier (student member) |
| Amna Bibi | Al Larsen |
| Alex Chacaltana | Don Masters |
| Stephanie Dix Clifford | Joan McIntyre |
| Bess Foley | Michael Murtha |
| John Gallagher | Carolina Peña Alarcón |
| Alexa Gromada (student member) | Jenn Yates |
I am passionate about the award-winning Energy Masters program that has promoted a more energy efficient sustainable community since 2011. This program highlights how effectively EcoAction Arlington partners with local nonprofits, businesses, and volunteers to reduce carbon emissions, to improve comfort and to reduce costs for our neighbors in need. I am also an Earthkeeper, commissioned by the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. An important element in creating a sustainable future is reducing wasteful energy consumption, and I am committed to ensuring that everyone, even those with modest resources, can be full participants in helping Arlington achieve its environmental goals. I am humbled and honored to assist EcoAction Arlington in continuing its mission of improving sustainability in Arlington.
As a Northern Virginia native, I grew up enjoying a county park in my backyard. That exposure and experience had a profound impact on my appreciation for our natural world, built environment and my career. I’ve returned from living in the progressive city of Minneapolis eight years ago and am excited to have planted roots here in Arlington as well as work with EcoAction Arlington. I’ve worked on a variety of sustainability initiatives throughout my career and am eager to help Arlington continue to build a more sustainable and conscious community.
Although I’ve been a longtime environmentalist, it was only until I worked on energy efficiency and water conservation projects as a college student, and began to quantify the energy and cost savings of these projects, that I realized the impact that hands-on, grassroots efforts can make. I’ve since found that EcoAction Arlington uses these same principles as its foundation, and even as environmental concerns have grown since EcoAction Arlington’s founding in 1978 and our responsibility to address these concerns has increased, there is an equally great opportunity to make a difference in the local community. To meet this ever-growing need, EcoAction Arlington will continue to be the leading organization in Arlington not only for those who are not entirely convinced of the urgency of environmental issues but also for those who are and are looking for practical ways to become part of the solution. I’m always inspired by the passion and dedication of our staff and volunteers and am looking forward to helping build on EcoAction Arlington’s progress and expand EcoAction Arlington’s reach.
I believe in the mission of community organizations such as EcoAction Arlington. EcoAction Arlington (formerly ACE) has been assisting our community for 40 years and continues to effectively impact our lives by advancing energy efficiency, reducing litter and engaging our community in supporting a healthy planet by volunteering.
As EcoAction Arlington continues to expand our outreach and services and raise our profile in the community, I am looking forward to having the opportunity to continue my role in the organization. I’ll use my background in environmental technology, community organizing, non-profit management, and communications to build our internal organizational strength and capacity to effectively serve the community. Working with the rest of our team, we will make EcoAction Arlington a go-to source for information on sustainable living and expand our outreach to those who are not typical environmentalists. We will reach out to more renters, homeowners, and businesses who could benefit from the services EcoAction Arlington specializes in. EcoAction Arlington will continue to grow and play a major role in larger community conversations and strategic plans on the future of Arlington as a model sustainable community.
I have been an environmentalist since exploring the woods near my childhood home, and as a college student reading and taking to heart Buckminster Fuller’s description of our planet as the irreplaceable spaceship earth. As a resident of Arlington since the late 70s, and a long time member and supporter of EcoAction Arlington, I am honored to bring to the board my experience in nonprofit management and communications to promote EcoAction Arlington and its mission goals. To support EcoAction Arlington’s growth and impact, I hope that at least one person in each Arlington household will become a member of EcoAction Arlington.
I have worked directly for and with manufacturers’ engineering teams on research and development projects and led the design and implementation teams for advanced mechanical technologies and serve on the board of directors for the Arlington County Chamber of Commerce as the Sustainability Committee Chair.
As a high school student, I am aware of how important it is to support ways to protect the environment starting at a young age. I feel fortunate to grow up during a time where environmental activism is a priority in both my school community and my local community. I look forward to providing a student perspective at the EcoAction Arlington meetings and to lead efforts to communicate and activate initiatives of EcoAction Arlington at Yorktown High School as well as in various other student organizations I participate in. I am passionate about protecting the environment and look for ways in my everyday life to conserve our Earth’s resources.
As a lifelong runner, nature has been central to the enjoyment of my hobby. But my joy in running decreases as I notice the garbage discarded along our paths and streams. Consistently participating in the R4 Action Group has been uplifting and empowering as I’ve collaborated with volunteers to inform and involve our neighbors. I enjoyed seeing how designing and implementing the Plastic Free Challenge has introduced our Arlington neighbors to new, everyday ways of being green. Using social media was key to creating an effective challenge, and as an EcoAction Board member, I want to help challenges such as this one to increase its audience and accessibility within our community.
A young high school student in Arlington, I care more about the environment than any other large issue. I think Arlington has taken great steps to do more for the environment than other municipalities in the U.S. I am involved in the environmental club at my school which was created this year by a friend of mine. Being a board member of EcoAction Arlington is exciting to me because it would enable me to make a larger impact more easily than I could as an individual. I want to try and reach out to kids at my school as well as people in the community to raise awareness and promote action towards the necessity of saving the environment.
I have been an attorney in private practice, in the areas of energy, environment, and natural resources, concentrating on renewable energy resources. I left private practice to be a senior officer of a wind energy company. Now I am in the federal government, with EPA. So, I have seen energy policy and environmental policy from the private side and the government side, from creating policies to implementing them. What draws me to EcoAction Arlington is that, while policy, laws, and regulations are needed to protect our environment, making policy and legal changes can take a long time, and relies on bringing others along before those changes can happen. EcoAction Arlington is doing things now, things that anyone can choose to do, without waiting for a new statute to pass, or new rules to go into effect. If someone wants to clean up a river shore, or recycle their waste, or use sustainable building materials, or reduce energy use or…well, the point is that there are many, many choices we can make right now, without new laws, by ourselves without having to convince anyone else–and EcoAction Arlington is showing people what those choices are and how to exercise them. Here, and now, not pie in the sky in the future.
As a young resident of Arlington in the 1980’s, I watched the building of I-66 as it came through the neighborhood, bringing with it a multitude of changes. From those early days, I have been involved continuously in the Arlington community through my community association, stream clean-ups, invasive plant removal actions, Christmas in April events, the reconstruction of the Reed School and Westover Library, and the East Falls Church redesign planning effort. I am honored to be a board member of EcoAction Arlington where I can continue to make a difference in the environmental quality of Arlington life for all its residents. I have great respect for the environment and will use my talents in support of EcoAction Arlington’s goal to provide a sustainable community that will be a shining example for other communities to follow. My interest is in bringing the environmental efficiencies and choices that are now being heavily implemented by businesses and real estate developers to all Arlington residents in ways that are cost-effective and convenient to implement.
I am deeply concerned about the growing impact of climate change and general environmental degradation and am convinced that grassroots actions are an important part of the solution. EcoAction Arlington plays a key role in supporting community action to make Arlington more environmentally sustainable. I have volunteered for EcoAction Arlington for the last few years and as I enter retirement from the federal government, I look forward to using my organizational and planning skills to assist EcoAction Arlington in furthering its mission. I plan also to become a Master Gardener and blend my interest in sustainable landscaping with my work with EcoAction Arlington.
I have a vested interest in preserving Arlington’s environment as a resident of the county since 1945, a past chair of the Arlington Planning Commission and a current member of the county’s Environment and Energy Conservation Commission, and through my efforts as a co-chair of the Task Force on the Physical Environment for the Commission on Arlington’s Future, a member of the Task Force on Arlington’s Future: A Vison for the 21st Century, and co-founder of the Arlington Community Sustainability Roundtable. In addition, I have parallel professional interests as vice president and co-founder of the Community Sustainability Resource Institute and my past work with the National Institute of Building Sciences, the National Building Museum, and the Association for the Study of Man-Environment Relations. I am currently working on a book, tentatively titled “Sidewalks Are For People: How Your Neighborhood Can Become a Sustainable Village,” which contains many of the elements of EcoAction Arlington’s Green Living Challenge.
I am originally from Bolivia and I have been living in Washington, DC since 2002. As a passionate advocate of environmental sustainability, I want to share my experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, where I facilitated exchanges between the public and private sector in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. In 2018, I joined Energy Masters to help improve living conditions in low-income households and the Climate Reality Project to raise public awareness of climate change and motivate people to act now. Joining the board of directors gives me the opportunity to support Arlington County and to become a leader that inspires communities to address environmental justice and the climate crisis.
My earliest memories are camping and hiking with my dad in the Southern California mountains. Imbued with a love of nature from that young age, I have spent my career working to improve federal environmental policies while taking action on a personal level to minimize my footprint. But as progress on federal environmental policy becomes more and more challenging, EcoAction Arlington is demonstrating locally the change we want to see globally and making a tangible impact. I’m excited to be leveraging my advocacy and environmental science background to continue to build on EcoAction Arlington’s impressive accomplishments to date and extend the reputation of Arlington as an innovative and conscientious community well into the future.
