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.
Jill Barker, Chair
Jenn Yates, Vice Chair
Alex Chacaltana, Treasurer
Amna Bibi, Secretary and Assistant Treasurer
| Jill Barker | Eric Laurence |
| Chris Baumgartner | Silvia Lucero |
| Amna Bibi | Joan McIntyre |
| Alex Chacaltana | Carolina Peña Alarcón |
| Elizabeth Douglass | Carrie Thompson |
| Alexa Gromada – student board member | Laura Vickers |
| Angelo Ioffreda | Chandler von Schrader |
| Al Larsen | Jenn Yates |
| Steven Lanier – student board member |
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.
Some of my most memorable childhood moments outdoors involve gardening and composting with my family, and running along rivers and trails with friends and school teams in my native northeast Ohio. I love the outdoors; I embrace being a caretaker for nature, the environment, and our collective footprint. Volunteering with EcoAction Energy Masters is an outgrowth of that love. Teaching computer skills to new learners is an outgrowth of that embrace. Sculpting computer code to facilitate community-building online and offline is a personal mission I take seriously. EcoAction Arlington’s mission of practical solutions and sustainable lifestyles is teachable and attainable. I hope to leverage my technical and organizing expertise in service of this shared mission.
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.
I am an independent strategic communication and management consultant, leadership coach, and adjunct professor at American University and George Washington University. I am a long-time Arlington resident in the Barcroft neighborhood, and I enjoy the nearby WO&D trail as an avid cyclist and walker. I studied biology and environmental sciences in college and have long enjoyed the outdoors. I want to apply my organizational, communication, and leadership skills to help EcoAction Arlington create a more sustainable and enjoyable environment in Arlington as well as a more diverse and inclusive organization able to expand engagement within the Arlington community and beyond.
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.
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.
As a DC area native and an outdoor enthusiast, I’ve spent countless hours in our community parks, athletic fields, and trail system. As a lifetime runner and member of the trail running community, I’ve grown to appreciate our local ecosystem, and I’m passionate about preserving and feeding the environment for future generations. I’m committed to leveraging my experience in digital media and online fundraising to raise awareness for the EcoAction Arlington mission and affect positive change within our local community.
I am passionate about preserving and protecting the planet for future generations.
As a hotel General Manager, I created a sustainability plan and chose more eco-friendly products to protect my team and guests. And, I furthered my education by obtaining the Energy Master and LEED Green Associate certificates.
I volunteered in the community by co-chairing the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Environmental Committee coordinating recycling projects and park clean-ups and partnering with the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce to launch a regional business challenge and with the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy for a lobby day.
I am excited to use my partnership development and community outreach skills to contribute to EcoAction Arlington’s goals.
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 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 sectors 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.
After a 30 plus-year career in international development, I am excited to be turning my attention locally. I served as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development across Latin America, Asia, and Africa. I gained valuable experience addressing climate change, deforestation, air pollution and rapid urbanization in these places, in addition to alleviating poverty. I am very pleased to have the opportunity now to help guide Eco-Action Arlington on its important work. Among the issues, I am passionate about are maintaining our community’s tree cover and green spaces to mitigate stormwater runoff and enhance our health and enjoyment; increasing adoption of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy use in our homes and transport; and increasing and improving our sustainable use of resource and recycling.
In January 2019, I volunteered to work with the EcoExtravaganza Committee, and that experience inspired me. My goal is to assist EcoAction Arlington to promote environmental awareness further. My expertise includes Marketing and Advertising for The Washington Post. I have also worked as a realtor for almost twenty years, focusing on properties along the Metro corridor. I have a master’s degree in Telecommunications from George Mason University. As a lifelong resident of Arlington, I love living in the Nation’s first Leed Platinum Certified community that promotes environmental stewardship and sustainability. I enjoy living in the walkable neighborhood of Clarendon with my husband.
I have lived in Arlington since 1981, including as a kid attending Madison Elementary School and Williamsburg Middle School, from 1968-71. I have bragged about our great county to folks all over the country.
With Arlington’s smart growth planning, proximity to DC, metro, great schools, nature centers and increasing awareness and dedication of environmental causes – Arlington is quite simply an amazing place to call home. As with all homes – it must be taken care of, and that is the reason for my participation with EcoAction Arlington. Beyond cleaning rivers and picking up trash as I hike, paddle, and peddle, I hope to offer guidance and insight on living lightly.
I’ve had a career in residential energy efficiency, interacting with thousands of homeowners, providing efficiency guidance on everything from air sealing to zoning. Over the years, it’s been an honor to have helped EcoAction with river cleanups and provide building science training to Energy Masters trainees. I look forward to doing more good work as an EcoAction board member!
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.
