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.
Read about our board openings.
Joan McIntyre, Chair
Rick Keller, treasurer
Sarah Menon, secretary
Ryan Bloom, student board member
Chloe Fugle, student board member
Maria McGlone, student board member
Jill Barker
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.
Chris Baumgartner
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.
Amna Bibi
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.
Ryan Bloom
For a long time, I’ve been interested in climate change and other environmental
issues, as well as the innovative approaches being used to solve them. As a science and technology enthusiast, I find these topics both fascinating and critically important in current times. I’m lucky to have the opportunity to work on these issues and make a difference in my community through EcoAction Arlington. I’m currently involved in the Ready for 100 renewable energy campaign and EcoAction Arlington’s school recycling efforts. As a student board member, I look forward to gaining more knowledge about the challenges we face and working toward a healthier and more sustainable Arlington.
Stephanie Dix Clifford
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.
John Gallagher
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.
Alex Chacaltana
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.
Chloe Fugle
As a student at H-B Woodlawn and as a member of my school’s environmental club, I help to make a positive difference for the environment at my school. However, I would like to have a wider impact. Global warming is one of the biggest problems that my generation faces and will have to solve, and I want to be among the people who work towards solving it. As an EcoAction Arlington board member, I will to reach out to other students at my school and help to spread awareness of the environmental issues that we face here in Arlington. In addition, I would like to provide other students with ideas and concrete ways in which they can do their part.
Bess Foley
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.
Rick Keller
My environmental awareness began in 1970 at a sparsely attended Earth Day event in State College, PA. Over the years I volunteered at various environmental events and contributed to organizations doing environmental work, but it was not until I retired from the Federal Government at the end of 2004 that I became a true activist. I was looking for something to do that had meaning and would benefit the future of my (now adult) children. I realized that for me the solution lay with environmental stewardship. It seems trite to say we only have one world so we better take care of it. Yet there are so many powerful voices that try and convince us otherwise. Through EcoAction Arlington I hope to continue to work toward overcoming those voices and support Arlington’s efforts to make this a sustainable place to live for future generations.
Al Larsen
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 policy to implementing policy. 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.
Don Masters
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 a 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.
Maria McGlone
As a teenager in the Arlington community, I am very concerned about the future Arlington and the world as it pertains to the environment. I believe that the key to the success of programs like EcoAction Arlington is to raise awareness. From a young age I have felt passionate about Environmental protection but, before I found EcoAction Arlington, I did not know how to take action. I hope that my EcoAction Arlington board membership will help spread consciousness about community issues as well as give others opportunities to act on their passion for environmental protection. My goal is to focus on important Environmental issues in Arlington and making sure Arlingtonians know the impact that one person can have on a community. As a student at Yorktown High School, I know that it is not easy to make a difference on important issues like these and I am so honored to have the opportunity to be a part of EcoAction Arlington.
Joan McIntyre
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.
Michael Murtha
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.
Jenn Yates
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.
