Jesse King, Board Chair
Jesse King is the founder and managing director of Fulcrum Advisors LLC, a firm that provides consulting services in the arenas of leadership, organizational development, and philanthropy. Some non-profit sector clients include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Children's Defense Fund, The Black Community Crusade for Children, and the Center for Creative Leadership. Jesse served as the Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for the Daniels Fund and as a project manager for the Rockefeller Foundation. Jesse’s board service included the REI CO-OP, Inc., Net2Phone Inc., The Chinook Fund, The Denver Community Foundation, and Funders for LGBTQ Issues.
Ingrid Fish, Board Vice-Chair
Ingrid has 17 years of experience working for the City of Portland, and is currently in the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, Transportation Decarbonization Policy. She develops strategic policy direction to decarbonize Portland’s transportation sector and increase equitable access to low-carbon transportation modes including walking, biking, transit, shared and electric vehicle use. Ingrid managed the development of Portland’s 2017 Electric Vehicle Strategy, and she coordinates with stakeholders to implement transportation decarbonization-related Climate Emergency Workplan and Electric Vehicle Strategy actions. Ingrid worked with team to develop Portland’s 2022-2025 Climate Emergency Workplan, Portland’s 2015 Climate Action Plan and the City’s first Climate Change Preparation Strategy. She is currently working on strategies to decarbonize Portland’s transportation system including developing EV-Ready requirements for Portland new construction buildings, partnering with Portland Bureau of Transportation staff to design an equitable transportation pricing system, greening the City’s fleet vehicles, reducing carbon emissions from the freight sector and increasing the amount of publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure in Portland. Prior to working for the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, she worked for Portland Mayor Tom Potter and the City of Portland Budget Office.
Cheyenne Flores, Board Treasurer
Alvaro Sanchez, Board Member
Alvaro S. Sanchez is The Greenlining Institute’s Director of Environmental Equity, where he leads a team that develops policies to improve public health, catalyze economic opportunity, and enrich environmental quality for low-income communities and communities of color by leveraging public resources that address pollution, fight climate change, and helps vulnerable communities adapt to a changing environment. Prior to joining Greenlining, Alvaro led Green For All’s stormwater infrastructure strategy. In 2011, he received a Master of Planning degree from the University of Southern California, where he focused on affordable housing and economic development. Alvaro is a lifelong public transit rider who took his first solo bus ride in Mexico City at the age of 8.
Darice Ellis, Board Member
Darice J. Ellis has worked extensively in sustainability-related fields for more than thirty years, covering both public and private sectors. She served a number of years as a senior staff specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional office in Philadelphia, PA, managing and implementing various indoor air, water, and children’s health programs and policies. Darice joined the city of Phoenix in 2006 and currently works in the City Manager’s Office of Sustainability as a specialist. Her job focus is on the development and advancement of the city’s sustainability goals as well as growing student sustainability leaders and providing them civic engagement opportunities in policy and decision making. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), graduate work in multicultural education from Eastern College (St. David’s, PA) and The Executive Leadership Program, The Graduate School (Washington, D.C.). Darice is committed to protecting human health and the environment. She remains passionate about the equitable treatment of people, is dedicated to fairness and inclusion, and absolutely loves consignment and thrift shopping.
Austin Blackmon, Board Member
In addition to executive roles in management consulting, clean energy and finance, Austin was the Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space for the City of Boston. There, he led the Environment, Parks and Buildings departments as well as the City's award winning climate investments. In this position, "Austin from Boston" served on the USDN Steering Committee, helping set the strategic vision for the organization, including its transition to a standalone 501(c)(3) and fiscal agent.
He also represented Mayor Walsh as the Co-Chair of Climate Mayors and on C40 Cities' Steering Committee. Through these roles and Boston's membership in the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, Austin collaborated extensively with Sustainability Directors to grow these networks, create multi-city strategic communications and provide technical support to amplify and accelerate the success of his colleagues.
Austin is now a Partner at Earthshot Ventures, a $94M climate-focused venture fund spun out of Elemental Excelerator. The firm invests in entrepreneurs building technologies to rapidly address climate change across energy, mobility, food systems and industry.
Sadhu Johnston, Board Member
Sadhu is a thought leader on cities: how they work, how they can be improved, and how they are evolving to handle the myriad of challenges that they are forced to take on. He was the City Manager of Vancouver, BC from 2016 until 2021 where he was responsible for managing the operations of the City, including oversight of a budget of over $1.6B and over 7,000 staff. He spearheaded initiatives to address housing, homelessness, development, and climate change issues. He was the Chief Environmental Officer of Chicago under Mayor Richard M. Daley where he led the development of the first climate action plan in a major North American city. He is co-author of "The Guide to Greening Cities" published by Island Press in 2013 and is a co-founder of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network.
Deborah Raphael, Board Member Emeritus
Debbie Raphael has had a 30 year career in public service at the city, county and state levels. Most recently, she was the Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment where she led bold climate action initiatives focusing on human health and biodiversity as well as emissions reductions. Prior to this, Debbie was the Director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Named one of the world’s 100 most influential leaders in climate policy, Debbie is a sought-after spokeswoman on local and national environmental issues. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s Degree in Physiological Plant Ecology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Upon entering college, Debbie switched her major to botany after she fainted watching stitches being removed while in her “Hospital Occupations” class.
Katherine Gajewski, Board Member
Katherine has been a part of the USDN community from its early days when she was a member representing the City of Philadelphia, where she served as the Director of Sustainability. She loved working with colleagues from around the country to put Philly's work into a bigger picture. She led USDN as a co-chair, co-founded Climate Mayors and the Green Infrastructure Exchange, playing a key role in developing the then-nascent community of practice. After city government Katherine went on to start City Scale, a consulting firm focused on advancing national climate action rooted in local priorities and solutions. Katherine works and learns from multiple directions as a consultant and advisor to a range of partners from non-profit, philanthropy, organizing, and the private sector. She supports strategy, program design, organizational development, coalition building, independent research and analysis. Her core interest is building the culture and power to support durable systemic change, supporting the communities most affected by the fossil fuel economy and climate change to lead. Katherine lives in Chicago, where she traverses the city by bus and e-bike.
Sidney Ribaux, Board Member
Sidney is a dynamic leader and entrepreneur dedicated to ecological transition and sustainability. With over 25 years of experience, he currently serves as the Director of the Office for Ecological Transition and Resilience in Montreal, where he leads a team focused on climate action and resilience initiatives. Sidney has successfully developed and implemented the city’s 2020-2030 Climate Plan and has been pivotal in shaping regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in buildings.
Previously, Sidney co-founded Équiterre, a major environmental organization in Canada, where he grew the organization’s revenue from $200K to $6M and expanded its membership to 20,000 donors. He also played a key role in establishing the Centre for Sustainable Development, overseeing the creation of a LEED Platinum-certified building.
A lawyer by training, Sidney’s impactful work has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Canadian Environmental Innovation Award and fellowship with Ashoka, an organization that champions social entrepreneurs. Fluent in both French and English, he is committed to leveraging Quebec's resources to address climate challenges for future generations.