Leadership
Our President: Erich Pica
Friends of the Earth Action President Erich Pica is a nationally recognized environmental and progressive leader, and an economics expert on energy subsidies. Erich has worked to reform U.S. tax and budget policy to reduce pollution and increase clean energy. His core belief that the solution to the climate crisis rests at the intersection of justice and the environment has shaped Friends of the Earth Action’s strategy and mission. Under Erich’s tenure, Friends of the Earth Action’s supporter base has grown to more than two million people.
Erich serves as the chair of the board of the Partnership Project and Partnership Project Action Fund. He is a former Democracy Initiative board member, a former board member of the Safe Energy Communication Council and former chair of the Green Group.
Prior to becoming Friends of the Earth Action’s president in 2009, Erich served as the organization’s director of domestic programs, where he led campaigns to bring emerging technologies like nanotechnology and synthetic biology under greater public and regulatory control and to reform how the federal government manages and invests in our transportation system.
Our Board
Arturo Garcia-Costas
Chair
Arturo Garcia-Costas is the New York Community Trust’s Program Officer for the Local, National, and International Environment. In June 2020, he was appointed to the board of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. He has worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Congressman Jerry Nadler. In the early 2000s, Arturo also managed a United Nations Development Programme initiative to help developing nations implement the 1994 Earth Summit treaties. Arturo earned a B.A. from the City University of New York, a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and an M.S. in Urban Policy and Leadership from Hunter College.
Eva Hernandez
Eva Hernandez has worked for the Sierra Club since 2009, leading organizational development and design and building teams to develop successful community, state and national campaigns to protect people and the planet. Before becoming Managing Director in 2021, Eva served as the National Program Director and on the Executive team, working to lead the Sierra Club’s Clean Energy for All work, to further collaboration across campaigns while emphasizing equity and justice to maximize our effectiveness as an organization and partner across the movement. Eva has always worked to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environmental and social justice movement. Before joining Sierra Club, Eva worked for or served on the boards of several environmental and social change organizations, including MoveOn.org, Dogwood Alliance, Green Corps, Building Equity & Alignment Initiative, GoAustin/Vamos Austin (GAVA), and Environment Texas. She believes in the power of people and communities, as she strives to put her core values of justice and integrity into practice every day. To recharge, Eva reconnects with nature in the Texas Hill Country or at some swimming hole near Austin, TX, where she’s based.
Navina Khanna
Navina Khanna (she/they) is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the HEAL (Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor) Food Alliance, a national coalition whose members represent over 2 million farmers, fishers, food workers, and advocates. For over 20 years, she has worked toward social and ecological justice through food and farming systems, and her leadership is widely respected for uniting change makers across sectors and communities. Navina holds an MS in International Agricultural Development and has formal training in somatics, as a yoga teacher, and in permaculture design. She has previously served on the leadership teams of Urban Tilth, the US Food Sovereignty Alliance, Oakland’s Food Policy Council and Equitable Climate Action Plan committee, and as part of the Young Climate Leaders Network. A first-generation South Asian American living in Oakland on occupied Ohlone land, Navina’s worldview is shaped by migration and grounded in movement. She most easily finds joy immersed in soil, music, and community.
Chloe Maxmin
Hailing from rural Maine, Chloe is the youngest woman ever to serve in the Maine State Senate, at 28 years old. She was elected in 2020 after unseating a two-term Republican incumbent and (former) Senate Minority Leader. In 2018, she served in the Maine House of Representatives after becoming the first Democrat to win a rural conservative district. She also received an honors degree from Harvard College, where she co-founded Divest Harvard. Chloe is the recipient of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes and the Brower Youth Award. She was also named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone. She was named the 2020 Legislator of the Year by the Maine Council on Aging.
Anthony Rogers-Wright
Vice Chair and Secretary
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright serves as the Director of Environmental Justice for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. With 15 years of professional experience, he uses his organizing, policy, and outreach experience to advocate for a variety of social justice campaigns including environmental justice, affordable/accessible health care, and civil rights for LGBTQIA persons. In 2012, Anthony led the effort to remove transgender health exclusions from all insurance policies in Colorado. He advises lawmakers at all levels of government and has served as a policy advisor for Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Jay Inslee during their respective presidential runs in 2016 and 2020. Anthony earned his undergraduate degrees as well as his graduate degree from Clark University. He’s blessed to be the father of his energetic, entertaining, and VERY loquacious son, Zahir Cielo (aka “Bean”).
Tamara Toles O’Laughlin
Treasurer
Tamara Toles O’Laughlin is an environmentalist focused on equity, access, and community. She develops capacity building initiatives and creates multimedia campaigns to dismantle privilege and increase opportunities for vulnerable populations to access healthy air, clean energy, and a toxic-free economy at the local, regional, and national level.
Toles O’Laughlin is a multi-hyphenate leader serving as co worker, resource and connector. She is the President and CEO of the Environmental Grantmakers Association, which represents over 200 foundations globally that hold approximately $200 billion in assets and grant more than $1.8 billion annually to environmental causes. She consistently drives mission critical work and organizational investments to build a multiracial, multi-generational climate movement that is ready to hold leaders accountable to the long view of justice. Previously, Toles O’Laughlin was North America Director at 350.org and 350 Action.