Executive Committee

Russ joined the Executive Committee in 2003, and currently serves as co-chair of the Clean Air Committee. His volunteer experience includes board service for the Sustainable Resources Center and the Community Shares Fund (formerly the Cooperative Fund Drive). He has worked as an affordable housing advocate for manufactured home park residents with All Parks Alliance for Change, as a Housing Specialist for the Harrison Neighborhood Association in north Minneapolis, and as a staff member for the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG). Russ Adams has served as the executive director of the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability since 1995.

C. Scott Cooper has 18 years of experience serving on nonprofit boards, managing progressive political nonprofit organizations, and running successful issue campaigns. For seven years, he served as the Executive Director of the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action, and in 2006 lead MAPA through a successful merger with long-time ally Progressive Minnesota to form TakeAction Minnesota. He recently earned a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.

- ExCom Vice Chair

Luther Dale has been involved in environmental issues for over 30 years, most recently as a member of the Club's Shoreview Green Community and Building Environmental Communities Steering Committee. He is an avid hiker, biker and canoeist and is currently a pastor at Incarnation Lutheran Church in Shoreview.

John Doberstein currently serves as Chair of the North Star Chapter's Mining Committee, as a member of the Minnesota Steering Committee for the Blue Green Alliance, and on the City of Duluth's Environmental Advisory Council. He is a Real Estate Agent certified as an EcoBroker®, helping home buyers and sellers to make sense of environmental and energy-related issues. John helps to represent the Sierra Club in the northeast region of the state through a variety of public education efforts.

Mat has been a member of the North Star Chapter ExCom since 2000, serving terms as Membership Chair, Treasurer and Legislative Chair. Since 1996, he has worked to establish light rail transit, commuter rail, and better transit funding for the Twin Cities. He has also served as the chapter's contact regarding the Lower St. Croix National Scenic and Recreational Riverway bridge issue, working to protect the LSCNSRR from a proposed new Highway 36 bridge south of Stillwater and, most recently, to obtain a commitment for transit service to Wisconsin's growing Twin Cities suburbs. In 2000, Mat spent a year traveling U.S. cities studying the relationship between community and transportation on a Leadership in Neighborhoods grant from The St. Paul Companies Foundation. Mat is a full-time transit user and, in season, bicyclist. In 2006 Mat received the first-ever "Loon of the Year" award from the chapter, recognizing his personal commitment to practicing mobility, as much as possible, without the automobile.

- ExCom Chair

John Hottinger is a former Minnesota state senator and majority leader, representing constituents in Mankato. He brings a long history of public service and a deep interest in environment and conservation issues, particularly global warming, to the ExCom.

- ExCom Treasurer

Don has been involved with the North Star Chapter for many years, serving as the chair of the Forestry Committee from the mid 1980s through 2003. He joined the ExCom for the first time in 2004. Don serves as secretary of the Excom.

Steve Kelley is a former Minnesota state senator from Hopkins. During his tenure in the state senate he was a champion for energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation, and brings that experience as well as an interest in sustainable agriculture and sustainable economic development to the Sierra Club.

Lois Norrgard has been volunteering with the North Star Chapter for many years and currently serves as the Chair of the Forests and Wildlands Committee. She has served on many non-profit boards and action committees and has been working full-time in the environment field for the last decade as lobbyist and grassroots organizer, presently working for Alaska Wilderness League. Prior to the environment field she was a small business Co-Owner/Partner and Manager of the Creative Department for a Presentation Graphics Service Bureau in Minneapolis.

Greg Schlichter, CFRE is a consultant helping non-profit organizations advance their missions through the successful integration of all aspects of development. He has a BA degree in Journalism from the University of St. Thomas and is a graduate of the Saint Paul Foundations Planned Giving School. Greg has been a leader on the Sierra Club's Gift Planning Committee since 2006.

Sharon Stephens has been involved in the North Star Chapter since 2000 and has served in a variety of roles including Land Use Committee Chair and Legal Chair. Sharon also serves on the national Sierra Club Wildlands Committee.

- ExCom Secretary

Sheila has served as a volunteer in the Dakota County Sierra Community in Northern Dakota County, on various steering committees to oversee Sierra Club campaigns, and in the past on the ExCom as a member and as Secretary. She has over 16 years of experience in non-profit administration and holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of MN at Morris, and a M.Ed. from Concordia University in Saint Paul. She is currently a teacher at Dodge Nature Preschool.