About Us

Leadership:

Dr. Anne Mellinger Birdsong graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School and completed a pediatrics residency, and then earned masters of public health from Johns Hopkins University. She has worked at city, county, state, and federal health agencies, in areas as diverse as communicable diseases, vaccine preventable diseases, radiation environmental health, environmental public health, asthma, a county STD clinic, and a Native American Indian Health Service clinic.

Tanya Coventry-Strader is the Executive Director of Mothers and Others for Clean Air. She is a purpose-driven social impact and communications leader. After a corporate career that included executive roles at Time Warner, Carter’s, and Build-A-Bear Workshop, she founded Brand + Purpose, a consultancy helping corporates define, articulate, and activate their purpose by aligning their values, culture and brand equity with UN SDGs. Tanya has also worked with non-profits including Habitat for Humanity International, The Carter Center, NRDC, Westside Future Fund, and Committee for Common Ground, helping them develop mutually beneficial partnerships with corporates, creating effective global campaigns and launching fundraising race events.

Tanya is a native Spanish speaker and loves to travel with her family and learn about different cultures. Her family once drove from Atlanta to Costa Rica. 

Leadership:

Reverend Michael Malcom is an ordained minister and Founder and CEO of both the People’s Justice Council and Alabama Interfaith Power and Light. He is the former founding pastor of Fellowship Christian Ministry in Lithonia, Ga. He was a Chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserves. He was ordained and licensed in the Pentecostal church tradition. His understanding of the role of pastor is that of one who shepherds and cares for his/her community. He believes that in this ecological system ALL are a part of his community. His work in Environmental Justice has led him worldwide to teach, listen and engage , advocate and support marginalized people.  He has done extensive work with the US Climate Action Network as well as many other national organizations such as the Black Hive. He also serves as the Environmental Justice Representative for the South East Conference of the United Church of Christ as well as many other justice organizations. He is a teacher, mentor, listener and passionate speaker. "There can be no environmentalism without environmental justice. If you help the people, you'll heal the planet."

Geri Freedman was an activist in the women’s movement, the war ,and the environment in the 70's.  She held positions in human services for over 40 years and during the latter part of her career she worked for a municipal government where she was the Director of Social Services and Chief Administrative Officer in Miramar, Florida. After she retired and became a grandparent her life changed. Looking into the eyes of her grandchildren she knew she must do more to preserve the planet.  That inspired her to become engaged in Elders Climate Action as National Co-Chair to take action to stem the climate crisis by mobilizing other elders. For the past three years she has dedicated her time to The People’s Justice Council as the Operations Director.

Leadership:

Jen Chandler is director of Elders Climate Action (ECA), an all volunteer team working to mobilize elders to take part in climate action at the local, state and federal level. As a lifelong activist, Jen was inspired into action by her mother, Hazel Chandler at an early age beginning with the AIDS crisis. Together they have advocated for a variety of environmental and social issues. Jen is a lifelong learner, creative thinker, dedicated problem solver and passionate advocate for just climate solutions who loves to help others find their way into action. Jen has a MA in nonprofit leadership and a BA in photography & adventure education. Jen has been with ECA since fall of 2015, previously she worked in the visual arts and higher education.

Ariana Genna is a Project Coordinator with Elders Climate Action. She began working with as an intern ECA in the summer of 2021 and has continued to work with the organization since. She has received two Bachelors form Lebanon Valley College in Political Science as well as Social Justice and Civic Engagement, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. 

Leadership:

Ilka Vega is the Executive for Economic and Environmental Justice at United Women in Faith. She holds a B.A in Sustainability, Culture, and Social Justice and a B.A. in Business from Southwestern University and a M.Sc. in Innovation, Human Development, and Sustainability from the University of Geneva. She has over 14 years of experience working on human rights and different advocacy issues including migration, climate and racial justice. She has worked as an educator writing social justice curriculum for faith-based audiences and worked on mainstreaming sustainability policies and educational resources across different UN and international organizations including the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights and the 2050Today initiative in Geneva.

Leadership: 

Reverend Susannah Tuttle joined the staff of the NC Council of Churches (NCCC) in August 2011. In this role Susannah has served as the director of the NC Interfaith Power & Light (NCIPL) campaign for over a decade and in 2020 launched the Eco-Justice Connection as a strategy to highlight the intersectional work of the Council. She received a Masters of Divinity degree from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. Susannah is a founding member of the Southeast Faith Leaders Network (SFLN). Susannah currently serves on the Executive Board of the Southeast Climate & Energy Network (SCEN) and is an international community outreach leader for the U.S. Climate Fair Share collaborative.