by Jamal Raad
When I co-founded Evergreen three years ago, I could only dream we would someday see our hard work succeed in all the ways it has. I never imagined I would be running a 23-person–and growing–organization that has made its mark as a crucial part of the progressive climate movement infrastructure.
As we build off this strong foundation, I’m beyond honored and excited to share with you that Evergreen will continue its great work under the brilliant guidance of a new executive director, our current chief of staff, and my friend, Lena Moffitt.
With IRA passage in the rearview mirror, and Evergreen now stepping into its next stage of impact, it’s time for me to step just a bit aside for new leadership in this next chapter.
Evergreen set out to prioritize the climate crisis in the 2020 Presidential election–and not only did we do that, but we went on to influence President Biden to adopt significant pieces of our Evergreen Climate Action Plan into what became the strongest climate platform of any administration. We then went on to successfully work with champions in Congress to pass the biggest investment in climate action in US history. Throughout all of this, Evergreen has continued to grow as an organization and find new and creative ways to make a big impact. And we’re just getting started.
It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to lead this team of people whom I deeply admire, and to help build this amazing community of followers and supporters. The reason I am in this work is that I deeply love working in common cause with friends that share a vision to achieve something big. We are on this planet so shortly–we should do something while we are here.
While I'm stepping out of day-to-day management of the organization, I will continue to serve Evergreen as a co-founder and senior advisor (alongside my friend and co-founder Sam Ricketts), helping fundraise, guiding our communications and digital work, and thinking about how we win on climate in 2024 and beyond. As I transition into my new role, I could not be more thrilled to welcome Lena into hers. While we have achieved so much in the past few years, there is so much more work to be done, and I cannot think of a better person to be at Evergreen’s helm as it enters its new stage of growth. Her experience overseeing large campaigns and teams, strategic vision, and ability to build diverse coalitions across the climate movement make her the perfect leader to usher in a new era of bold climate action. I look forward to being on her team as she does it.