Chapter Leadership Committee
Our chapter was one of the first in the country, established on Oct. 1, 2017. Elections are currently held in March each year with terms lasting one year — from April 1 to March 31. There is a two-year term limit for contested positions.
The Leadership Committee and other roles may evolve and the election schedule may change over time.
If interested in playing a leadership role, let us know — especially for helping us build diversity and youth involvement.
LEADERSHIP TEAM
CHAPTER CO-CHAIR | Tom Coleman
A native of Boston, Tom has worked at many organizational levels in manufacturing, information technology, and in process improvement disciplines. In 2018, he retired as chief information officer and now works in the field of environmental, social, and governmental education and activism. He is a Climate Reality Leader, the co-chair of the chapter’s EV Transportation team, and is actively engaged with the work of the chapter. Tom holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, is a Certified Business Process Master, and is Certified as a Change Management Professional. Tom has rooftop solar panels and two electric vehicles.
CHAPTER CO-CHAIR | Bruce Mainzer
Bruce is co-chair of the chapter’s EV Transportation team. After getting a masters degree in transportation from Northwestern, Bruce worked for 10 years in public transportation, including stints with the Chicago area RTA, Illinois DOT and Metro-North Commuter Railroad in New York City. He then worked in the travel industry for United Airlines, Norwegian Cruise Line, Vail Resorts, Hyatt Hotels and Carey Worldwide Chauffeur Services. Bruce retired in 2019, after serving for the last 13 years of his career as a marketing and pricing consultant for hotel owners and major travel industry brands. Bruce enjoys all forms of transportation and after owning convertible foreign sports cars, he is now a big fan of his EV. He and his wife love to travel, especially to Paris, which is his second favorite city after Chicago.
CAMPAIGNS CHAIR | Pam Tate
Pam is chair of the chapter’s Campaigns Committee, where she oversees all teams and campaigns. After serving as the CEO of a national non-profit in the education and workforce development field, she left that role in 2018 to devote her life to the climate crisis and was trained in 2019. She has two dogs and loves to go for walks in nature. She is a lifelong lover of giraffes and spends considerable time on saving them from extinction. She’s on the board of American Forests.
CAMPAIGNS VICE CHAIR | Jeff Green
Jeff, who lives in Glenview, went to Trinity College in Connecticut and got an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern. He worked in IT for over 20 years. His goals are to address the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity, and income inequality. Jeff is a researcher, analyst, and communicator, and has used these skills in his role as co-leader of the Evanston chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby, lead of the Divest, Defund, De-sponsor team of our chapter, and a member of the 350 Chicago Divestment team.
PUBLIC EDUCATION CHAIR | Vidya Bommi
Vidya Bommi has lived most of her life in the Midwest except for two years in Haiti with the Peace Corps and Hospital Albert Schweitzer. Vidya has a Master’s in Social Work at Loyola and has worked over 20 years in public and private mental health. She is now in the Doctorate program of social work at University of Southern California with an emphasis on the intersection on environmental injustice and women. Vidya was trained by the Climate Reality Project in Las Vegas 2022.
COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR | Cynthia Linton
Cynthia helped start the Chicago chapter, has been chapter chair, and is now communications chair. She is retired as a journalist and j-school professor at Northwestern’s Medill. Former VP Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ inspired her in 2007 to take action on climate. She was active with the Sierra Club, then trained with The Climate Reality Project in 2017 (Seattle).
MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT CHAIR | Open
At-Large Chairs
Kristina Murphy
Kristina Murphy is co-founder of Accelerate Climate Solutions and serves as Vice President of the Board. She owns Confluence Climate Consulting LLC. Professionally, she is an atmospheric scientist with nearly 25 years of experience in water engineering. Kris is a Certified Climate Change Professional (CC-P). She chairs the Sustainable Aurora Advisory Board; participates in the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force; and co-chairs our chapter’s Suburban Climate Action Planning committee. When Kris is not giving presentations on ways to reduce our emissions and create resilient infrastructure, she enjoys baking and organic gardening with her young son.
Karen Daiter
Karen is a psychotherapist and educator working in private practice in Chicago. She is on faculty at the Institute for Clinical Social Work. Karen joined Climate Reality in 2020 after completing a MA in Conservation Biology in 2019 and our leadership training in 2020. She started our Tree Team in 2021 and joined the leadership team in 2022.
Abhinav Anne
Abhinav Anne leads our Youth Action team. A passionate environmental sciences youth activist, he is a student at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. He leads several environmental youth-action initiatives in organizations including YOUNGO, Climate Cardinals, and the Children’s Kindness Network. At Climate Cardinals, he serves as the Deputy Director for Research. Abhinav has also joined local organizations, including Climate Reality Chicago Metro, It’s Our Future, and Fridays for Future Chicago. He hopes to promote youth action in his community and implement climate action campaigns and policies in Chicago-area schools.
Rachel Fredericks
Rachel leads the Chicago Climate Action & Policy Team. Before moving to Chicago, she was a philosophy professor specializing in ethics, but left her university position in late 2021, partly so she could spend more time on climate activism. (She still does academic research as an independent scholar). A favorite elementary school teacher got her interested in the climate crisis decades ago. She is particularly interested in the relationship between climate justice and other kinds of social justice. An avid vegan food-lover and cook, she is always happy to share recipes.
PAST CHAPTER CHAIRS
Cynthia Linton, 2020–2022
Jennifer Linton, 2017–2020