Loren Blackford

Loren Blackford is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, having previously served as Interim and Deputy Executive Director, Sierra Club Board President, and Sierra Club Foundation Board Chair. In addition to serving on the Ceres board and leading its President’s Council, she also serves on the boards of the Blue Green Alliance and Rachel’s Action Network. Throughout her career in sustainability and community development, Loren has focused on supporting and lifting up local work and voices. She has advised major foundations, financial institutions, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on promoting green jobs, transportation-oriented development, and healthy and sustainable affordable housing. With the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, she helped mobilize hundreds of millions in public and private funding and information resources for locally driven community revitalization. With the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service, she helped NGOs, particularly from the global south, engage in and influence UN environment and development negotiations and published a book chapter on the important role of civil society. Loren has also worked on mobilizing resources for political and democracy efforts, as well as catalytic investing in equitable sustainability efforts. She has a Master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor’s from Oberlin College.