Sara Nelson is the executive director and co-founder of the Romero Institute and former national executive director and co-founder of the Christic Institute.

A former TV reporter and news anchor, Sara was educated at Cornell University and U.C. Berkeley. She served as the National Labor Secretary for the National Organization for Women (NOW) in Washington D.C. in the mid to late 1970s. Responding to the concerns of NOW women, she assembled the Karen Silkwood Fund and launched the national campaign to find out who killed Silkwood, a young union leader working at a plutonium factory in Oklahoma who was run off the road while delivering proof of irregularities and safety violations to a New York Times reporter. The ensuing investigation and jury trial, on behalf of Silkwood’s children, won a record-setting $10.5 million judgment, and prevented the construction of new nuclear plants for more than 30 years.

Encouraged by their victory in the Silkwood case, Sara, lead counsel Daniel Sheehan, and Father William Davis formed the Christic Institute to combine their efforts as champions of social justice. At its height, it became a national organization with 50 staff members in five offices supporting hundreds of action teams. From 1980 to 1992, Christic litigated several landmark cases, including:

• Representing victims of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster
  (PIRC v. Three Mile Island)
• Defending Catholic workers who provided sanctuary to Salvadoran refugees in the American Sanctuary Movement
  (U.S. v. Stacey Lynn Merkt, et al.)
• Seeking damages from the KKK and American Nazi Party members for the murder of civil rights demonstrators in the Greensboro Massacre
  (Waller v. Butkovich)
• Bringing charges against 29 people involved in the civil case associated with the Iran-Contra Affair
  (Avirgan v. Hull, et al)

In 1999, Sara served as the executive director of former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev’s & former United States Secretary of State James Baker III’s State of the World Forum in San Francisco. The annual event brought together 1,000 former world leaders to meet with dignitaries, the world’s most prominent business executives, scientists and Nobel Laureates, activists and national public interest organization chiefs, religious leaders, and agency heads of the United Nations in an effort to collectively discuss global problems and solutions.

Sara formed the Romero Institute in 1980 with Christic Institute co-founder Daniel Sheehan. A law and policy center based in Santa Cruz, CA, the Institute exposes and implements solutions to serious threats to the environment, structural injustice, and human and constitutional rights violations.

Daniel Sheehan is president and co-founder of the Romero Institute and former president and co-founder of the Christic Institute.

Carrying degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Danny has helped lead multiple lawsuits of historic importance, including three Supreme Court cases. Prior to forming the Christic Institute, he litigated a number of high-profile social justice cases.

These included:

• Defending First Amendment rights in the “Pentagon Papers Case”
  (New York Times Co. v. United States)
• Defending reproductive freedom
  (Eisenstadt v. Baird)
• Defending First Amendment rights of press protection
  (In re Pappas: Branzburg v. Hayes)
• The Watergate burglary case
  (United States v. George Gordon Liddy, et al.)
• Defending the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs interpretation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, in hiring and promotion practices
  (Morton v. Mancari)
• Serving as amicus curiae in the eight-month long Wounded Knee Trials against American Indian Movement leaders

As General Counsel to the United States Jesuit Order's National Office of Social Ministry in Washington, D.C., Danny partnered with Father William Davis, met leaders of the country's religious and progressive movements, and developed a reputation as a fierce advocate for the rights of political and peace activists.

In 1977, Danny was contacted by Sara Nelson, the National Organization of Women’s (NOW) National Labor Secretary, and partnering with her and a coalition of activists, won a record-setting $10.5 million judgment on behalf of nuclear worker and whistleblower Karen Silkwood. The case effectively ended construction of all new nuclear power plants in the United States.

Following the success of the Silkwood case, Danny, Sara, and Father Davis formed the Christic Institute. They prevailed in several celebrated cases opposing the structural sources of injustice in the United States and around the world, including:

• Representing victims of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster
  (PIRC v. Three Mile Island)
• Defending Catholic workers who provided sanctuary to Salvadoran refugees in the American Sanctuary Movement
  (U.S. v. Stacey Lynn Merkt, et al.)
• Seeking damages from the KKK and American Nazi Party members for the murder of civil rights demonstrators in the Greensboro Massacre
  (Waller v. Butkovich)
• Bringing charges against 29 people involved in the civil case associated with the Iran-Contra Affair
  (Avirgan v. Hull, et al)

Danny formed the Romero Institute in 1992 with Christic Institute co-founder Sara Nelson. A law and policy center based in Santa Cruz, CA, the Institute exposes and implements solutions to serious threats to the environment, structural injustice, and human and constitutional rights violations.

Chase's distinguished career fighting for the civil rights of Native Americans includes serving as co-director and lead counsel in the Dakotas for the Lakota People’s Law Project, co-founding the Native news website LastRealIndians.com, and work in the Native Lives Matter movement. In 2016, he was the Democratic congressional nominee for North Dakota.

From the beginning of the movement, Chase was involved on the front lines of the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline, hosting tribal leadership, providing legal services, and joining the water protectors in their prayerful and peaceful protest. Born on Standing Rock Nation, today Chase lives at Pine Ridge as an enrolled member of the Oglala Nation.

Chase holds bachelor's degrees in political science and American Indian studies from the University of North Dakota, and a Juris Doctor of Law degree with an emphasis in Federal Indian Law from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law. He is the father of three Lakota children.

Daniel oversees all Romero Institute departments and helps decide strategic direction for the organization. He has over 15 years of experience as a deputy director, organizer, researcher, and writer. He holds a BA in Political Theory from Harvard College and an MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago.

Benjamin leads our Let's Green CA! initiative, which implements environmental and legislative solutions to help California take its place as climate leader. He is passionate about social justice organized, and co-founded Big Noise Films—with whom he directed the award-winning documentary Zapatista. He has worked as an organizer and contract negotiator with the New York State Nurses Association and was the field director for US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's successful reelection campaign in 2012. He studied political science at Brown University.

Madonna Thunder Hawk, a member of the Oohenumpa band of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, has a long history of grassroots activism prior to her formative work for LPLP as a Tribal Liaison. She is co-founder of Women of All Red Nations (WARN), as well as the Black Hills Alliance—which prevented corporate uranium mining in the Black Hills and proved the high level of radiation in Pine Ridge reservation's water supply.

She was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and occupied Alcatraz and Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government's genocidal policies against Native Americans. She spent months camped in Standing Rock to oppose the Dakota Access pipeline and protect clean water and treaty rights. Her work with LPLP builds alliances and support for Indian child welfare among South Dakota's tribal leaders and communities. She is a grandmother to a generation of Native American activists.

An enrolled member of the tribe, Phyllis Young leads our #GreenTheRez campaign to bring renewable energy to the people of Standing Rock. Serving as a tribal council member from 2012 to 2015, Phyllis was hired by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to address the NoDAPL struggle in the fall of 2015 and acted as an official “tribal liaison” to the Oceti Sakowin Camp. Her presence was felt daily by the tens of thousands who traveled to the resistance camps protesting the Dakota Access pipeline.

Phyllis is a long-time member of the American Indian Movement, and co-founded Women of All Red Nations with Madonna Thunder Hawk in 1978. She also served as a board member of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian for 15 years.

Heidi is a social, environmental, and gender justice leader committed to creating an equitable and regenerative world. She has been a climate activist for two decades. As its mayor, she recently led the City of San Luis Obispo CA to one of the most ambitious carbon neutrality goal in the United States. The climate crisis has revealed that everything and everyone is interconnected and that the world thrives when people, planet, and prosperity for all is central. Heidi holds a degree in Liberal Studies from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Andra directs the writing and PR/comms for the critical work of greening California. She began her career in political communications as a junior staffer on the 2008 Obama campaign. She has held communications positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Andra served as communications director to Congresswoman Lauren Underwood. She holds a degree in political studies and Spanish language from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA.

Jesse contributes written content and guides our content strategy. An award-winning journalist, PR pro, and business development specialist, he has decades of experience writing, editing, and developing relationships between people and organizations. He loves working with people of heart and intelligence on meaningful projects. Jesse holds a BA in film from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Earth Hadjo is an enrolled member of Yamassee Indian Tribe of Seminoles, serving as their Cultural and Government Liaison. She’s also a Software Engineer, DJ, and Indigenous Peoples Movement coalition member. Earth is embedded in the movement for Indigenous Sovereignty and Black Liberation, but more than that she wants to see all people be free from the systems of capitalism, exploitation, and colonization.

Jon leads our research efforts, and verifies the scientific validity of the issues we expose and the solutions we support. He is an environmental scientist and educator with experience in climatology, Earth science, botany, pedology, marine biology, toxicology, and pollution studies. He earned a B.S. in Ecology & Evolution from UC Santa Barbara, and his Ph.D. in Environmental Science & Management from the Bren School at UC Santa Barbara.

For 25 years, Lorrie has traversed applied, academic, and philanthropic settings across the global nonprofit sector, concentrating her expertise in sustainable community development, social justice, and humanitarian response. Before joining the team at the Romero Institute, Lorrie’s career took her across 30 countries and 15 Native American/Indigenous nations, where she served with distinguished organizations such as CARE International, American Red Cross, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

Her formal education includes a bachelor’s degree from Oglethorpe University, post-graduate certificates from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Liverpool, with additional pursuit of Master of Indigenous Peoples Law studies at the University of Oklahoma. Her academic foray continues, as an Instructor in the Master of Development Practice and Global Health and Development PhD programs at Emory University.

In 2014, Lorrie was recognized as one of CNN’s Top 10 Inspiring Women, and she received a resolution of honor from the Georgia State House of Representatives for her commitment to gender justice and community service. In 2012, she received a Rotary International “Peace through Service” award from the Rotary Club of Stone Mountain, GA. She is an active volunteer with the Rothschild Social Justice Institute and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. In her spare time, she is a voracious reader, loud laugher, and doer of New York Times crossword puzzles.

Anna oversees fundraising efforts and donor relations for the Institute. With a background in marketing, sales, and entertainment, she is happy to now funnel her energy toward the protection of our planet and the rights of its people. Anna holds a BA in American Literature & Culture from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Making a difference in an interconnected world matters to Leslie. Leveraging her professional experience in publishing and marketing —coupled with her passions for collaboration and sustainability — Leslie works with public institutions, nonprofits, businesses, and communities to conceive and implement environmental initiatives. She aims to inspire equitable action while fostering the adoption of sustainability policies and practices that effectively address our most pressing environmental challenges.

Lanny is providing our E.D. with policy and administrative support for all the Institute's projects. Lanny is a return staffer having previously worked with Daniel Sheehan and Sara Nelson at the Christic Institute, where he litigated a RICO suit against the main players in the Iran-Contra scandal. Lanny’s deep well of legal and leadership work spans many issues and communities including as E.D. of the Urban Coalition of Metropolitan San Antonio addressing excessive use of force by police; anti-nuclear power; and aquifer protection.

Lanny also served as E.D. of Solar San Antonio promoting the use of solar energy. While living in Hawaii, Lanny’s work was devoted to legal and community support to protect rights of Hawaiian sovereignty, a traditional faith, animal rights and challenging the U.S. Navy’s use of sonar. Lanny is the author of The Conscious Bible under the pen name Lanikukini'elele. https://theconsciousbible.net/. Lanny is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Texas School of Law. He received a Fulbright Scholarship.

Chris edits our videos, manages our YouTube channels, contributes to graphic design, and helps lead our video and audio production. He also runs a small music studio. He holds a BS in astrophysics and a minor in electronic music from the University of California, Santa Cruz

Chuck leads the increasingly important production of our video content. A producer, director, cinematographer, editor, and livestreamer with over 30 years of production experience in the industry, Chuck has done extensive work in Indian Country, beginning with documenting AIM’s Yellow Thunder Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1981. Since then, he has created a number of films about Native American rights and the environment. His latest “deployment” was to Standing Rock in November of 2016.

Paddy oversees the Christic Institute Archive and supports all the Romero projects with his experience in security, equipment, shipping, the online store, and maintenance. His work in social justice began in 1988 when he joined the Christic Institute as a computer technician and security officer.

Lesley-Reid, raised during apartheid era South Africa, has a lifelong commitment to social justice. After living undocumented in the U.S. for ten years and raising a family, they graduated Magna Cum Laude from UCSC in 2014 with BAs in Feminist Studies and Sociology. They are a founding member of Pajaro Valley Pride in Watsonville, CA. Lesley-Reid disrupts discrimination and advocates for intersectionality to ensure that folks who have historically been at the margins of queer movements are centered in our work and personal spaces. Lesley-Reid facilitates spaces for LGBTQ2+ folks of all ages and backgrounds to develop and share their stories, actively seeking ways to amplify the voices of marginalized communities. Their passion is shining a light and bringing change to the challenges BIPOC, transgender, and gender non-conforming members face, both within and beyond the Queer community.