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Robin Schneider started her activist career in high school
as a 17-year-old canvasser for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
raising funds door-to-door to assist pro-ERA candidates. During
college she led a campaign that stopped a plan to drill for oil
on the UCLA campus, which would have displaced the university's
childcare center. She also led a delegation of 18 California
college students that traveled to Florida in early 1982 to
work for passage of the ERA.
Robin began working with Public Research Works and its sister
organization Texas Campaign for the Environment in 1997. Under
Robin's direction, PRW and TCE took leading roles in the
campaign to close the Grandfather Loophole in the Texas Clean
Air Act, for which she was dubbed the "Best Advocate for
Breathers" by The Austin Chronicle.
She is a Vice Chair of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and
played a key role in successfully pressured Dell, the campaign's
first corporate target, to take back its obsolete products and
support producer takeback policies.
Under Robin's direction, PRW has been working with landfill
neighbors to impact local trash issues and statewide rules and
legislation since late 2002. Austin City Councilmember Betty
Dunkerley appointed Robin to the city's Long-Range Solid Waste
Planning Task Force in 2005.
Robin also serves on the Board of Earth Share of Texas for
Public Research Works. Her spouse works on land restoration
projects at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center.
She has been active with AFS Intercultural Programs as a high
school exchange student to Kenya in 1977 and a host parent
for exchange students from Ghana, Indonesia and Afghanistan.
Zac Trahan was home schooled as a child in the hill
country outside Austin. His deep connection with and respect
for the natural world has only strengthened since joining PRW
and TCE in the fall of 2002. Zac directed a canvassing office
in South Florida during 2005. He now assists the Executive
Director in developing campaign strategies and materials,
website design and maintenance, and membership development.
Ron Giles is a retired recycling expert who worked for the
City of Nashville, Tennessee, and the State of Texas and as a private
consultant. Ron was very active with Neighbors for Neighbors which
took on Alcoa in Central Texas. They successfully led efforts to have
Alcoa clean up the air pollution from its power plant in the midst of
a battle over plans to expand their strip-mining operations. He
resides in Bastrop with his spouse Lisa McCormick. He has two grown
children. His favorite natural spot in Texas is Enchanted Rock.
Todd Main is a seasoned political organizer with two decades
of experience in public interest work. He has worked on a range of
consumer issues such as electric utility and health care reform and
environmental issues. He is currently working on health policy. Todd
founded Public Research Works. For three years, Todd served as the
Executive Director of Texas Campaign for the Environment, PRW's sister
research organization. He is currently on assignment in Chicago
with his wife Theresa Amato and their daughters Isabella and Vittoria.
Jeff Kessel is an environmental engineer working for PBS&J, an
environmental consulting firm since 1992 specializing in stormwater
pollution control and flood control. Mr. Kessel formerly worked with
the Texas Water Development Board providing technical assistance to
communities in West Texas on their water supply needs. He is a neighborhood
representative to the Austin Clean Water Program. Jeff plays guitar
and performs with the band La Strada. He and his spouse Marla Camp live
in Austin. His favorite natural spot in Texas is Barton Springs
(alternating with their back yard as the other favorite).
Mary Elizabeth Cofer currently works in the health insurance field.
She has worked in the health care field for many years as a licensed physical
therapy assistant. She is a certified personal trainer. Mary Elizabeth is
on the Board of Adjustments for the City of Rollingwood, and is involved in
working with Rollingwood to gain status as a "Green City." She is a long
distance runner. She and her spouse George raised a daughter Hanna, who
recently graduated from UT majoring in geography and environment. Hanna
will hopefully be on her way to South Africa to work with an organization
called Wildcliff Reserve.
Michael Zeleke is a disaster relief specialist who has worked for
the US Agency for International Development in Nairobi, the Red Cross
(in Albania, Bosnia, and Azerbaijan), Doctors of the World in Kosovo,
the International Medical Corps in Rwanda and Angola and the United Nations
in South Africa. He was named the American Refugee Committee Humanitarian
Aid Worker of the Year 1994 for his work in Somalia. He is a former marine,
firefighter and canvasser. He and his spouse Angie Mills split their time
between Austin, South Africa and other countries needing Michael's
disaster relief skills.
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