For Immediate Release January 23, 2013
For More Information / Interview requests contact:
Scheleen Walker: 512-477-1729 x 115
Jerome Collins: 512-477-1729 x 100

Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter Announces New Director

Scheleen Walker to Lead State's Most Influential Environmental Organization

Austin, TX – Scheleen Walker, who served as Legislative Director to Representative Donna Howard (Austin) since 2006, was named Director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.

Walker becomes only the second director for the Lone Star Chapter, assuming the position held by Ken Kramer for more than 23 years (Kramer was the contract lobbyist for the Chapter seven years prior to becoming director). Kramer will continue to serve in a volunteer capacity as the Chapter’s Water Resources Committee Chair and Legislative Advisor.

“I am honored to follow in Ken Kramer’s footsteps and work with the dedicated staff and tens of thousands of grassroots volunteers in Texas who strongly support clean air, energy efficiency, renewable energy, sound water management, wildlife protection and a well-funded state parks system,” Walker said.

Prior to working at the Legislature, Walker managed the Air Quality Program for Travis County. She was regarded as a regional leader in the adoption of a ground-breaking public planning program under the Clean Air Act that resulted in significant, voluntary reductions in air pollution (ozone) in the five-county region sooner than any nonattainment designation could have mandated.

“This is an exciting time for the Lone Star Chapter – and a challenging one as well,” said Kramer. “With the combined strength of new leadership and seasoned experience among the Lone Star Chapter’s environmental advocates in Austin, we have perhaps our strongest state legislative lobby corps ever.”

Walker earned a M.S. in Environmental Planning from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. in English and Policy Studies from Rice University. In between, Walker served as a Legislative Aide in Washington, D.C. to Congressman John Bryant (Dallas) for nine years. She has also worked in the private sector as a project manager on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews throughout Texas.

“The Chapter’s Executive Committee worked diligently to find someone with a similar blend of skills and personality on which we have relied from Ken Kramer over the last three decades,” said Hal Suter, volunteer chairman of the Lone Star Chapter executive committee. “We are confident Scheleen will be an outstanding ambassador for the Chapter as we face the next generation of environmental challenges and seek to increase the membership’s diversity.”

Walker is a fifth generation Texan who grew up in Dallas while spending summers staying and playing outdoors with her many cousins and grandparents strewn throughout Central and Northwest Texas. She has lived in Austin since 1996, and has a 10-year old son.