ROGUE CLIMATE TEAM
STAFF MEMBERS

Alessandra de la Torre
Advocacy and Programs Director | She/Ella
Alessandra leads Rogue Climate’s work transforming energy systems to benefit communities most impacted by climate change. She was born and raised in the Bay Area, CA where she first became concerned with the intersections of environment, public health, and racism. Alessandra graduated from Southern Oregon University with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and previously organized a food insecurity campaign at SOU and later worked as a Community Organizer focusing on immigrant justice at the Rogue Valley chapter of Unite Oregon. Alessandra serves as a member of the Seeding Justice Foundation Grant Making Committee and the Southern Oregon Latino Partnership Program. You can reach Alessandra at Alessandra@RogueClimate.org.

Ashley Audycki
South Coast Regional Coordinator | She/Hers
Ashley’s role is supporting the growing opposition to the Jordan Cove LNG export terminal, while also building a just transition to renewable energy in Coos County. Ashley’s motivation to protect Coos Bay from fossil fuel interests and the impacts of climate change grew while developing youth programming at the South Slough Estuary Research Reserve. She previously worked in marketing at Coos Head Food Co-op and managed the Coos Bay Farmers Market where she was able to develop relationships with local fisherman, farmers, and people from across the political spectrum on the south Coast. Ashley studied Political Science and Environmental Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara. You can reach Ashley at Ashley@RogueClimate.org.

Blanca Gutierrez
Leadership Development and Culture Director | She/Ella
Blanca works to build leadership with the Latinx community in the Valley. Raised in Southern Oregon she grew up with a loving family who worked hard as farmworkers and in warehouses for little pay. After earning a bachelor’s in English Literature and Ethnic studies at Willamette University Blanca served as an AmeriCorps member in San Jose in 2014 and 2015. Working with families forced to sleep in garages due to inflated rent rates and underpaying jobs reignited her passion for economic and racial justice. While living in Portland, Blanca served families through free after school programming and organized with low-income folks and people of color who continue to bear the brunt of climate chaos, the housing crisis, and more. You can reach Blanca at Blanca@RogueClimate.org

Hannah Sohl
Executive Director | She/Hers
Hannah serves as the overall coordinator of Rogue Climate’s work. Born and raised in southern Oregon, she has always had a close connection to our rivers and the salmon and human communities that depend on them. Concerned about the effects of climate change, especially on already vulnerable communities, she joined with other local residents in 2013 to organize a major educational event in Medford and then to form Rogue Climate to continue that work. Hannah graduated with a degree in sociology and an emphasis in field biology from Colorado College. She conducted a field study of grassroots organizing on ecological issues in Brazil and other countries and has a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership, Organizing, and Action from the Kennedy School of Government. You can reach Hannah at Hannah@RogueClimate.org.

Jess Grady-Benson
Organizing Director| She/THey
Jess works with Rogue Climate’s South Coast and Rogue Valley teams to build community power through transformative climate justice campaigns. After leading a winning campaign for fossil fuel divestment at Pitzer College, she organized for a just transition in Philadelphia and co-founded the Fossil Fuel Divestment Student Network, where she served as the Director of Training. Jess went on to co-create PeoplesHub, an online social movement school and continues to facilitate movement groups on strategy, culture, and conflict. When she joined the Rogue Climate team in 2021 as the South Coast Energy Justice Organizer, she worked with South Coast communities and partners across the state to win the Oregon Clean Energy Opportunity Campaign, pass the Oregon Heat Relief package and more. In her current role as Organizing Director she coordinates campaigns across regions and works with the organizing team to build systems for sustainable community power. Jess has a BA in Environmental Policy from Pitzer College and is a recipient of the Udall Scholarship and the Brower Youth Award in recognition of her leadership in the youth climate justice movement. When she’s not organizing, Jess can be found swimming in Oregon rivers, making ceramics, and camping with her partner and their pup Lola. You can reach Jess at jess@rogueclimate.org.

Masayo Simon
Communications Coordinator | They/Them
Bio coming soon! You can reach Masayo at Masayo@RogueClimate.org

Merilee Barrera
Fundraising and Administrative Coordinator| She/Her
Merilee’s role as Fundraising and Administrative Coordinator is to assist with the day-to-day
fundraising and administrative duties needed to support Rogue Climate’s team of staff and
community members organizing for climate justice. Originally from South Dakota, she graduated
from Cal State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor of Arts, Costume Design. Merilee worked
Southern California’s theatre circuit before moving to the Rogue Valley in 2008, to work in the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s costume department. While there, she was introduced to anti-
racism work through artEquity and was part of a team that helped move the department
towards a more equitable environment for both employees and actors. In her free time, Merilee
loves to cuddle her cats, cook, and garden. You can reach Merilee at merilee@rogueclimate.org.

Princess Franks
Administrative Coordinator| She/Her
Princess graduated from Southern Oregon University with a Bachelors of Science in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Environmental Science. She first got involved with Rogue Climate as a volunteer in 2013 when she and her children participated in a Rogue Climate community art project. She has served on the local boards of social justice organizations like Unite Oregon and currently sits on the Ashland Housing Commission. She now maintains Rogue Climate’s fiscal and database systems while also helping out with event planning and fundraising. Her free time is spent with her spouse and their two sons, enjoying Oregon’s rivers and lakes. You can reach Princess at Princess@RogueClimate.org.

Russell Zook
Operations Director | He/Him
Russell’s roll is to build and maintain infrastructure and systems to support Rogue Climate’s staff and community leaders. He has lived in the Rogue Valley since 2015 and worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the areas of education and community engagement where he crafted programs designed to spark dialogue around critical issues and themes. Russell has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and a Master of Arts degree from Humboldt State University. In his free time, Russell enjoys music, podcasts and working on artistic projects. You can reach Russell at russell@rogueclimate.org.

Susie Garcia
Rogue Valley Coordinator | She/Ella
Susie coordinates and organizes teams, projects and events that grow the climate justice movement in Southern Oregon, with emphasis on racial equity and inclusion. Raised in a diverse Los Angeles community, she developed an interest in social justice and organizing. After graduating from CSULA with a bachelors in Psychology, she moved to Oregon where she spent a couple decades working in the fields of education and social services. Work areas of strength include data systems management, volunteer coordination and community building. She enjoys fulfilling the organizational goal to lead regenerative work, not extractive, by creating spaces for joy and celebration. During her spare time, she likes volunteering with local organizations that focus on empowering vulnerable populations who are disproportionately affected by climate change. You can reach Susie at Susie@RogueClimate.org
BOARD MEMBERS

Alison Carey
Board Secretary
Alison is director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, a multi-decade program of commissioning and developing 37 new plays about moments of change in United States history, including All the Way by Robert Schenkkan (Tony Winner for Best Play) and Sweat by Lynn Nottage (Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama). Carey is co-founder of the nationally acclaimed Cornerstone Theater Company, which collaborates with communities across the United States to tell their stories, and her work has been produced in venues such as Arena Stage, the Public Theater, the Mark Taper Forum, the shuttered mother plant of Bethlehem Steel, and a dirt-floor cattle sale barn. She lectures nationally on the importance of the arts in shaping healthy societies, especially focused on how theater can most effectively respond to climate change. She has developed hour-long television pilots for CBS and F/X, and her script work has been seen on Judging Amy. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.

Anya Moore
Board Member
A senior at Ashland High School, Anya has grown up in Southern Oregon, where much of her childhood was spent outdoors on her family’s farm. As a founding member of the Rogue Climate Action Team (RCAT), Anya began her climate work in 2017 when she helped to pass the Ashland Climate and Energy Action Plan. Since then, Anya has worked with RCAT to lead multiple school walkouts and protests, an electrification campaign, and community fire preparedness efforts. She is also co-founder of the social justice podcast-making group Truth to Power, a member of the Ashland City Conservation and Climate Outreach Commission, an intern with the Portland environmental advocacy group Breach Collective, and a participant in Leadership at her high school. Beyond high school, her goals are a master’s degree in environmental law. She also hopes to travel and spend time working overseas in a program such as the Peace Corps, where she can experience a different way of life and gain a better intercultural understanding.
Dan Wahpepah
Board Member
Dan Wahpepah is from the Anishinabe, Kickapoo and Sac & Fox tribes. He grew up with his community’s cultural ways and has been politically active with the American Indian Movement and spiritually active through tribal ceremonies. Locally, Dan started the Rogue Valley Pow Wow, the American Indian Cultural Center, Red Earth Descendants and is also a board member of Natives of One Wind Indigenous Alliance. As part of his tradition, he is a Drum Keeper and Drum Chief. Dan’s efforts are focused on the preservation of this Earth for future generations.
David Hansen
Board Member
Bio coming soon!
Isabella Lee Tibbetts
Board Member
Bio coming soon!

Morgan Lindsay
Board President
Morgan’s experience in advocacy, administration, communications, and community organizing includes work with the Mono Lake Committee in California’s Eastern Sierra, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She also volunteers on the board of the Rogue Action Center. Morgan received a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College where she studied environmental science and policy. She hails from upstate New York but is now very happy to call Southern Oregon home.