This year, Sustainable Saratoga is celebrating a decade of promoting sustainable practices and protecting our community’s natural resources. We’ve accomplished incredible things over the past ten years thanks to the tremendous efforts of our citizen volunteers: our Tree Toga plantings have added over 200 trees to our urban forest; we’ve launched an inaugural Saratoga Recycles Day event to repurpose unwanted “junk”; we developed the original proposal for the Weibel Avenue Spa Solar Park; and we’ve advocated for smart development and affordable housing in our City.

As Sustainable Saratoga looks ahead to its second decade, we are excited to introduce you to our new leadership team! We have appointed three new officers to our Board of Directors for 2018:

Art Holmberg – Chair. Art is a retired operations and quality assurance manager for the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. He is a national consultant in Federal certification regulations and a lifetime advocate for the environment.

Bill Boehmke – Vice-Chair. Bill is a retired school social worker who was Student Advocate for Saratoga Schools for 33 years. Since he joined Sustainable Saratoga’s Board in 2014, he has been Chair of the Climate and Energy Committee where his focus has been on raising awareness about climate disruption, renewable energy and energy efficiency. Bill is a longtime organic gardener, outdoor enthusiast and environmental advocate.

Kristin Cleveland – Secretary. Kristin has a background in Environmental Communications and Outreach, and has worked in this capacity for several non-profits. She joined the Board in 2016.

Marian Walsh was reappointed as Sustainable Saratoga’s Treasurer.

This year also marks a key milestone in our organization’s growth, as we bring on our first permanent staff including a dedicated, part-time Manager.

We are thrilled to introduce Wendy Mahaney, who recently joined our team as Manager. Wendy will coordinate and lead Sustainable Saratoga’s various initiatives. Wendy has almost 20 years of experience as a science educator, research scientist, and environmental consultant. She has a PhD in plant biology and ecology from Michigan State University and most recently was a Visiting Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies and Sciences at Skidmore College.

Sustainable Saratoga wishes to profoundly thank our outgoing Chair Harry Moran for his vision and leadership, and we look forward to his continued involvement and support. We also want to recognize the dedicated service of four other outgoing Board members: Geoff Bornemann, Tom Denny, Lin Whittle, and Mark Torpey. These committed team members have been instrumental to our success, and we are excited that they will continue to volunteer with us as they rotate off the Board.

Here’s to another incredible ten years!