Meet Our Team
ICLEI USA is staffed by experienced leaders and climate and resilience specialists committed to your success.
Saharnaz Mirzazad
Executive Director
- Sacramento, CA
Saharnaz joined ICLEI USA in July 2024 as the Executive Director and, as such, is a member of ICLEI’s global senior management team. Previously, she worked at ICLEI USA to assist local governments in combating the impact of climate change through localized actions.
With over twenty years of experience in the public and private sectors, Saharnaz has worked on infrastructure development, climate resiliency, and community development. In the private sector, she worked as a consultant on multiple community revitalization and urban design projects.
Since 1990, ICLEI has built and served a movement of local governments pursuing deep reductions in carbon pollution and tangible improvements in sustainability and resilience. ICLEI is the world’s leading network of over 1,500 cities, towns and metropolises, providing hands-on assistance with technical experts located in 17 global offices.
Saharnaz served as the Executive Director of State Planning and Policy Development with the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, where she oversaw the development of state climate and environmental and land use planning policies and implements multiple programs to pilot new initiatives. Previously, she served as the Deputy Director of Community Investment and Planning at the California Strategic Growth Council, where she oversaw an investment of over 3 billion dollars in infrastructure programs and community-driven policy solutions. She collaborated with local and regional governments to pilot new initiatives aimed at bridging climate and equity goals, including the Transformative Climate Communities program.
Saharnaz holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning with a Certificate of Sustainable Urban Infrastructure from the University of Colorado Denver, a Master of Urban Design and Planning from Shahid Beheshti University, and a B.A. in Architecture from Iran University of Science and Technology.
Alyssa Wilbur
Senior Program Officer
- Kalispell, MT
- 202-800-0301
Alyssa co-leads ICLEI USA’s work on circular development and sustainable public procurement. As pathway co-lead, she manages ICLEI USA’s tools, training materials, technical assistance, and contract projects on circular economy and sustainable and circular public procurement.
As the Membership Pillar Lead, Alyssa advances the strategic direction for ICLEI USA’s member benefits and program development. As a Membership Advisor, she supports local governments in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming across ICLEI’s five sustainability pathways.
Before joining ICLEI USA, Alyssa supported several cities and towns in Colorado on their sustainability journeys. She managed the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program in Lakewood, CO, a program that helps cities harness the passion of neighbors for climate action and community resilience. She also supported Lakewood in the areas of sustainability plan annual reporting, sustainable procurement, zero waste strategies, and community engagement. Following inquiries from other Colorado communities, Alyssa led the expansion of the Sustainable Neighborhoods Program to the cities of Fort Collins and Wheat Ridge. Most recently, Alyssa was the Sustainability Analyst for the Town of Superior, CO where she led the Town through comprehensive planning, development and implementation of its first sustainability plan. Alyssa received a Master in Environmental Management (MEM) degree from Western Colorado University.
Angelica Greco
Senior Program Officer
- New York City, NY
Angelica leads ICLEI USA’s climate adaptation and community resilience work. In her role as pathway lead, she manages ICLEI USA’s tools, training materials, technical assistance, and contract projects on climate adaptation, resilience planning, vulnerability assessment, stormwater resilience, and climate-related migration. She provides support across ICLEI’s five sustainability pathways in her role as a membership advisor for local governments in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Angelica started her career at ICLEI as a student assistant with the ICLEI Global office in Bonn, Germany, in 2021. In that role, she supported the Circular Development team’s work on the Circular City Actions Framework. Before joining ICLEI USA, Angelica helped design and execute environmental risk assessments for the Vulnerability Assessment, Risk Management & Adaptive Planning (VARMAP) section of the United Nations University.
Angelica holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography from Colgate University and a master’s degree in Geography of Environmental Risk and Human Security from the United Nations University and the University of Bonn. She wrote her master’s thesis on urban green infrastructure.
Anne Marie Cleary Rauker
Senior Communications Officer
- Denver, CO
Anne Marie Cleary Rauker joined the ICLEI USA team as the Communications Officer in 2021. As the Communications Officer, Anne Marie informs ICLEI network, partners, and the public about ICLEI services, achievements, and opportunities. She collaborates and supports over 300 ICLEI USA members with climate and sustainability communications and outreach. Anne Marie works closely with the technical team to develop content for local government sustainability and climate staff.
Anne Marie received her bachelor’s degree in ACS-certified Chemistry in 2019 from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado where they worked in the Atmospheric Lab and is a co-author on peer-reviewed articles featured in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, and Geophysical Research Letters. Passionate about Climate Action Plans and science communications, they attended Indiana University-Bloomington and received Masters in Public Affairs and Environmental Science with a specialized concentration in science policy and communications, graduating in late 2020. When she isn’t in the virtual office, they love to spend time exploring Colorado trails with her rescue dog, Lily Pad.
Brittany Montgomery
Communications Associate
- Cleveland, OH
Brittany Montgomery brings her expertise in communications and sustainability from her role at the City of Cleveland, where she leads communications efforts for the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability & Climate Justice. She joins ICLEI USA as the new part-time Communications Associate. In this role, she will work on enhancing network resources and communications, designing materials, and website management.
Brian McCartan
Climate Finance Advisor
- Bellevue, Washington
Brian McCartan is a climate finance advisor to ICLEI USA, working with members on how to fund the transition to net zero and other sustainability initiatives.
Brian has more than thirty years experience in public finance at the international, federal and regional level. He served as CFO at both the University of Washington and Sound Transit. He also worked as the City of Seattle, managing the debt issuance and capital project financing for the City and its utilities. Brian has issued over $4 billion in municipal debt, funding clean energy and low carbon transportation. Brian has provided consulting services to United Nations agencies, including the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the World Health Organization. He holds a M.A. from Yale University and a B.A. from the University of Washington/
Bobby Wenger
Program Officer
- Boulder, CO
Bobby joined the ICLEI USA team in 2023 as a Program Officer to support members with conducting greenhouse gas inventories, writing climate action plans, and fine-tuning ICLEI USA’s online tools and resources. Bobby continues to work closely with members to hear their questions, concerns, and requests, helping them solve current problems and ensuring that members’ needs are at the forefront of ICLEI’s planning for future offerings.
Bobby started with ICLEI USA as a Graduate Intern in 2022, primarily assisting with the development and planning for the 2022 Race to Zero cohorts. Before working at ICLEI USA, he was a student in the Masters of the Environment program at University of Colorado in Boulder with a focus in Renewable and Sustainable Energy. Bobby’s previous experience is diverse, highlighted by marine biology, conservation, and residential development.
Caio Pereira
Program Associate
- Denver, CO
Caio joined ICLEI in 2024 to support the organization’s Cities Forward project. He supports logistics for events, assists with sustainability research, liaises with ICLEI South America for project updates, provides copywriting and Portuguese translation support, helps develop content strategies for ICLEI Academy, and participates in report writing and impact tracking.
Caio, originally from Brazil, has a diverse professional journey with a focus on project management, research, and technical writing in the international development and climate sustainability sectors. He has worked with organizations like Global Americans, The Brookings Institution, and the United Nations Development Programme, leading projects, managing teams, and conducting research. Fluent in English and Portuguese, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Colorado State University and a Master’s Degree in International Development from the University of Denver.
Caroline Dickey
Program Officer
- Reno, NV
Caroline started with ICLEI USA as a graduate student intern in 2022 focused on researching scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and consumption-based emissions inventories. She is now a Program Officer supporting the Low Emissions pathway and members with technical expertise on greenhouse gas accounting, forecasting, wedge analysis, and climate action planning. Caroline also co-leads ICLEI USA’s Circular Pathway, providing guidance on transitioning to circular economies through sustainable procurement, waste reduction strategies, and more.
Caroline received her bachelors degree in Geology-Environmental Studies in 2018 from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Following graduation, she began her career in environmental consulting as a geologist focused on soil and groundwater contamination identification and remediation. In 2021, Caroline followed her passion for decarbonization at the local level when she started graduate school at the University of Colorado Boulder where she received her Master of the Environment degree with a specialization in Renewable & Sustainable Energy. During her graduate school program, she completed a capstone project for Vail Resorts which analyzed the feasibility and impact of decarbonizing on-mountain buildings through electrification and the installation of rooftop solar and battery storage.
David Lubell
Senior Climate Mobility and Cities Fellow
- Decatur, GA
David Lubell is ICLEI-USA’s Senior Climate Mobility and Cities Fellow, supported by Unbound Philanthropy. Lubell supports cities and counties interested in preparing intentionally for the arrival of “climate migrants,” particularly those displaced by climate-induced disasters. He also supports cities most vulnerable to climate disasters to plan in advance for an equitable recovery from future disasters for all residents. He also connects key actors in the “climate mobility and cities ecosystem,” helping local governments connect with organizations and institutions in their communities – and nationwide – with interest and expertise in this topic. In order to help catalyze the larger ecosystem, Lubell’s work also involves drafting recommendations for philanthropy and various levels of government, supporting multi-sector pilot projects in a handful of “early adopter” cities, and channeling resources and expertise to the field, all while guiding cities on best practices in this emerging area of work.
David Lubell has been helping communities prepare for demographic change caused by in-migration for over 20 years. In 2009 he founded the premiere organization in the U.S. addressing this phenomenon, Welcoming America, which he led until 2018. During that time, he helped scale the Welcoming model to over 200 communities across the US. From 2018-2022 he helped scale the model to 7 countries around the world through his leadership of the Welcoming International Initiative.
From 2002-2008 David founded and led the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), which has developed into one of the premiere immigrant rights organizations in the United States. It was while at TIRRC that David launched the Welcoming Tennessee Initiative, a project that helped transform Nashville into a welcoming city for immigrants and refugees, and which became the inspiration for Welcoming America.
Since 2022 David has been using his unique, on-the-ground experience and expertise to help social entrepreneurs, impact networks and social movements create large-scale, positive change in their societies. Before joining ICLEI USA, David was a “Climate Migration and Cities” consultant to Unbound Philanthropy, where he researched opportunities for collaboration between various actors in the Climate Migration and Cities ecosystem.
David is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; a Charles Bronfman Prize Recipient; an Ashoka Social Entrepreneurship Fellow; a Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneurship Fellow; and a Harvard Center for Public Leadership Fellow. He received a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. He holds a B.A. in history from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Currently, he lives with his wife and two boys in Decatur, GA.
Dora Gonzales
Adminstrative Officer
- Silver City, NM
- 510-844-0699
Dora joined the ICLEI team in 2024 to provide comprehensive administrative support to ICLEI USA. Dora supports the ICLEI USA team by providing financial. human resource, and accounting assistance, ensuring ICLEI USA’s operational needs are met.
Dora brings fourteen years of experience in local governmental accounting, and administrative management. Before joining ICLEI USA, Dora supported local governments and special districts with financial, human resource, administrative management, and accounting services. She successfully managed several projects and grants for two entities and ensured administrative and financial success. Dora holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Western New Mexico University and a master’s degree in Business Administration also from Western New Mexico University. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Liberty University studying in human resource management.
Eli Yewdall
Zero Emission Technical Lead
- Greater Baltimore Area, MD
- 404-937-4000
Eli Yewdall is a Senior Program Officer developing resources to help local governments measure, manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Eli supports ongoing development of ICLEI USA’s protocols, tools, and guidance and training materials in the areas of greenhouse gas inventories, forecasting, and climate action planning. Eli also leads ICLEI’s work engaging local governments in the development process for improved building energy codes.
Before joining ICLEI, Eli worked for two years as a full-time volunteer with St Joseph’s House of Hospitality in Rochester, NY to provide meals and shelter to and advocate on behalf of homeless individuals. Eli has also produced educational materials on climate change for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative. Eli has a Masters in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BS from Gonzaga University.
Jadon Basilevac
Program Officer
- Mount Laguna, CA
Jadon aids in emissions reductions efforts and greenhouse gas technical advisory as a Program Officer at ICLEI USA. He provides training and assistance to ICLEI’s member communities on topics such as ICLEI’s ClearPath software, target setting, and emissions reduction strategy development. Jadon also engages in data collection and quality reviews for greenhouse gas inventories and provides research support in additional fee-for-service projects.
Jadon graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies in 2023. Within this major, Jadon served the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and ICLEI USA’s collaborative effort Project Energy Nebraska project as both student and teaching assistant, providing communication and outreach support for the student data teams and instructing students in use of ICLEI’s ClearPath software for development of community-wide GHG inventories. Jadon has also previously developed GHG inventories for the Nebraska communities of Norfolk, Lincoln, and South Sioux City as an intern for Conservation Nebraska.
Josh Radoff
Zero Carbon Cities Advisor
- Boulder, CO
Josh is a sustainability and decarbonization consultant and educator working across the clean energy and built environment spectrum. He is currently working with ICLEI USA as a Zero Carbon Cities advisor, supporting the Race to Zero campaign.
Josh is also the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Specialization lead within the Masters of the Environment (MENV) program at CU Boulder as where he teaches and advises. He also works an as an independent consultant on various district scale sustainable development projects with a focus on electrification, distributed energy, and grid interactivity.
He was recently the head of WSP’s Built Ecology practice and has worked on a range of horizontal and vertical sustainable buildings and infrastructure projects across the US and internationally, pursuing high level sustainability goals such as Net Zero Energy and Carbon, WELL, and LEED certification. Josh was a co-founder of the sustainability group YR&G, was a co-founder of the advocacy group GreenHomeNYC. He was co-chair of the ULI Colorado Healthy Places Committee and is a LEED Fellow. He holds Masters’ degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Columbia University in New York.
Kale Roberts
Deputy Director
- Hudson Valley, NY
Since joining ICLEI USA in 2016, Kale has provided technical assistance to hundreds of cities and counties on climate action planning, SDG-alignment, biodiversity, and sustainability planning. In his role as Deputy Director, Kale ensures the ICLEI USA team is supported to deliver on our mission and that organizational operations are serving our vision for a sustainable, resilient future where everyone in our communities can thrive. As advocacy lead, Kale conects U.S. local governments to the United Nations’ Local Governments and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) major group and works to enhance city-state-national collaboration on climate and sustainability.
Kale’s prior experiences include work with the United Nations Development Programme’s Climate Change Adaptation Team from the Bangkok Regional Hub, where he supported countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region to develop Green Climate Fund adaptation projects. He was climate and energy editor of Mother Earth News, North America’s largest sustainable living magazine. From 2010 to 2012, he served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, working on a project with the Thai Ministry of Energy to build home-scale biogas digesters and initiate carbon accounting in community forests. Kale received an M.S. in Climate Science and Policy from Bard College and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Cal Poly Humboldt. He teaches at the Bard College Center for Environmental Policy and raises chickens and tomatoes in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
Madison Hodges
Program Associate
- New York City, NY
Madison previously interned with ICLEI’s World Secretariat office in Bonn, Germany, where she supported the Local Government and Municipal Authority Constituency to the UNFCCC through the COP28 season. She continued this work through her graduate research, in which she analyzed “local stocktakes” as a model for multilevel governance in UNFCCC processes. Additionally, Madison has supported city-level climate action plans in Indiana and New York by calculating building emissions, building rain gardens, managing an organic waste diversion program, and engaging with community members. Madison holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Ecological Engineering from Purdue University and graduates with a masters degree in Climate Science and Policy from Bard College Center for Environmental Policy in Spring 2024.
Marisa Kellogg
Senior Program Officer
- Denver, CO
Marisa joined the ICLEI USA team in 2023 as a Program Officer. She currently serves as the Equitable Development Pathway lead, and supports local governments with climate equity and justice best practices, educational cohort design and delivery, and community engagement strategies. In addition, Marisa is the Program Administrator and Grant Manager for the Cities Forward initiative. In partnership with the U.S. Department of State, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, Resilient Cities Catalyst, and the Institute of the Americas, Cities Forward has paired 12 Latin American and Caribbean cities with 12 U.S. cities to engage in peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing, capacity building, and diplomatic engagement focused on solving key urban sustainability, equity, and climate resilience issues.
Before joining ICLEI USA, Marisa served as the first Executive Director for the international nonprofit PridePads Africa, which supports menstrual health and hygiene, education, and women’s livelihood empowerment for women and girls in Cameroon.
Prior to that, Marisa spent 7 years as a social circus artist in the U.S. and abroad. By using the power of circus and movement arts, she supported youth and community development while uplifting the role of art and culture as powerful agents for change.
Marisa speaks 3 languages (Eng/Sp/Fr) and is learning a 4th (Port) and holds a Master of Science in Global Studies and International Relations from Northeastern University with a concentration in Global Health and Development.
Matthew Katz
Senior Program Officer
- Chicago, IL
Matthew leads and supports a variety of ICLEI partnerships and projects related to greenhouse gas mitigation. He supports EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grants efforts, ICLEI USA’s Google EIE partnership, and other technical projects.
Matthew Katz joined ICLEI USA in 2019 as a Graduate Fellow providing technical assistance for Colorado regional climate action efforts and the American Cities Climate Challenge. After joining full time, Matthew provided technical assistance to ICLEI members on GHG Mitigation using the ClearPath tool. Matthew also supported the ICLEI network through the development of stakeholder engagement processes and technical analysis of climate data. After temporarily leaving ICLEI in the fall of 2022, he has rejoined this summer of 2023 to lead and support a variety of ICLEI partnerships and projects. Matthew received a Master of Environmental Management & Policy from the University of Denver and an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Melissa Velasquez
Program Associate
- San Salvador, El Salvado
Melissa joined ICLEI USA in 2023 as a Graduate Student Intern to support the Cities Forward Project and now serves as a Program Associate. In her role, she provides expertise in research and project management related to sustainability, resilience, and climate impacts. Melissa liaises with ICLEI Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean to ensure seamless project updates, advancement, collaboration, and relationship building between US and LAC cities. Additionally, she supports the Measurement & Evaluation (M&E) lead in applying an equity lens across all program materials and design considerations, including but not limited to: surveys, interviews, program learning workshops, and equity assessment frameworks. Melissa also contributes to content development and engagement strategies for program-wide webinars and the Cities Forward Academy; assists with event planning and management; provides Spanish-English translation support; and participates in report writing and impact tracking.
Before joining ICLEI, Melissa worked in various roles within urban and environmental policy and planning. In 2021, she contributed to co-drafting the City of Richmond, Indiana’s first Climate Action Plan. In 2022, she relocated to Boston, where she focused her research on mutual aid and the role of community-based organizations in developing local solutions and fostering social and community resilience. She also served as a Transportation Planner Intern in the private consulting sector, working on both domestic and international transit projects, including those in cities across the USA and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Melissa collaborated with Massachusetts public entities on spatial and economic assessments of newly developed districts in Boston, such as the South Boston Waterfront District. Her graduate thesis centered on East Boston’s resilience to climate change, exploring how governmental institutions can more effectively address immediate coastal climate risks and improve preparedness and resilience among the most vulnerable coastal populations.
Originally from El Salvador, Melissa holds a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Earlham College. She speaks Spanish, English, and French.