Cindy Luppi, New England Director
Cindy has worked with Clean Water Action since 1994, helping to coordinate a number of coalitions and community-based efforts to reduce pollution and promote a cleaner, more sustainable economy.  In addition to acting as regional director, she supervises Clean Water's program in Connecticut.  Among other clean energy and climate initiatives, she coordinated the Northeast Clean Power Campaign which successfully pressed for clean-up of the region's biggest industrial polluters, the oldest and most polluting coal and oil-fired power plants in New England. She represents Clean Water Action on the Green Justice Coalition which is dedicated to stimulating green jobs creation in growth sectors such as energy efficiency and providing pathways out of poverty in low income communities of color in Massachusetts. She is currently helping to staff SAFER, a multi-state network of diverse environmental health coalitions pressing for new state and national chemical policies that will prevent harm to our health.  She also acts as a senior strategist and steering committee member for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a national effort dedicated to replacing toxic chemicals in personal care products with safer alternatives. Prior to her work at Clean Water, Cindy coordinated the Cree Speaking Tour for Massachusetts Save James Bay and was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic.

Jeff Knudsen, Administrative Director
Jeff has worked in the non-profit sector and government service for over the past 25 years.  He joined Clean Water Action in April of 2000.  He is responsible for the general administration, finance, grant tracking and program budgeting for the New England offices.  He also coordinates the MA election activities and is the chair of the state PAC.  He is a long-time activist with various civil liberties, choice, socialist and LGBT groups.  Jeff and his husband, Michael reside in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston.

Elizabeth Saunders, Legislative Director
Elizabeth joined the Clean Water Action team in January of 2001 as a Campaign Organizer working with the New England Zero Mercury Campaign and (shortly thereafter) the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, a statewide coalition to prevent harm to our health from toxics.  She led Clean Water Action’s efforts to pass the Massachusetts Mercury Products Bill which culminated in a victory in 2006.  Currently Elizabeth coordinates  the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow coalition, while acting as a lobbyist, media liason, and grassroots organizer.  Elizabeth has a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University.  She has always called Massachusetts home and currently lives in Jamaica Plain.

Becky Smith, Massachusetts Water Program Coordinator
Becky has worked with Clean Water Action since 2001. Recent projects include assembling a multi-sector network in Massachusetts to support innovative and alternative approaches to integrated water and energy resource management to protect both water and human ecosystems. Her work at the local, state, and federal level includes giving presentations on sustainable options for next generations of infrastructure; support for initiatives such as the Clean Water Restoration Act; and pursuing Clean Water Act protections for waters here in Massachusetts. Becky is an advisor to DEP's Safe Drinking Water Advisory Committee, the Water Management Act Advisory Committee, and also serves as a Commissioner on the Governor's Water Infrastructure Finance Commission.  Becky earned her B.A. in Political Science and English Literature from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia. When not swimming in the latest swimming-hole discovery or creating in the kitchen, she keeps busy chasing this guy, Mr. Guthry: 

Alex Papali, Green Justice Campaign Organizer
Originally from southern India, Alex Papali has lived in the Boston area since 1984, and been organizing locally for several years. His areas of focus have varied widely- from prison issues to youth development to immigrant rights to low-income tenant organizing- with the goal of developing a broad consciousness about structural causes of inequity and injustice. At CWA, Alex is an organizer for the Green Justice Campaign, a statewide coalition effort between more than 40 community, environmental and labor groups working to build a just green economy. He holds a Master's from the University of Life, and lives with his wife in Jamaica Plain, from where they plot their next adventure off the grid.

Vanessa Green, Regional Diesel Campaign Organizer
Vanessa grew up in and around Boston, and attended Northeastern University before going to The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden to do a collaborative Masters degree in Social & Political Ethics. She has been a Canvasser and Canvass Director with Clean Water Action and is fondly familiar with Massachusetts communities and issues. Vanessa currently coordinates Clean Water Action's New England role in the National Diesel Clean-Up Campaign, collaborating with a network of groups and individuals across the country to reduce toxic and climate-forcing diesel exhaust via governmental and private institutional avenues. She enjoys working with local organizational partners and supporting youth-led movements toward community empowerment and political change. In her spare time, Vanessa likes to practice meditation, yoga and caretaking for her friends' children, pets and homes.

Lynne Pledger, Solid Waste Director
Lynne was born and raised in Washington DC but has lived all her adult life in Massachusetts since graduating from Tufts. Her interest in waste issues developed when an expanding landfill threatened an important water supply in her community. In 2008 she co-founded Don’t Waste Massachusetts, an alliance of groups advocating for strong waste reduction policies instead of more disposal sites. CWA’s statewide campaign on producer responsibility led by Lynne resulted in the formation of the Massachusetts Product Stewardship Council (MAPSC), made up of municipal representatives committed to reducing the volume and toxicity of product and packaging waste. She represents Clean Water Action on the MassDEP Solid Waste Advisory Committee. With a background in the arts, she enjoys incorporating photos, movies, and other visuals in her environmental messaging.

Darylle Sheehan, Safe Cosmetics Campaign Organizer
Darylle joined Clean Water Action in October of 2011 as a campaign organizer focusing on mercury and other toxics, and as the online communications manager for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. She earned a B.S. in print and multimedia journalism from Emerson College. Partway through her degree, she realized a life of unbiased reporting was not her calling, and began organizing and fundraising for progressive student organizations and environmental advocacy organizations around Boston. She briefly joined the CWA staff to work on the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow campaign in the spring and summer of 2010, and was very happy to return. In her spare time, Darylle enjoys traveling and cooking for hungry friends and family.

Joel Wool, Clean Energy Campaign Organizer
Joel Wool is a connector, a “social capitalist.” At Clean Water Action, he serves as a campaign organizer focusing on energy efficiency and coal reduction. He began his service work with short-term disaster relief; traveling to Siuna, Nicaragua; New Orleans, Lousiana; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Anse-a-Pitre, Haiti to work on projects ranging from medical aid to home repair and reconstruction to reforestation. More recently, he has engaged in community outreach with Social Capital, Inc., hyper-local environmentalism with GreenDorchester and international advocacy with numerous Haitian-led community organizations. Joel graduated in 2010 from Emerson College, where he double-majored in Writing and Post-Production for Film. Since then he has taken coursework in global health and foreign language and continued to operate as a freelance media production/communications professional.