Before assuming her new position, Hodgdon served as the Sierra Club’s Director of Climate Campaign Operations, where she led the Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign among others. This national initiative, which has helped defeat nearly 100 proposed coal-fired power plants, was described in Rolling Stone as "the most successful campaign the environmental movement has seen in more than a decade."

Hodgdon brings executive experience and a proven record of accomplishment to the Sierra Club’s Conservation Department. As the former Executive Director of the Dogwood Alliance, the Southern forest protection organization based in Asheville, NC, she oversaw the national campaign that persuaded Staples and Office Depot to dramatically increase their sales of recycled paper, creating the first expansion in production at recycled paper mills in over ten years.

"Having someone of Sarah’s talents and accomplishments at the helm of our conservation department will be a great addition to our cutting-edge campaigns," said Carl Pope, the Sierra Club’s Executive Director. "Her record of results and strategic abilities will guide the Club as we face the challenge of global warming."
 
Hodgdon has a deep commitment to grassroots organizing. As the Club’s former Deputy Field Director, she assisted in the management of 26 field offices to help the Sierra Club win campaigns around the country and began her career as the Recruitment Director of Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing.  There she recruited and trained environmental activists that have gone on to become executive directors of Greenpeace, Move.On.org, and Rock the Vote.

As Conservation Director, her chief goals, in alignment with the Sierra Club's Climate Recovery Partnership, will be to: move the United States beyond the use of coal-fired electricity, support market growth for clean energy alternatives,  impose economic sanctions against greenhouse gas-intense energy,  encourage the nation’s transition to a green transportation system, and install safeguards to protect habitats and communities as the climate inevitably changes.

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