SANTA BARBARA The Environmental Defense Center has announced the hiring of three new staff members and a promotion for Betsy Weber, the nonprofits longtime Communications Director who will now serve as Assistant Director.
The new hires include Staff Attorney Elizabeth Fisher, Office Manager & Event Coordinator Daniel Elkin, and Development Director Jessica Dias.
“These staff transitions come at a critical time for the nonprofit public interest law firm, with growing public awareness of the urgency of global warming, and facing a hostile federal administration, an empowered oil industry, and a significant load of climate-related cases,” Ms. Weber said in a statement.
Ms. Weber is expected to continue leading EDC’s messaging, media and outreach efforts, while also taking a leadership role in managing staff and ensuring all the nonprofit’s administrative systems are able to meet the needs of the organization. She first joined EDC in 2007 and her promotion to the newly created senior role will benefit EDC as it faces major environmental challenges across the nation.
Ms. Fisher joins the organization will extensive experience in environmental law. She previously worked on caseloads with the Kern County Superior Court and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She also formerly served as the Assistant Solicitor General for the State of North Carolina and has litigated clean water act enforcement and other environmental cases.
Mr. Elkin, a recent graduate from UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, previously worked at Sierra Club and Aquarium of the Bay, where he helped integrate K-12 education programs focused on ocean science. He also plays mandolin in the local band “Salty Strings.”
Ms. Dias has previous experience in administrative business and nonprofit experience, having worked as an executive assistant for Allen Construction and an assistant for a nonprofit land trust foundation in South Carolina.
The EDC has worked within Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties since 1977 to protect and enhance the local environment through education, advocacy and legal action. To learn more about the organization, visit www.environmentaldefensecenter.org.
