The Reverend Leo Woodberry was born and raised in New York City. There he became involved with community organizing at an early age, as a student organizer. Reverend Woodberry is the pastor of Kingdom Living Temple, Executive Director of New Alpha Community Development Corporation in Florence, SC, and a member of the SC Environmental Justice Network. He became involved in environmental work in the 1990s with the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, around the issue of mercury emissions and advisories. He joined the newly formed African American Environmental Justice Action Network (AAEJAN) in 1994. AAEJAN was instrumental in uniting people of color across America, and in influencing the Ford Foundation and other philanthropic entities to support people of color communities disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards.

Reverend Woodberry has also worked with a host of other organizations such as the; Southern Organizing Committee (SOC), The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Xavier University of Louisiana, The Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, The Environmental Protection Agency NEJAC (Region Four), SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, The National Wildlife Federation, SC Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Coastal Carolina League, South East Climate Network, Green Faith, Clemson Education and Research Center, Francis Marion University, WEACT, Advancing Equity and Opportunities, Agricultural Missions, Inc. and a host of other organizations.

He has and continues to work in the areas of; water, air, as well as renewable and sustainable energy issues with the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Reverend Woodberry attended Francis Marion University and The University of South Carolina. He retired from AT&T after 20 years of service and received three Vice Presidential Corporate awards. The SC State Senate also presented him with an award in recognition of his community service.

The Reverend Kate Mosley has served as GIPL’s Executive Director since 2014, having previously served as GIPL’s Director for Congregational Support. Kate is an ordained Presbyterian minister, a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary (Decatur) and previously served on the pastoral staff of Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta.

Kate also has directed a Presbyterian environmental organization, Earth Covenant Ministry, which eventually merged with GIPL. She is passionate about caring for God’s creation and bringing other people of faith together in this shared responsibility to steward the Earth in meaningful ways. Recently, she was honored as one of three Power Women in Atlanta by the Solutions Project, highlighting her commitment to securing clean energy for all. Kate lives in Decatur with her husband and three children.

When not guest preaching and teaching on environmental stewardship, she joins her family for worship at North Decatur Presbyterian Church. In addition to sharing Christ’s love and pursuing God’s justice in this world, her life goal is to visit and enjoy every national park in the U.S. She loves to hear about others’ experiences of travel in such places and shared tips for reaching this monumental goal!

The Reverend Clifton J. McMillan, Sr. currently serves as the senior pastor of the Maranatha Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montgomery. AL, as well as a chaplain at Children's Hospital in Birmingham, AL. for the past 11 years. He has 23 years of pastoral experience in Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, Florida and Tennessee as well as 27 years of Chaplaincy experience. He is the Vice President of the National Action Network (NAN) in Birmingham, AL. He serves on the Board of Directors of Youth Towers and on the National Board of the Prodigal Child Project. In Florida, he helped develop the Community Information Network to address African-American health disparities through education and intervention. Other community outreach activities include health fairs, assisting the homeless and former incarcerated as well as Gasp.

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Rev McMillian earned his BA from Oakwood University and Master of Divinity from Andrews University. He is a doctoral candidate at Ashland Theological Seminary in Black Church Studies researching African-American health disparities.

Turethia Malcom is a lead cardiac sonographer at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Emory Midtown in Atlanta, Ga. Turethia has served in the Christian church for over 15 years through volunteer work and community service. Through her work as an cardiac sonographer she has seen the harmful effects that climate does to the respiratory system and it has become her passion to get involved with mitigating the harmful effects of air pollution. Turethia is a graduate of Sanford Brown College and is currently enrolled at University of Alabama at Birmingham pursuing a Master in Public Health.

Alexander Easdale is Managing Principal of Forging Alliances consulting firm, and the Executive Director of the Southeast Climate & Energy Network (SCEN), where he leads and manages a network of approximately 150 organizations across 12 Southeastern states. He is a college professor for the past decade. Previously, Alexander was: Associate Campus Director of Ana G. Mendez University System - South Florida Campus, where he managed the entire Campus operation; Foundations Director at the Democracia USA project of National Council of La Raza, managing its institutional donor portfolio; Program Manager at Hispanics in Philanthropy, where he was responsible for leading program design, fundraising and project management for capacity building, educational and economic development projects in the U.S. and in Latin America; and a consultant for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Secretariat for the negotiations held in Panama and in Mexico, and with the Argentine Consulate General in Miami.  

He is a seasoned presenter at conferences and training workshops on topics such as leadership, fundraising, organizational development and networks management.  Alex has authored publications on international trade issues and has been featured in television interviews and newspaper articles on a variety of topics that include transnationalism, Latino participation in U.S. politics, educational models and opportunities.

Danna Smith is the founder of Dogwood Alliance. For over 20 years, she has been at the forefront of forest protection in the US, leading hard-hitting campaigns and negotiating ground-breaking forest protection commitments from some of the largest companies in the world. She is a leading voice connecting the dots between climate change, forest destruction and social justice and pushing for forest protection in the US at a scale necessary to meet the sustainability challenges of the 21st Century. She holds a law degree from Emory University.

The Reverend Michael Malcom is the Executive Director of Alabama Interfaith Power and Light and a licensed and ordained United Church of Christ Minister. Rev Malcom is the former Senior Pastor of Rush Memorial Congregational UCC in Atlanta, GA. He is the founder of The People’s Justice Council which is a 501(c)3 non-profit focusing on environmental justice. Rev Malcom serves as the Environmental Justice Minister for the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ. He is currently the co-chair of the Building Power from the Grassroots Action Team with US Climate Action Network, co-facilitator for the International Solidarity Working Group with the National Black Environmental Justice Network, co-chair of the Climate Impacts Working Group with the Kitchen, and a board member for the Southeast Climate and Energy Network.

Rev Malcom’s academic journey began at Beulah Heights University where he graduated in May 2008 with an undergraduate degree in Biblical Education and Leadership. He earned a Master of Divinity Degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center in 2011. To help him in the role of a pastor he completed five units of Clinical Pastoral Education at The Atlanta VA Medical Center and AnMed Health Hospital in Anderson, SC. In May of 2016, Rev Malcom graduated from the Terry School of Business MBA program at the University of Georgia. In October of 2017, he completed a post master’s human resource management course at Cornell University. In 2019 he completed the Convergence Leader Project with the Center for Progressive Renewal and the Just Energy Academy with Partnership for Southern Equity.

He considers himself an impassioned environmental justice advocate, fighting against environmental racism and injustice. He's heard, believes, and evangelizes the message of environmental justice. Rev Malcom does this through education and advocacy from a faith-based perspective. He sees environmental justice as the moral obligation to love your neighbor and the solution to the climate crisis. Rev Malcom says, "There can be no environmentalism without environmental justice. If you help the people, you'll heal the planet."