Board Members
Executive Committee
Amanda Kuhl, President
Amanda Kuhl is CEO of Inside Media, a women-owned PR and communications firm elevating sustainability and corporate storytelling. For nearly two decades, she has helped business leaders integrate sustainability into strategy, operations and communications to strengthen stakeholder trust and long-term value. Previously, she served as COO of Global Affairs Associates, an ESG advisory firm later acquired by ClimeCo, where she became Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships.
Amanda is a frequent speaker on sustainability and co-creator of ESG Decoded, a top-ranked podcast. She is committed to advancing collaborative solutions that drive meaningful environmental progress in the Houston region.
Steve Stelzer, Vice President
In his former role as the Program Director of the City of Houston Green Building Resource Center since 2008, Steve offered green building strategies to plans brought in by the public, developed and maintained green strategy displays and education programs, and maintained codegreenhouston.org, the green building portal of the City of Houston. Steve was a career architect in Houston prior to joining the City, with a BS in Architecture from the Ohio State University in 1976, and an MBA from the University of Houston in 1989. He is an advocate for backyard composting and moving the needle on zero waste and curbing pollution.
Ali Dahnji, Treasurer
Ali Dhanji believes that protecting the environment is one of the most important investments we can make in the future. He is passionate about conservation, sustainability and fostering a deeper appreciation for the natural world. Whether through education, advocacy or community engagement, he enjoys helping people connect with environmental issues in ways that are practical, meaningful and lasting.
As Treasurer of the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, Ali is committed to supporting the organization’s mission of bringing together people and organizations working to protect and improve the environment throughout the Houston region. He believes that meaningful progress happens when communities come together around shared goals and a common responsibility to future generations.
Outside of his work with CEC, Ali is a Financial Advisor in Houston, helping families and nonprofit organizations make informed decisions and plan confidently for the future.
Brooke Campbell, Secretary
Brooke is the Director of Community Outreach and Disaster Recovery at the United Way of Greater Houston. She is a wife, best friend, AmeriCorps NCCC alum, rescue kitten mom, backyard gardener, instructional designer, international traveler, INTJ (information architect), better listener than talker, collaborative networker, and is obsessed with doing good. She is experienced in creating intentional service learning opportunities and building state AmeriCorps programs, including the development of work plans for AmeriCorps VISTAs. Brooke served as the Director of Volunteer Houston for four years, where she led the operation of a web-based volunteer recruitment platform, designed the corporate volunteer program, and consulted with hundreds of local nonprofits to improve their volunteer engagement programs. Brooke is trained in instructional design and has authored two professional training courses for a national nonprofit. She is a Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) and Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA).
Board Members
Alex McCray
Alex currently works for the City of Houston at the Houston Permitting Center in the Communications, Education and Outreach Division providing Houston building codes and permitting process trainings and efforts to revitalize the Green Building Resource Center. Previously at the City he was the Project Manager for Houston’s Construction Code Modernization (CCM) project, to adopt current building codes that lay the foundation for resilient buildings as laid out in the Resilient Houston Plan and Climate Action Plan.
Before moving to Houston, Alex lived in Atlanta, GA and served as Executive Director of the Olmsted Liner Park Alliance (OPLA) after serving as the Director for Mayor’s Office of Environmental Affairs for the City of Atlanta. He was awarded the Community Service Award by Atlanta City Council and awarded Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Environmental Ennovation. He has held many board positions and currently serves as Vice President on the Houston Chapter of the International Code Council.
Benita Mahanta
Benita brings over 13 years of diverse, global experience in the environmental field to the CEC board. Highly skilled at connecting grassroots impact with large-scale policy and funding, her multi-sector career spans roles in events management with Greentown Labs in Houston, TX; affordable housing, disaster recovery, and urban planning with Harris County, TX; business development with ONergy Solar in India as an American India Foundation Fellow; performance management with the U.S. EPA in Washington, DC; and wildlife conservation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Honolulu, HI.
A dedicated advocate for sustainability and vulnerable communities, Benita previously served on the board of the American India Foundation Houston Chapter and as an environmental and English-teaching volunteer in Ecuador. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago, a BBA in MIS from The University of Texas at Austin, and specialized certificates in tropical forest conservation and climate health from Yale University. She is also an alumna of the LISC Houston Training 4 Trainers program and The Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps.
Coral Lozada, Ph.D.
Coral is a Sustainability Faculty Fellow in the Office of Sustainability at Houston Methodist Academic Institute. She has a PhD in coastal and marine systems sciences and her research background in mixed-methods approaches allows her to approach sustainability with an interdisciplinary perspective.
Much of her work has focused on how community perceptions and values influence resilience to both natural and man-made disasters, and how coastal communities adapt to changes in their livelihoods as a result of these disasters or shifts.
She looks forward to enhancing Methodist hospital’s resilience and contributing to its environmental sustainability using a One Health lens.
Leo Brito
Leo Brito is the owner of Woodlands Escapes, a landscaping business in The Woodlands, Texas. A strong advocate for less waste and more efficient sustainable practices, he started Zero Waste Houston, a curbside food waste pick-up service in order to do his part to reduce the tremendous amount of waste in our society by facilitating the composting of food waste. He also does zero waste consulting and designs and installs native plantscapes. He is is TRUE Zero Waste certified and is a Master Composter, Master Gardener, and Master Naturalist.
In his spare time he loves to spend time with his wife and three children enjoying the beauty of our world and work in his large vegetable garden.
Pilar Fuentes
Bio coming soon.
Stephanie Piper, Ph.D.
Stephanie is the Director of Texas Community Resilience at American Forests. She works at the intersection of ecology and community resilience, aiming to provide benefits and protection from climate change to all communities. Her research interests include urban ecology, reforestation, extreme heat, and applying science to improve and protect the environment.
Before joining American Forests, Dr. Piper was a researcher at Houston Advanced Research Center, where she managed the largest single day heat mapping campaign in the US.
She completed her PhD in Plant Biology at the University of California, Riverside, where her research focused on urban air pollution and its effects both in the city and in adjacent natural areas.
Susie Hairston
Susie is a mother, grandmother, environmental advocate, and teacher (now retired). She has been on the City of West University Place Recycling Board, and was appointed to the City of West U’s first Sustainability Task Force. A huge proponent for food waste composting, she has helped move West U towards increasing its food waste composting by helping organize a drop-off pilot, encouraging residents to sign up for curbside food waste pick-up, volunteering at school and city events to collect food waste, and helping develop a food waste diversion program for West U Elementary. She co-teaches a master recycler course, and in her past life, developed and taught an environmental studies course for high school students. She spends much of her free time reading about environmental issues, particularly climate change and plastics, playing with her grandchildren, communing with nature, and walking her dogs.
One thing Susie has realized over the years on her journey to try to make a difference is that you have to bring others along with you, form coalitions, develop community. That is why she joined the board of CEC, to help it grow its mission of connecting environmental organizations, community leaders, and concerned citizens to work on protecting our shared environment.