Dear HEC Members, Donors, Supporters, Partners, and all friends of the environment in Indiana,

In exactly two months, I will have been the Executive Director of the Hoosier Environmental Council for fourteen years. During that time, we’ve built an exceptional Staff (nearly two and a half times the size that I inherited), made our organization financially sustainable for the long term, and, most importantly, won major legislative, legal, and organizing victories that are safeguarding our health and that are advancing the cause of environmental justice.

Notwithstanding my very warm regard for our wonderful Staff, for our supportive Board, and for the many compassionate Members, Donors, Supporters, and Partners who have made it possible for me to make change as a statewide nonprofit leader, I am feeling another cause pulling at my heart. I will now be shifting my career to writing—I would like to be an author, for children and their parents alike, who instills a deeper love for all of God’s creation. In particular, I would like to heighten the emotional connection between my readers and both wild and farmed animals, so as to sensitize my readers to the great suffering brought about by, respectively, the crisis of our plummeting biodiversity and our society’s addiction to factory farming. My hope and aim is for this writing to help accelerate action. I will also be focusing more time on family health matters.

Although I am proud to be leaving HEC in a very strong position, for the sake of my successor; our Staff; our Members, Donors, Supporters, and Partners; and the larger environmental family of Indiana, I believe that it is critical that during our organization’s transition I strive to remain as involved and as supportive as I have endeavored to be in these past years. Therefore, I will not begin the next step in my career until we’ve recruited my successor at HEC, most likely in early 2022.

Please read some reflections by the HEC Board of Directors regarding my years at HEC and also a press release (quoting lawmakers and leaders from the social justice, governmental reform, faith, and climate action communities) announcing my new chapter to the general public.

I look forward to being in touch with many of you during this important transition period ahead.

With much gratitude and appreciation,

Jesse

October 7th, 2021