Board Member since May 2010, is a partner in the Washington office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP. He is a member of both the firm’s Litigation and Technology Departments. He is an experienced products liability litigator and advisor and has a separate long standing practice representing technology companies in federal regulatory matters involving government electronic surveillance. In addition to his core legal practice, for the last decade, Mr. Barba has served as General Counsel to Steptoe & Johnson LLP. Prior to joining Steptoe, Mr. Barba was U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.
Temple University School of Law, J.D. Temple University, B.A.
Board Member since June 2009, is a partner in Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, with a focus on intellectual property trials and appeals. He has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Amicus and Antitrust Law Committees and is currently co-chair of the Special Committee on Legislation of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Mr. Coyne also serves as Vice President and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Circuit Bar Association.
University of Virginia, J.D. University of Virginia, B.S., with high distinction
Board Member since January 2017 is Senior Counsel in Cleary Gottlieb’s Washington, D.C. office, where he focuses litigation. His litigation practice encompasses international trade matters, product liability, environmental and land use regulatory issues. Richard co-authored “Chapter 27: Toxic Substances Control Act” in Matthew Bender’s Environmental Practice Guide. Richard joined Cleary Gottlieb in 1973 and became a partner in 1977. Prior to joining the firm, he served as special assistant to the Assistant Sectary of Trade Affairs in the U. S. Treasury Department and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Columbia Law School, LLB, cum laude; Editor, Columbia Law Review Tufts University, B.A., magnum cum laude
EAC President since 2014, Captain Rick served nearly 28 years in the U.S. Navy before he retired and founded Orion Solutions, LLC, a Service Disabled Veteran Owned small business based in Jacksonville, Florida. He started Orion Solutions in 2003 primarily to bring veterans back into the work force. Orion Solutions began as a defense consulting company and has grown to have a presence in both defense and commercial enterprises sectors, including environmental products. Orion Solutions excels at business process engineering, developing curriculum and training programs using proven and technology and methodologies to provide effective and reliable contract procurement, program management and technology to meet customer requirements. While in the Navy, he was a Surface Warfare Officer and had attained the rank of Captain prior to retiring. His career included a variety of sea and shore positions, including the command of the surface ships USS De Wert and USS Hue City. His assignments included serving on the Navy Staff in the Pentagon as the program sponsor for the Tomahawk Cruise Missile Program, and at sea as the Operations Officer for the Enterprise Battle Group, Destroyer Squadron 24, and Cruiser Destroyer Group 12. His naval expertise has been utilized as a technical advisor in several recent motion pictures, including Battleship and Captain Phillips. His professional reputation in Naval Operational matters was the foundation of Orion Solutions initial consulting portfolio. Captain Rick attended
The Citadel, B.S. Naval Postgraduate School, M.S. Oceanography The National War College
Board Member since June 2017, is a retired senior partner from the Washington, D.C. office of DLA Piper. Her practice focused on litigation and negotiations related to air, water, and hazardous waste permit issues, transportation, cleanup and disposal of hazardous substances and the siting and modification of major air emissions sources. She has also focused on policies addressing ozone, acid rain, and climate change. Deborah is a former Assistant Attorney General of Maryland and Chief, Criminal Investigations Division as well as a former Assistant State’s Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland. She has been listed in The Best Lawyers of America for the past 24 years in recognition of her environmental law practice and was a charter member and served on the Board of Regents of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. University of Maryland with honors
Board Member since June 2009, is a retired Washington, D.C. attorney, most recently a partner in Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle. He also served as Assistant Secretary for Legislation at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Legislative Assistant and Counsel to Senator Jacob K. Javits, Minority Counsel to the Senate Labor & Public Welfare Committee, and Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. A former member of the D.C. Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Commission, he is currently active in several other civic and arts organizations.
Harvard Law School, Harvard College
Board Member since September 2016, he is a senior counsel in Crowell & Moring’s Environment & Natural Resources Group. He has practiced environmental law for almost forty years, emphasizing matters arising under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Clean Air Act, and similar laws at the state level and in other countries. Between 1974 and 1982, he served in various positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including associate general counsel, pesticides; associate general counsel, toxic substances; and associate general counsel, air and radiation. Previous to joining EPA, David clerked for the Honorable Harold R. Tyler, Jr., USDJ, SDNY, and served in the United States Army as a JAGC officer. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. He was an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.
Syracuse University University of Pennsylvania J.D., magna cum laude
Board Member since June 2019, Ms. Schiffer, the General Counsel for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, serves as the chief legal officer for all NOAA activities and as a policy advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere providing overall management and leadership to more than 116 attorneys. Ms. Schiffer served as General Counsel to the National Capital Planning Commission and also served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice with responsibility for cases related to pollution, natural resources, wildlife, tribal law, and federal lands. Also an adjunct professor of environmental law at Georgetown University Law Center, Ms. Schiffer is the recipient of the Charles Fahy Distinguished Adjunct Professor Award at Georgetown University Law Center, and of the Edmund J. Randolph Award for outstanding service at the Department of Justice.
Radcliffe College, B.A. Harvard Law School, J.D.
Board Member since December 2018, Joyce recently retired from Ramboll Group, a Danish engineering, architecture, and consultancy firm. There she served as Principal and Executive Vice President, Global Practice Development of Environment & Health. She was also the founder of the firm’s Due Diligence practice. Prior to Ramboll, Joyce was a principal with Environ, a leading environmental consulting organization. Joyce has more than 35 years of experience in risk assessment and risk management. She has led multidisciplinary teams supporting environmental litigation matters of national significance, involving the assessment of potential impacts to human health and the environment from chemical discharge, and has provided assistance on liability assessments.
Stanford University, M.S, Civil (Environmental) Engineering Mount Holyoke College, A.B., Chemistry
Board Member since February 2018, Skip is an entrepreneur and business strategy consultant who co-founded three technology-consulting firms that supported clients in the private, government, and non-profit sectors in a wide variety of technologies including energy, national security, environmental, and information technology. Subsequently, he founded the Capstone Group, a sole proprietorship consultancy that provides strategic advisory services to private companies and nonprofits on matters such as strategic growth, M&A support, and business integration. He has also served as Director and Treasurer of the South River Federation, a leading agent for Chesapeake Bay restoration on the western shore.
Georgetown University, M.A., Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S., Electrical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S., Management
The founder of Chesapeake Legal Alliance, Russ has served as the Board Chair since 2009. Russ served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel for CIENA Corporation until 2008, when he retired to found CLA. As part of his “retirement,” he joined the faculty of Georgetown Law School, where he is a Professor from Practice. Over his distinguished career, Russ has practiced law in Washington, D.C., taught law at The George Washington University, and served as Deputy General Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was General Counsel and Secretary of CyberCash, Inc., an early Internet payments company. Russ lives and sails on the Chesapeake Bay and hopes to see it in a much improved state by the time he sails off into the sunset.
Harvard Law School, J.D. Cornell University, B.S., Mechanical Engineering
Robin D. Leone is a litigation attorney at Saul Ewing LLP, where she chairs the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. She focuses her practice on developing litigation strategies, including writing persuasive legal arguments for both trial and appellate courts, establishing discovery protocols using e-discovery tools, and preparing witnesses for deposition and trial. Robin also brings a litigation perspective to emerging issues for business clients, including evaluating and responding to threats of litigation, advising on governmental interactions related to regulatory compliance and to the protection of trade secrets and other confidential information, and engaging expert witnesses. She serves as pro bono general counsel for a non-profit corporation focused on protecting and improving the quality of Baltimore’s local waterways, coordinating access to a broad range of legal resources in the areas of environmental law, labor and employment, and real estate.
Prior to law school, Robin was a consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency throughout Region III, primarily in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Superfund enforcement programs. She has resided in Baltimore, five blocks from the water, for over 20 years and looks forward to a future harbor where residents can swim, fish, and paddle in clean and safe waters.
Morgan Johnson works with the Sustainable FERC Project, a coalition-based initiative housed within the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that promotes the transition to a clean, equitable, low-carbon energy future. Johnson represents the FERC Project in its gas advocacy work before FERC, DOE, Federal Courts and other fora where she advances legal arguments surrounding climate, environmental justice and agency accountability.
Previously, Morgan was the staff attorney at Waterkeepers Chesapeake, an environmental NGO comprised of 17 Waterkeeper programs in the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Morgan is passionate about clean water and energy justice issues. She has been cited as an expert in resources like The Clean Water Act An Owner’s Manual 3rd Edition and The Advocate’s Guide to Effective Participation in Environmental Permit Proceedings For New and Expanded Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Export Facilities.
Mr. Cummings, an environmental lawyer, serves as the General Counsel of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, headquartered on the tribe’s reservation at Mashantucket, CT where he oversees the Office of Legal Counsel, which handles all legal services for the Nation and its business enterprises. He leads the Nation’s Government Affairs Department, which is responsible for development and implementation of the Nation’s federal and state government affairs strategies, including but not limited to all of its legislative and regulatory advocacy. Earlier Mr. Cummings was a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Washington, D.C., where he represented tribes, intertribal organizations, and other entities doing business in Indian country on a range of federal Indian law issues, land acquisition and use matters, economic development initiatives, natural resources development, tribal consultation for federal permitting, Indian gaming, and tribal recognition. He provided strategic and tactical advice to clients concerning federal agency rulemakings and other federal agency decision-making activities. He advised corporate and tribal clients on federal permitting issues and federal agency approvals arising in connection with National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act reviews, including Section 106 consultation issues.
During his government career, Jody was the Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the US Department of the Interior. Jody is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribal Nation, which has a substantial population in Baltimore, as well as in North Carolina. Jody works for the benefit of the Nation especially seeking its formal recognition by the US government.
Duke University Columbia Law School
Peter Robertson is a seasoned environmental lawyer and former Deputy Administrator of the EPA under Carol Browner, former partner in several prestigious law firms including Squires, Pillsbury, Patton Boggs and Crowell. He was Senior VP for Corporate Affairs at Pebble Limited Partnership, Senior VP for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at America’s Natural Gas Alliance and is currently Senior Director of Low Carbon Solutions at ExxonMobil Corporation in Washington. He has a long-term commitment to Chesapeake Bay starting with his interactions as EPA Deputy Administrator with the Chesapeake Bay Office seeking to maximize the EPA’s commitment to the Bay. He has extensive legislative contacts which will bring to CLA a new dimension in understanding the ever-evolving federal legislative perspective on our mission.
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. University of Oklahoma, Phi Beta Kappa
A Board Member since March 2010, he is Senior Counsel at Wiley Rein, LLP. He has more than 35 years of experience in administrative and environmental law, with a focus on environmental, occupational health and safety, transportation, product safety, and pesticide matters.
Georgetown University Law Center, LL.M. University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D. Yale University, A.B.
Donald Boesch was president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (1990 – 2017) and served as the University’s Vice Chancellor for Environmental Sustainability. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. He served on the Governor’s Chesapeake Bay Cabinet and the Maryland Commission on Climate Change and has been recognized as an “Admiral of the Chesapeake.” He has been involved in research on the Chesapeake Bay for over 35 years, and has been an advisor to federal agencies, the Chesapeake Bay Program, and five Maryland governors.
Jeffrey K. Harris consults with industry and government on technologies, programs and capabilities affecting national security. Previously he served as president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, and Lockheed Martin Special Programs. He was also president of Space Imaging, the first company to commercially provide high-resolution satellite imagery and information. Before entering the private sector, Mr. Harris served as Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space; Director, National Reconnaissance Office; and Associate Executive Director of the Intelligence Community.
Kurt Riegel worked on both sides of “the regulatory fence” as a senior executive at the Department of the Navy managing environmental compliance and technology programs, and at the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy developing the technical underpinnings of regulatory programs. He is a scientist and formerly headed the National Science Foundation’s National Astronomy Centers. Since moving to Annapolis, he has been an active member of a number of environmental and civic organizations including the Sierra Club, Annapolis Environmental Commission, and Severn River Association. Presently, he serves on Anne Arundel County’s Severn River Commission and also its Bicycle Commission, chairs the Annapolis Transportation Board, and teaches environmental compliance management at Johns Hopkins University. When winds beckon, he and his wife Marieluise tend to disappear aboard their sailboat to cruise all around the Chesapeake Bay.
Arielle V. King is an environmental educator, facilitator, writer, and content creator passionate about making environmentalism and law inclusive and accessible to all people. Arielle’s work is focused on storytelling and amplifying the voices, work, and legacies of those traditionally overlooked in mainstream environmentalism. She has a background in environmental racism analysis, developing anti-racism policies for municipalities and school districts, political ecology, civil rights law, and centering community input in environmental governance. As a consultant and educator, her work focuses on integrating equity considerations into programming and organizational functions. She is the Programming Director at Black Girl Environmentalist, an intergenerational community dedicated to empowering Black girls, women, and non-binary people across environmental disciplines. In 2022, Arielle researched, scripted, and hosted Season 1 host of The Joy Report, a podcast dedicated to sharing positive, intersectional climate solutions– amplifying the stories and contributions of underrepresented groups in the mainstream environmental movement.
Originally from the South End neighborhood of Albany, New York, Arielle is currently based in the Washington, DC area. Arielle has earned a BA in Environmental and Sustainability Studies, a Master’s in Environmental Law and Policy, and a Juris Doctor focused on environmental justice and civil rights law. She serves on the board of directors for two national non-profits focused on youth development: Positive Tracks and Our Climate. In January of this year, Arielle was named a Climate Creator to Watch by Pique Action and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
A CLA Board Member since July 2010, Mr. Mason has been practicing law for more than 40 years. He served as Senior Partner at Montedonico & Mason, a firm of approximately 50 lawyers, and became managing partner of Mason, Ketterman & Cawood, which later became Mason, Cawood & Hobbs. In 2010, Roy founded The Law Offices of Roy L. Mason, PA, which he ran successfully until 2015, when he founded Smouse & Mason, LLC with Russ Smouse. He has been named one of the top 100 trial lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers Association and has been selected as a member of the Super Lawyer group since it began.
