CELP Welcomes New Leadership!

Building on its 30-year history of protecting Washington waterways, the Board of Directors for Center for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP) is excited to welcome Chris Wilke as its new Executive Director, replacing outgoing Executive Director Trish Rolfe. Chris brings over 20 years of experience in organizational leadership, water policy, coalition building and fundraising. His personal dedication to protecting our waterways, ecosystems, and communities from pollution and climate change has helped strengthen protections in Washington State and around the world.

The CELP Board thanks outgoing executive director Trish Rolfe for her 10-plus years of leadership and achievements in service of CELP’s mission. Trish helped CELP grow its presence in the state legislature, in regulatory processes and in court to defend free-flowing waters across Washington State. The benefits to our waterways under her leadership can be seen and enjoyed by all our residents when we see rushing streams and salmon returning to spawn.

In his former roles as Executive Director at Puget Soundkeeper and as Senior Global Advocacy Manager at Waterkeeper Alliance, Chris oversaw significant growth of programs and increased impact through a combination of education, coalition building and advocacy. He has influenced work in the Washington Legislature, state agencies, the US Congress, the US EPA, and various United Nations bodies. He founded Clean Marina Washington, served on the Ecosystem Coordination Board for the Puget Sound Partnership, and served as a judge on the Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Practices. CELP plans to integrate aspects of his latest non-profit organization, Climate Water Action, into its ongoing operations and advocacy for Washington waterways, also welcoming new Board members from that effort.

CELP is dedicated to water resource protection in Washington State and advocates to assure adequate in-stream river flows for salmon, people and wildlife as an essential base-level protection. The organization also works to build resilience in our natural water systems and advocates for upholding Tribal water rights, while recognizing the need to address the root causes of the climate crisis which further threatens Pacific Northwest waterways.

Contact Chris at cwilke (at) celp (dot) org