|

PORTLAND, Maine, February 5, 2018—The Environmental Health Strategy Center, a Maine-based public health organization working in the state and nationally for safer food, water, and products, has appointed a new board member and expanded its organizing team. ​

Joining a nine-person board of directors, ​David Bennell is the Food, Land, and Water manager for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a global organization of 200 leading businesses. A leader of sustainable innovation in global supply chains, he works with investors, corporations, philanthropic foundations, and NGOs on strategy and program development.​

Bennell served on the board of directors of Brunswick, Maine-based Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) for nine years, including as a founding member of CEI Notes, a $9 million impact investing fund. His additional past leadership roles include director of food and capital markets at Ceres, Inc.; director of corporate impact at The Trust for Public Land; and executive director of the Textile Exchange. Prior to those positions, David oversaw the Forest Stewardship Council Global Fund, which was formed, funded, and governed by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as executive director.

“I’m delighted to join the board of directors of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, an organization I’ve long admired for its effective advocacy in Maine and leadership at the national level to reduce people’s exposure to toxic chemicals and create a more sustainable economy,” David said. “The Strategy Center helps Maine stand strong as a state that models common-sense solutions for the common good.”

Joining the Strategy Center’s organizing team is Sergio Cahueque. ​A graduate of the ​College of the Atlantic in ​Bar Harbor, ​he has attended meetings under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, where he collaborated with grassroots and policy-led organizations working under the climate justice movement. Originally from Guatemala, Cahueque wrote his undergraduate thesis on communities in Guatemala who are engaged in peaceful resistance against a U.S.-sponsored gold mine that has polluted local waterways with arsenic. He is committed, through grassroots organizing strategies,​ to creating spaces and providing tools for people to speak up and take action against social and environmental injustices. 

“I believe that to foster a healthy environment and honest democracy we need to work from the bottom-up,” Cahueque said. “I’m excited to join an organization that does such important grassroots work toward a healthy, toxic-free future.”

“The continuing, exciting growth of our board and staff strengthens our work for a healthier, more prosperous future for Maine and the nation,” said Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Strategy Center. “David Bennell’s expertise in sustainable development will help guide our program to create a healthier, more sustainable economy, and Sergio Cuhueque’s skills will help us expand our organizing and outreach efforts to communities throughout Maine.”

The ​Environmental​ Health Strategy Center works for a world where all people are healthy and thriving in a fair and healthy economy. We protect public health by fighting for​ ​safe food and drinking water, toxic-free products, and good green manufacturing jobs. 

We bring the best science and authentic voices​ ​to the table to achieve collective​ ​impact. Working with our advocacy partner, Prevent Harm, we persuade​ ​government and industry to embrace common sense solutions. We make a difference in Maine and the nation.