From the desk of Loulena Miles, board president…
Dear Tri-Valley CAREs community,
As our organization – and its crucial nuclear policy work – enter its 40th year, I have wonderful news to share that reflects both on our decades of success and our future achievements.
I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that our long-time Staff Attorney, Scott Yundt, will be taking over as the new Executive Director of Tri-Valley CAREs starting in July 2023.
Over the past year a transition committee met frequently to find the right candidate to lead Tri-Valley CAREs through its first executive transition. After months of screening applicants and interviews, the Committee and Board made a unanimous decision to invite Scott Yundt to take the helm as our new Executive Director.
I want to thank the Board for their hard work and commitment to the ongoing success of Tri-Valley CAREs.
Scott Yundt is an exceptional choice for this role. He has proven to be a steadfast and effective leader at Tri-Valley CAREs for the past two decades. Scott began working at Tri-Valley CAREs as a legal intern during law school. He later became the group’s Staff Attorney and has held that position for nearly ten years.
During his tenure as Staff Attorney, Scott led our community right-to-know program and successfully sued the government a half-dozen times for violating the Freedom of Information Act. His work enabled Tri-Valley CAREs to obtain records of radioactive spills and other wrongdoing at Livermore Lab. Scott also worked on several cases the group filed under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Scott’s contributions to Tri-Valley CAREs outside the courtroom have been equally notable. For example, he played an instrumental role in preventing the Livermore Lab from detonating huge open air bomb blasts at its Site 300 high explosives testing range near Tracy. Scott has long led our group’s program to obtain justice for nuclear workers made ill by on the job exposures. He has also led select policy initiatives over the years.
In sum, Scott brings a strong foundation for our programmatic work in addition to being well acquainted with our locally impacted communities, our board, our staff, and our membership.
Finding a new Executive Director was especially daunting because our longstanding Executive Director has set the bar so high for what a relatively small organization can accomplish – not only locally but nationally as well.
Under the outstanding leadership of Marylia Kelley, our organization has grown from a handful of concerned Livermore citizens in 1983 to more than 6,000 members. Marylia’s leadership created the group’s effective grassroots strategy of speaking truth to power about the dangers and pollution that stem from the ongoing development of nuclear weapons. Her work over the past 40-years stopped dozens of dangerous nuclear weapons proposals.
I stand in particular admiration of the way she has been able to unify the voices of those who seek peace, justice and a healthy environment locally, nationally and, at times, internationally.
The next chapter of Tri-Valley CAREs will be about building on our many successes, inspiring a new generation of voices and re-imagining methods to increase our influence in a changing and increasingly unstable world. I know Scott is excited to dig into the work!
I have more good news to share in that Marylia will continue to be an integral part of Tri-Valley CAREs. She will transition in July to a new role as Senior Advisor.
There will be many opportunities in the coming months to recognize Marylia for her stellar organizational prowess, her in-depth knowledge of nuclear policies, and her decades of above and beyond commitment to Tri-Valley CAREs. Let me take this opportunity to be the first: From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Marylia.
I also want to say to our members and friends that we are looking forward to the next chapter of Tri-Valley CAREs together. Change is good. We celebrate our blessings, anticipate our continued positive impact, and thank you for your ongoing support.
-Loulena Miles
Board President
