SSS Board

Chris Hawkins, Board President

Chris is a graduate of community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia. He works for the Thurston County Public Health department as its Active Healthy Communities Coordinator, preventing chronic disease by making environment and policy changes to support healthier eating and increased physical activity. Chris has served over the past decade with several South Sound public interest and non-profit organizations in environment and social development work, including Alliance for Public Transportation, Capital Bicycling Club, Climate Solutions/Energy Outreach Center, Olympia Safe Streets, South Sound YMCA and SPEECH. He has followed a passion for outdoor activity by advocating for non-motorized transportation and trails at the local and state level.

T J Johnson, Program Lead – Local Food Systems

TJ is a former union organizer and shop steward who established and ran a successful bed and breakfast, was a founder and long-time president of the Upper Eastside Neighborhood Association, and served as a citizen representative on several city advisory committees. He’s a past member of Garden Raised Bounty (GRuB) Board of Directors, and the founder of Beyond Hiroshima, a grassroots anti-nuclear education and advocacy organization. He was a featured speaker at the 2006 Japan Peace Conference, and a member of the World Peace Forum International Advisory Committee. In 2006, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility awarded him the prestigious Paul Beeson Peace Prize for “his extraordinary leadership towards a world free of nuclear weapons and war”. TJ also served six years on the Olympia City Council, chairing the Finance Committee and the Intercity Transit Authority, and was a passionate advocate for a more sustainable community and a more peaceful world.”

Joe Hyer, Treasurer

Jo Gallaugher

Monica Gilmore
Monica offers 18 years of national- and global-brand experience. Her range of expertise includes communication strategies, planning, project management, design, copywriting, public relations and the supervision of brand implementation through print, online media and branded space. She holds a master’s in communication arts from the VCU BrandCenter; the leading communications program in the United States. Her strategic approach, put to work in shops across the nation, has helped companies like Columbia Crest Wines, JanSport, The North Face, and Amtrak meet their marketing goals. She and her husband are nurturing a sustainable home on the Olympic Peninsula.

Jay Shepard

Billie Jean Kam, Secretary