Why Women’s Voices for the Earth Chose a Co-Executive Director Model

A message from WVE’s Board Chair Nicole Acevedo

On February 6, 2025, WVE’s board of directors approved a motion to permanently adopt a Co-Executive Director model, appointing Amber Garcia (WVE’s Executive Director since 2019) and Debra Erenberg (WVE’s Interim Co-Executive Director since 2023) as Co-Executive Directors. This vote reflects a recognition on the part of the organization’s leadership that the staffing structure we adopted as a temporary measure at a time of staff transition serves the organization well, increases our resiliency and reinforces our organizational values.

With this decision, WVE joins a growing number of social justice nonprofits rejecting the notion that organizations are best served by a single charismatic leader, a model grounded in a patriarchal, dominant white culture that inhibits the development of shared leadership and mutual accountability.

Stability and Sustainability: Prior to the pandemic, the average Executive Director tenure was six years (with ED departures accelerating since 2020). As WVE’s Executive Director entered their sixth year in the role, facing both personal and professional challenges, the board worried about losing a valued leader to burnout. A Co-Executive Director model created the space and stability for Amber to take a sabbatical and to care for their health and family without the organization missing a beat. They returned with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

Mutual Support and Collaboration: The Executive Director role can be isolating, creating pressure to lead and to avoid the appearance of weakness. The Co-Executive Director model provides a safe space for frank conversations between equals. It creates an opportunity to explore options, express doubts and fears, and arrive at shared solutions.

Shared Leadership and Workload: Executive Directors in small organizations like ours are expected to do it all. It’s a lot to keep track of and to try to fit into a reasonable workweek. At WVE, we implemented a four-day workweek because we want all staff to experience a positive work-life balance. Our Co-Executive Director model makes that more possible, allowing each Co-ED to oversee a portion of the organization’s operations, while providing support as needed within their colleague’s realm. With a realistic workload, WVE’s leaders can model the culture of rest that we’re working to create, rather than sending subtle messages that staff should actually be working beyond their scheduled office hours.

Why it works

Here’s what WVE’s Co-Executive Directors would like to share about creating a strong and effective partnership:

“We launched this partnership with a day-long retreat where we talked honestly about what we needed from each other. From a practical perspective, we divided up ED functions and assigned one of us to lead on each, with the other serving as back-up and support. We agreed to strive for consensus in decision-making and, when we couldn’t get there, to defer to the person who served as lead on that issue area. These practical steps were necessary and important, but insufficient.

The more important discussions had to do with how we would show up for each other. We recognized that we each needed to be the other’s biggest backer and that our individual success (and that of the organization) depended on the success of the other. We needed to present a united front with staff and other stakeholders, and to be clear to staff about who they should go to for what.

We talked frankly about how our different backgrounds, leadership styles and demographics impacted our experience in the workplace and in the movements we’re part of. In some spaces, one of us will be taken more seriously; in others, the other will have more credibility. It was important for us to name that, and to find ways to use our privilege and/or movement connections to uplift the other.

These conversations have continued over the past year, and we’ve frequently returned to the values we initially agreed would guide our collaboration. Over time, we’ve built a working relationship grounded in deep trust, mutual respect, humility and curiosity. We’ve learned from each other and grown from the experience in ways we didn’t expect, and we believe that WVE is a stronger, more just and more resilient place as a result.”

– Amber Garcia and Debra Erenberg, WVE’s Co-Executive Directors

About WVE’s Co-Executive Directors

Debra Erenberg

(she/they)
Co-Executive Director

As Strategic Director for the Cancer Free Economy Network from 2018 through January 2024, Debra served as lead staff for a multi-sector network collaborating to promote healthy environments where no one gets sick because of toxic chemicals where they live, learn, work, and play. Prior to joining CFE, Debra consulted on network best practices; developed a coalition-building guide to combat anti-Semitism and hate crimes for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); served as National Field Coordinator for the 2017 Peoples Climate March; and designed a strategy for an environmental health approach to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. As Director of State Affairs at Justice at Stake, she oversaw advocacy for fair and impartial state courts and to promote diversity on the bench. As Midwest Regional Director for Amnesty International USA, Debra led human rights efforts in 13 states, representing the organization on successful collaborative campaigns to abolish the death penalty in Illinois and shut down a notorious Supermax prison. She has also worked as Organizing Director for Rainforest Action Network and Director of Affiliate Development for NARAL Pro-Choice America. She holds a J.D. from George Washington University National Law Center and a Master’s degree in Public Policy (M.P.P.) and Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Amber Garcia

(they/them)
Co-Executive Director

Amber Garcia was born in Denver and raised in Boulder, Colorado. They studied Ethnic Studies and Criminal Justice with a minor in Political Science at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD). Their passion for human rights and justice has shaped their adult career and defines their purpose. Amber’s political home is in the Reproductive Justice (RJ) movement where they have been fighting for bodily autonomy and liberation for over a decade. Prior to joining Women’s Voices for the Earth as Executive Director, Amber ran COLOR’s (Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights) grassroots voter engagement and community advocacy work through a reproductive justice framework to mobilize the Latinx community in Denver and secure wins at both the legislature and the ballot box. Their work in the broader social justice movement includes working with community partners on policies to provide drivers licenses for undocumented folx and increasing the minimum wage for all Coloradoans. An organizer at their core, Amber is a dedicated movement builder at state and national levels through interconnected networks of individuals, organizations, and coalitions. They are a part of the North Star Network, an alum of the Rockwood Reproductive Rights, Health, and Justice fellowship program, a student of somatic healing, and a 2021 Transformative Leadership for Change (TLC) fellow. They envision a world where we have liberation for all people and that each one of us is able to fully embody and use our power to build a sustainable and collective future.