Deeohn Ferris is president of the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the first African American woman to lead a U.S.-based international climate change organization. She is an environmental lawyer, racial and social justice practitioner, and systems change thought leader. Her career is rooted in the tenets of racial, economic, and environmental justice. Ferris is the trailblazer who facilitated the national campaign resulting in the Clinton Administration’s groundbreaking environmental justice Executive Order 12898, and worked with Congress to convene the first-ever hearings. She has extraordinary experience on five continents working with marginalized communities, Tribal, Indigenous, and faith-based organizations, civil society, and governments.