Texas Campaign for the Environment: Staff Spotlight

Pat Cole, Office Manager (D/FW), has an extensive background with non-profit agencies such as the Mental Health Association of Dallas, community development and volunteer development professional in a wildlife sanctuary and as an organizer in another non-profit. As time goes on, Pat sees that the environment is of primary importance not just to her but to her family and the entire world. Pat will continue to fight for the good of the planet the rest of her life.

Jeffrey Jacoby, Staff & Program Director (D/FW), has been working with our Dallas office since the fall of 2004, and was our D/FW Staff Director from 2005-2008. After obtaining a Master of Arts from the University of Maryland, Jeff returned to the Metroplex and began organizing with TCE. As a native Texan and long-time Dallasite, Jeff believes that change begins at home, one person at a time. His commitment to grassroots democracy and environmental advocacy stems from a strong desire to transform the mindset of a culture bent on harming the very source of its sustenance.

Renee Vaughan, Assistant Staff Director (D/FW), spent many weeks of her childhood in the Gila National Forest with her family, and so has a deep appreciation for the world’s places of natural beauty. Her hobby is urban and landscape photography. A graduate of the University of North Texas, she began organizing with TCE in August of 2004. Renee is passionate about empowering people to lead their leaders toward more just social and environmental policies, and views the grassroots canvass as a crucial political tool in making real change.

Lani Ogle, Office Manager (Austin), began working with TCE while on summer break from the University of Texas in 2003. Hired at the ripe old age of seventeen, she quickly developed an ardor for grassroots organizing. After leaving activism to complete a sociology degree, Lani serendipitously returned to TCE in May of 2007 as our Office Manager. A lifelong resident of the Austin area, she is passionate about preserving Central Texas’ unique character and quality of life, and to that end believes organizing one’s neighbors about issues that matter is indispensable.


Stacy Guidry, Program Assistant (Austin), grew up in the Beaumont area and started organizing with TCE in August 2003. Stacy was our Austin Staff Director from 2005-2008. She has been a dancer since the age of five, taught children dance lessons for five years, and she loves to sing. Stacy works for TCE because of the pollution issues she's dealt with in her hometown; both her parents have worked for petrochemical plants for decades. She feels democracy is not a side line sport and there's no room for benchwarmers. This is why she strives for positive social, political, and environmental justice and concrete changes in people's everyday lives.

Erika Luck, Staff Director (Austin), grew up in the Ohio Valley area, where she was surrounded by the beauty of nature. While attending college at Ohio University, she studied international relations with a focus on human rights issues. Studying inequality and the plight of fellow human beings stirred up the need to create public awareness. Thus, she developed a strong sense of empathy and the motivation to do something about injustice. She began working in April 2008 by to protect the Ohio River and its surrounding communities, and joined the TCE in January 2010. Erika is excited to contribute to environmental organizing in Texas.

Philip Huffeldt, Office Manager (Houston), began as an organizer with TCE Houston in November of 2009 shortly after returning to his hometown. Phil graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles with a degree in Art History and the Visual Arts with an Emphasis in Film Production and a minor in Marine Biology. His passion and connection to the natural world comes from exploring the wild and suburban forests and waterways of Texas. He believes that connecting people to the reality of their local and global surroundings is crucial in protecting the environment and public health.

Zac Trahan, Program Director (Houston), was home schooled as a child in the hill country outside Austin. His deep connection with and respect for the natural world has only strengthened since joining TCE in the fall of 2002. Zac has played many roles within the organization, and directed his own canvassing office in South Florida during 2005. He believes our common problems call for collaborative solutions and that protecting our humanity means protecting our shared surroundings.

Virginia Fugman, Staff Director (Houston), graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in Art History. She moved to Texas seeking warmer days, but began work with TCE during the 2006 ice storm. She now helps the Houston staff organize grassroots support for positive environmental change. She believes people have the right and the ability to make their world their own, sometimes they just need a knock on their door.