Our Children’s Trust MoveS to A Dual Leadership Model
Mat dos Santos, Co-Executive Director & General Counsel and Julia Olson, Co-Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel
April 13, 2024
In 2010, I founded Our Children’s Trust premised on the idea that the courts are vital to upholding our democracy and safeguarding our children and the planet. Our bold mission and innovative strategy have ignited climate rights litigation worldwide.
We began powered by volunteers who shared a love of children and our planet. We’ve since expanded to a global team of 31, operating with a $6.5M budget sustained by thousands of supporters like you. Additionally, our volunteer network – ranging from experts to law students and lawyers – has also grown remarkably to amplify our global impact.
After 13 years as executive director, I am excited to have a partner to share this responsibility. I will continue to drive the development of cutting-edge legal strategies leveraging the incredible momentum gained from our landmark decision in Held v. State of Montana last year and as we prepare for trial in Navahine v. Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (DOT).
I’m thrilled to announce that I have a new leadership partner, Mat dos Santos, who now joins me as Co-Executive Director.
This shared leadership model is enhancing Our Children’s Trust's mission-driven work by increasing our capacity to serve our youth clients and to manage our incredible growth. Our Board of Directors unanimously approved this new structure for 2024.
As part of the shared Co-Executive Director model, we have also created a new leadership and organizational structure to shape and guide our work. I will continue to lead our programmatic work, driving the development of cutting-edge legal strategies and related communications campaigns. I will lead our legal efforts against the U.S. federal government and collaborate closely with Kelly Matheson, Deputy Director, Global and Andrea Rodgers, Deputy Director, United States, and Avi Lipman, Deputy Director, Litigation Practice. Avi joined us just this year and brings 16 years of experience from McNaul Ebel Nawrot & Helgren PLLC in Seattle. Nate Bellinger and Andrew Welle will serve as Supervising Senior Staff Attorneys, leveraging their extensive experience in constitutional climate rights practice to support our team of staff attorneys and lead cases.
Mat dos Santos will lead our core organizational initiatives, focusing on building a strong administrative team and executing strategic, brand-driven engagement campaigns to ensure a stable financial future. Mat will also oversee legal compliance and risk management, as well as finance, operations, and development in close collaboration with Jen Salvatore, Chief Financial and Operating Officer, and Elizabeth Dickinson, Chief Development Officer. We will soon announce our new Chief Communications Officer who will join us later this month. Mat will continue to bring their excellent impact litigation strategic thinking gained from their many years advocating for constitutional rights at organizations like the ACLU and work closely with me on our strategic planning for the years to come.
(Left to Right) Jen Salvatore, Kelly Matheson, Andrea Rodgers, Julia Olson, Mat dos Santos, Elizabeth Dickinson, and Avi Lipman
Over the past four years, Mat served as our Managing Attorney and General Counsel, contributing significantly to our organization’s growth and success. Mat and I have cultivated a strong complementary relationship built on shared values, trust, and a steadfast commitment to our mission. This partnership will enable each of us to leverage our core strengths more effectively, fostering a more agile approach as we amplify the voices of our youth clients and safeguard their fundamental rights.
This is an exciting and exhilarating time for us. Following our landmark 2023 win in Held v. State of Montana, our docket is growing. We have 12 active cases representing 169 youth across four countries. As I write this update, young people, our partners, and friends are applying pressure in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) unprecedented tactics aimed at further delaying our federal Juliana case with a #SaveJuliana campaign. And just this week we filed a powerful opposition brief to the U.S. DOJ’s efforts to dismiss our newest federal case, Genesis v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which I will argue in federal court in Los Angeles on April 29, right before our team heads to Honolulu for our big pretrial conference in Navahine v. Hawai‘i DOT. That trial is quickly approaching on June 24!
The team at Our Children’s Trust at the 2024 Staff Retreat in Eugene, OR.
Every day, this incredible team of legal, scientific, communications, operations, HR, trauma, finance, and development professionals show up and work with heart, hope, and an incredible standard of excellence to do right by the young people we stand with, advocating for their lives, their health, and their opportunity for an incredible future ahead. Our work will be achieved when there is universal recognition of children’s climate rights by courts around the world and children’s fundamental rights to life on this planet are protected.
We thank you for your invaluable support.
Julia Olson
Co-Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel
