Five years ago, our board of directors instituted term limits for its members. This was a major decision for a 22-year-old organization that relied on the ongoing commitment of its five founders, all professors of law. Board members have stepped down while others have joined, and the process of renewal and transition has been healthy for the organization.
Notably, we’ve honored one of our founders and past presidents, Tom McGarity, as well as long-time board members Rob Glicksman, Joel Mintz, and Michele Janin, whose terms expired. We’re fortunate that many have stayed with us as Member Scholars.
2025 also marked the transition of board leadership. Rob Verchick, who served as president of the board for 10 years, a period of remarkable accomplishments for the organization, stepped down (but remains on the board). Our newly elected board chair, Sidney Shapiro, brings a unique combination of deep understanding of the Center for Progressive Reform alongside an adroit sense of our role in today’s challenging times.
Over the years, we have recruited independent members to the board, namely individuals whose experience in civic leadership, politics, community work, and philanthropy offered diverse perspectives to our board, which is steeped in the expertise of law and public policy.
In this context, we’re thrilled to announce the election of four new members to our growing board of directors — two Member Scholars and two independent members. Through each of their commitments to justice, solidarity, and democracy, they embody the deepest values of our organization. I want to extend my deepest thanks and give a warm welcome to the following:
Rebecca Bratspies is a Member Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform. She holds a J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge C. Arlen Beam, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Additionally, she has worked with Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration and Ministry of Justice, and later practiced environmental, commercial, and class action litigation with a private firm.
Bratspies has taught at the New York University School of Law, the University of Idaho College of Law, Michigan State University-DCL, and, currently, the CUNY School of Law in New York City. In January 2026, she will join Tulane Law School in New Orleans as the inaugural Oliver Houck Chair in Environmental Law. She has recently published two books: Progress in International Institutions and Transboundary Harm in International Law: Lessons from the Trail Smelter Arbitration (each with Russell Miller).
Carlos Claussell Velez is a climate change and environmental professional with 15 years of experience working with community-based organizations, nonprofits, government, and philanthropic entities committed to advancing climate justice and equity strategies at the local, state, and national levels. Currently, he leads the Climate and Environmental Justice strategy for the World Wildlife Fund, focusing on aligning climate action with benefits for communities in coalition with partners like America Is All In, the Renewable Thermal Collaborative, and the Energy Transition initiative.
Claussell Velez also serves as a board member for PennFuture, an environmental watchdog in Pennsylvania, and he is a former Vice-Chair and member of the City of Philadelphia’s Inaugural Environmental Justice Advisory Commission. Additionally, he has served as a fellow with the Clean Energy Leadership Institute, the Environmental Leadership Program, and the Climate Justice Design program at Harvard University. He has also worked with the Institute for Sustainable Communities, The Nature Conservancy, and the Caño Martín Peña ENLACE Project.
Melissa Powers is a Member Scholar at the Center for Progressive Reform and a Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School, where she is also the Director of the Green Energy Institute. Currently, she is a Visiting Professor at the University of Trento in Italy. She teaches energy law, the Clean Air Act, torts, and administrative law. Her research interests include laws designed to promote renewable energy, domestic policies aimed at mitigating climate change, and U.S. pollution control laws. Before teaching, she was an attorney at public interest environmental law firms doing pollution control litigation.
Powers is also co-chair of the Research Committee of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, an international organization dedicated to increasing collaboration between environmental law scholars around the globe and in expanding the capacity of environmental law teaching and research in developing countries. She has also taught as a visiting professor at the University of Navarra, Spain, and the University of Maine.
Maya Winkelstein is Partner at The 2030 Fund, where she leads all the day-to-day activities of the initiative. She is also founding CEO of Open Road Alliance and current Advisory Board Chair. During her 10-year tenure at Open Road, Winkelstein led the organization’s evolution from a single-donor grant-making strategy to the world’s first impact bridge loan fund with over $15 million AUM. During this time, Open Road made over $450 million in loans and grants to organizations across the globe.
Prior to Open Road, Winkelstein worked as Associate Director with williamsworks, where her clients included the Eastern Congo Initiative, Nike Foundation, PATH, Tostan, and TOMS Shoes. She also speaks frequently about philanthropy, impact investing, and climate justice funding at forums including the Financial Times FT Forum, Global Philanthropy Forum, and Skoll World Forum. Winkelstein holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a Certificate in Finance from Georgetown University.
As our readers know, the Center is dedicated to strengthening democratic institutions governed for and by the people. These are trying times as we find those institutions under attack. At the highest level, authoritarianism has replaced democratic practice, and all too often, these alter-ego institutions have become the purveyors of harm rather than the protectors of good. This cannot stand.
We are thankful for the innovative ideas, deep experience, and justice commitments that our new board members bring and to the social change movements we serve. Progressive leadership matters.
