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DJ Gerken was named as the new executive director of the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Photo Above: DJ Gerken, new executive director at SELC, conducts a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building. © Stephanie Gross/SELC.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, the region’s largest environmental advocacy nonprofit, has named as its new executive director DJ Gerken. With more than 200 lawyers and other staff, SELC has taken on major issues over the years, including protecting national forests for wildlife, water quality and recreational values and preventing unnecessary methane pipelines and sprawl-inducing highways. Gerken has been with SELC since 2004.
“I went to law school because I wanted a career producing real change by standing up to bad actors,” says Gerken, who received both his law degree and masters degree in planning from the University of Virginia. “There’s a throughline through my career, having the opportunity to stand with communities against powerful interests, to be their voice and their partner and, more often than not, to win.” southernenvironment.org
The story above first appeared in our January / February 2023 issue.
