Ife Kilimanjaro, Executive Director

ikilimanjaro [at] usclimatenetwork [dot] org

Ife Kilimanjaro, Ph.D. rejoined the U.S. Climate Action Network (USCAN) as Executive Director, after having served as Sr. Engagement Director until 2020. Ife brings a diverse set of experiences to the network, including leading organizational change, seeding and advancing ambitious goals and strategies, strengthening team and partner relationships and systems of accountability, and integrating practices that center wellness. 

When previously with USCAN, Ife played a critical role in implementing the first strategic plan that fundamentally reoriented the organization from a small group of people determining strategic areas of work to the membership body deciding and voting on network priorities. In her role as Co-Executive Director and Managing Director of Soul Fire Farm Institute, Ife led the organization through the development and implementation of organizational policies, procedures, operations and systems, while remaining rooted in its core values as an Afroindigenous farm seeking to uproot racism in the food system. 

Ife is clear that trusting and investing in the leadership of communities impacted first and worst by the climate crisis is critical to advancing solutions that address the realities people face (now and in the future). In the roles she held at various points in her career, Ife has supported and invested in grassroots leadership, by donating time, moving resources, creating healing and wellness spaces, designing and implementing systems of evaluation and accountability, and providing mentorship and training. 

Before transitioning full time into environmental work, Ife created educational and training programs, stretched curious minds, and increased access to quality education for people of all ages.  In Detroit, Ife worked as an administrator and faculty member at a local college, where she was responsible for improving retention and leading the design of the core curriculum.  She also served an eastside community as an elementary and middle school principal, where under her leadership, standardized test scores increased and staff turnover dramatically reduced. 

Ife received her B.A. in Spanish in 1993 and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Toledo (OH). At Howard University (Washington, DC), she earned a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2002, with a focus on race, class, and gender relations, and a minor in philosophy. She has co-authored books on African American history, research methods, and spirituality.  

Shontaé Cannon-Buckley's life's work and goal is around abolition, and ending mass incarceration in the United States. Shontaé has led campaigns around environmental justice in the City of Buffalo and Turtle Island (United States) at large.  For the past 10 years Shontaé has worked to reduce harm in all walks of life, whether that be to the earth or carceral individuals. She believes we have to have sustainable and well resourced options. While continuing to grow, build and do whatever we can to prioritize all life.She believes we must reduce, reuse, relearn and transform to end climate change and other systems of harm. She believes in organizing at the intersections of embodied leadership, healing justice and political education.  Shontaé resides in Buffalo, New York with her family and array of pets, she states her best work has come as a mother, to Nayeli and Walter-Orlu. She will always use her voice and actions to better her children’s future and the seventh generation to come.