Meet our Steering Committee: Laurene Von Klan

Executive Director and Steering Committee Member!

Growing up in cities, Laurene saw a lot of urban grit and pollution. As a teen, she resolved to help create clean, green, safe, livable cities where people and nature could live together happily. This has been Laurene’s passion ever since, and she has found ways to pursue this goal by working in the non-profit sector, where she has worked in a variety of leadership positions. At Friends of the Chicago River, she helped re-develop, revitalize the River, and launch a national movement to restore urban rivers. What she loved most about this work was connecting to people in her community and creative activism.

When Laurene and her family moved to Santa Monica 12 years ago, she took time away from this passion to focus on being a mother to her son and she became a certified dog trainer. She and her dog compete in dog sports. And now, her son is part of the California Conservation Corps.
Laurene felt a strong call to return to community environmental work amid the urgency of the climate crisis, so she joined CASM as a Steering Committee member and is now CASM’s Executive Director.  In this role, she is focused on harnessing people’s desire to tackle climate issues by building a strong organization that offers opportunities for meaningful change.  “Santa Monica is the best place ever to be working on climate,” she says. “Just about everyone cares and wants action.”  Laurene loves meeting new people and hopes to get to know you at one of CASM’s events.