Staff

Executive Director
Executive Director
(716)852-3813 ext 102
Chris@cacwny.org
Chris has been a member of Clean Air since 2020. He was born in Niagara Falls and grew up in Buffalo with a large close knit family including his sister and brother and many cousins. No stranger to hard work, prior to the nonprofit field he built and remodeled houses, and founded and co-owned Caz Cafe, a neighborhood coffee shop. For the last decade he has worked for Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper and has served as the Director of Community Engagement since 2015. Leading the development and sustainability of many Waterkeeper programs, Chris brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit management, staff mentorship, and fundraising. With a passion for leadership development he is excited to support the amazing staff and members of Clean Air to win campaigns. He believes the environmental movement must embrace anti-racism efforts if we are to achieve a truly just, abundant world, and was drawn to Clean Air for this reason.
In the community, he is a founding board member of the Friends of Broderick Park, and is on the Base Building Team of SURJ Buffalo working to organize white folks towards a more racially just world. He lives in Buffalo with his partner, Krysta, and their two dogs Sam, the Shih-Tzu, and Freya, the Boxer-mix. When not working or volunteering he loves paddling, playing volleyball, trying to play the violin and mandolin, and referees high school lacrosse. Chris has a BA in Biology from SUNY Buffalo State College.
Emily Terrana, she/her
Leadership Development and Organizing Director
(716)852-3813 ext 101
Emily@cacwny.org
Emily Terrana (she/her) has been a member of Clean Air since 2015, serving in a number of leadership roles throughout the organization, including being a member of the Tonawanda Coke campaign team. Emily is a Buffalo girl through and through, growing up in the working-class neighborhood of Riverside with her extended family and community. Before joining the staff of Clean Air in 2020, Emily worked at local and state-wide organizations working towards housing, climate, racial and reproductive justice. She believes deeply in a rigorous, disciplined and care centered organizing practice that builds our communities’ power to live in a just, dignified and joyful world we all deserve. Emily should have been a teacher and brings her passion and skills of popular and political education to her work at Clean Air. Emily is a lover of good Buffalo pizza and Paula’s Doughnuts and is always happy to be a Buffalo tour guide. She lives in Riverside with her three children, Yael, Oliver and Muna, partner Jason, their three cats, Mortimer, Chunky Boy and Polystyrene and pup, Loganberry. Emily holds a degree in Women and Gender Studies from Buffalo State College and has been published in Selves, Symbols, and Sexualities: An Interactionist Anthology.
Environmental Justice Organizer
(716)852-3813 ext 106
Bridge@cacwny.org
Bridge has been a member of CACWNY since 2019. Bridge’s parents met at UB’s engineering school, and Bridge, as well as their five siblings, were raised with a clear understanding of the importance of community and workplace environmental health, safety and justice, especially around industrial sites – their mother often would practice her workplace safety presentations and screen safety videos with Bridge and their siblings. Bridge has a master’s of Regional Planning from SUNY Albany and has lived on the West Side of Buffalo since 2009. They have volunteered and worked extensively in Buffalo’s non-profit sector, including at The Service Collaborative of WNY, Preservation Buffalo-Niagara, and the Coalition for Economic Justice, where they currently serve as a board member and volunteer for the Buffalo Transit Riders United and Buffalo Mutual Aid Network campaigns. Their two cats, which you will very likely see prowling around during video chats, are named Kurt and Sean.
—Phil Gambini, he/him
Just Transition Organizer
Phil@cacwny.org