MCAN Board
Fred Davis (he/him/his) President, Medfield
Fred Davis has been a leader in energy efficiency and climate action for over 40 years. His start was in residential retrofitting. In the 1980s he founded Fred Davis Corp. which then continuously drove adoption of ever-more-efficient lighting. Since 2013, they deployed 60,000 LED streetlights in 55 municipalities.
Fred has spearheaded substantial community-level decarbonization efforts. As Chair of the Medfield Energy Committee from 2019-2022, he oversaw renewable energy and efficiency projects and explored net-zero redevelopment. His town organizing increased EV, solar, and heat pump adoption.
Since 2015, Fred has served as the top decarbonization expert for the Jewish Climate Action Network. As JCAN’s President since 2021, he continues to speak and train communities on effective climate action.
With experience spanning from the Energy Crisis to the Climate Emergency, Fred is a leading authority on rapidly transitioning communities to a low-carbon future.
Email: [email protected]
Tristan Thomas (he/him/his) Vice President, Roxbury
Tristan Thomas is a policy and political professional, having worked his entire career at the intersection of the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Originally from the Bronx, Tristan moved to Boston to attend Northeastern University where he received a B.S. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Through Northeastern's cooperative education program, Tristan began 5 years of engagement with Tremont Strategies Group (TSG), a lobbying firm with a wide range of clients across sectors.
In 2023, Tristan joined the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), a nonprofit focused on driving economic equity, prosperity, and inclusive growth for Massachusetts through programming, advocacy, and partnerships supporting Black businesses and communities.
In 2025, Tristan joined neighborhood based environmental justice organization Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), as Director of Policy, where he advocates to support a healthier more sustainable Roxbury.
Phil Thayer (he/him/his) Board Treasurer, Concord
Phil is retired from 30 years in the financial services industry. Over the past 20 years, he volunteered on a dozen decarbonization efforts including helping to run grassroots solar, EV, and heat pump programs and advocating for solar net metering and Zero Net Energy municipal new construction. He helped to draft and pass five pro-climate Town Meeting warrant articles. He helped stop the Palmer biomass plant in the environmental justice community of Springfield. Prior to moving to Concord in 2022, he served as Chair of Sustainable Belmont and served on the Sustainable Middlesex Steering Committee. He is a member of Building Electrification Accelerator (BEA), ZeroCarbonMA, FixTheGrid, and HeatSmartAlliance and serves on ConcordCAN’s Steering Committee. An active MCAN member since 2015, he currently serves on MCAN’s MLP Leadership Team and moderates monthly MLP Chapter zooms. Phil has an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Evaluation Research.
Mary Dewart, (she/her/hers) Board Member, Brookline
Mary Dewart is a grass roots organizer connecting people to personal action and partnerships. She was drawn into climate action through her friends, Ross Gelbspan, The Heat is On and Boiling Point and the late Paul Epstein, Changing Planet, Changing Health. Her goals are moving individuals, communities, Massachusetts and beyond toward 100% renewables and keeping fossil fuels in the ground. During thirty years of civic engagement she has served as Campaign Coordinator for MCAN’s Climate Action Brookline chapter and is now a board member. With a background in art and public policy, she initiated and collaborated on dozens of projects including Climate Week (starting 2010) now featuring events with leaders from around the state. She also incorporated Climate Week art installations and co-created a giant labyrinth with climate warnings and opportunities at Brookline’s town hall center. She pioneered new ground when she co-founded the Brookline GreenSpace Alliance and served as member of both the Park and Recreation Commission and Selectmen’s Climate Action Committee. She has been an elected Town Meeting member since 1991. The Massachusetts Commission on Women recognized her commitment and work on behalf of Brookline in 2016.
Mamadou Balde (he/him/his) Board Member, Medford
Mamadou is a senior program manager at All In Energy, where he leads the implementation of the Community First Partnership in seven municipalities across Massachusetts. In this role, he collaborates closely with municipal partners to develop outreach strategies aimed at expanding Mass Save access, particularly among historically underserved populations.
Mamadou's journey at All In Energy began in 2019 as an intern. From educating and helping Massachusetts residents navigate energy efficiency and clean energy programs to organizing and overseeing community outreach events to boost Mass Save participation, his dedication to sustainability was evident as he quickly progressed through various roles.
Mamadou's passion for sustainability extends beyond All In Energy. He recently served on the steering committee for the Malden Climate Action Plan. There, alongside other committee members, he worked with technical consultants and Malden residents to craft a roadmap for the city to address climate change at a local level. Originally from West Africa, Mamadou brings a global perspective to his work.
Khadija Hussaini (she/her/hers) Board Member, Allston
Khadija Hussaini is a sustainable development professional and Fulbright scholar dedicated to advancing climate solutions and social equity. Her work focuses on energy justice, community-driven climate initiatives, and equitable clean energy transitions. Having implemented community-based climate action programs in Afghanistan, Hussaini brings an international perspective to her climate advocacy work. Her recent entry into the U.S. energy sector through internships at Synapse Energy Economics and Climate has deepened her expertise in energy policy and renewable energy development while allowing her to work closely with frontline communities on climate education and community-led clean energy initiatives.
Throughout her career, Hussaini has focused on advancing conditions for vulnerable communities through humanitarian and development work. At the Norwegian Refugee Council, she managed program strategy development and project coordination across several area offices, while facilitating stakeholder engagement with local communities. As a researcher at the Afghanistan Analysts Network, she produced analysis papers and delivered findings on rural development, immigration, and gender issues that informed programs and policies for conflict-affected areas.
Hussaini holds a Master's degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University and a Bachelor's degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh. She recently completed a specialization in Renewable Energy Systems from the University of Colorado Boulder. Through her work with MCAN, she advances equitable climate solutions and community-centered approaches to clean energy development.
Janet Hartke Bowser, (she/her/hers) Board Member, Dover
Janet is an environmental attorney with over 30 years of experience working with federal, state and local government and nonprofits on a wide range of environmental law, policy and regulatory issues including climate change adaptation and mitigation, natural resources protection, clean energy, toxics reduction and sustainable land use and smart growth. Janet served as Director of the Town of Wellesley Natural Resources Department for over 16 years and previously was Director of the Needham Conservation Dept., worked with the Mass. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and began her career at the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection.
Janet holds a B.A. in Environmental Science from Middlebury College and a J.D. from the Boston University School of Law where she was elected President of the Environmental Law Society. She has worked on a wide range of political, community and grassroots campaigns and has served on a number of governmental advisory committees and organizations including the Mass. Municipal Association’s Committee on Energy and the Environment, Vice President of the Mass. League of Environmental Voters, President and Co-Founder of the New England Environmental Law Society and the Dover Conservation Commission. She lives in Dover with her husband and has two grown children.
Halina Brown, Board Member, Newton
Halina Brown is a retired academic, former environmental policy maker, and a local climate activist. As a member of the Newton Citizens Commission on Energy since 2005, and its chairperson since 2019, Halina has been involved in numerous technical projects and campaigns in Newton. The Commission developed Citizens Climate Action Plan for Newton, which became the basis for an official Newton Climate Action Plan; it actively participated in a local campaign for Newton Power Choice, which currently provides almost 100% renewable electricity to residents and businesses; authored Newton Greenhous Gas Emission Inventory; and played a major role in the development of the 2024 BERDO policy in Newton (Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance). Personally, Halina drives an electric car, heats and cools her house with heat pumps, and cooks on an induction stove.
Until her retirement in 2018 Halina was a Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at Clark University. Her research and teaching covered such areas as environmental health risk assessment, environmental and sustainability policy, technological innovations for sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. Prior to joining Clark University, she was a chief scientist at the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Halina is deeply concerned with ecological impacts of household lifestyle choices and our consumerist economy. She is a co-founder and a board member of Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative, SCORAI, and international knowledge network. Halina has a doctoral degree in chemistry from New York University. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a fellow of International Society for Risk Analysis. Her website is at: http://wordpress.clarku.edu/hbrown/