Mersha becomes Co-Executive Director of Grassroots International
Sara Mersha is stepping up to become Co-Executive Director of Grassroots International. After 13 years of program leadership, Sara is joining current Executive Director Chung-Wha Hong in a new structure for leading the organization. According to a recent email announcement by the organization, “this move is part of a broader restructuring embraced by the Grassroots International board and staff to make the organization stronger, more collaborative, and more sustainable in the face of significant growth in recent years.”
Chung-Wha Hong, who has served as Grassroots International’s Executive Director for the past eight years, states in the announcement:
“I have worked with Sara from my first day at Grassroots and have been deeply inspired by her incredible leadership. Her transition to Co-Executive Director will further institutionalize Grassroots International’s commitment to movement-centered solidarity philanthropy and long-term partnerships with social movements. Sara’s collaborative, fierce, strategic, and loving spirit is a rare gift to all of us – staff, board, movement and donor partners. I cannot express how thrilled and grateful I am to work with Sara as Co-Executive Director as we mark our 40th anniversary, and look to the future.”
In the same statement, Sara reflects:
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be invited to become Co-Executive Director with Chung-Wha, who is such a conscious, kind, collaborative, and visionary leader. … It means a lot to be working together through a model of collaborative leadership as part of our grassroots feminist praxis. The stakes are high, as our movement partners continue to put their lives on the line to defend and protect land, water, territory, seeds, and the Earth, with courage, love, and a deep understanding of interdependence and reciprocity. There couldn’t be a better time to be part of this collective effort, with committed staff, board, partners, and our broader community. Together we will build on the foundation of 40 years of organizational history, strengthen our ability to accompany social movements, and meet this moment with the best of who we can be.”
