Meghan Sahli-Wells

Director at Sierra Club

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Meghan Sahli-Wells spent nearly a decade in public service, championing environmental justice and building progressive power both locally and nationally. The former Mayor of Culver City (CA), Meghan led the city’s transition to 100% renewable energy and phase-out of oil drilling. Known as the "Biking Mayor,” Sahli-Wells helped craft Culver City’s first bicycle and pedestrian master plan, established a robust Safe Routes to School program, and served on the Metro E Line (light rail) Construction Authority. In 2014, she joined President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge, and launched Culver City’s equity and youth empowerment initiatives. She also helped lead regional efforts to ensure equitable housing policies in transit and jobs-rich communities, and passed groundbreaking tenant protections in Culver City. Sahli-Wells is a founding Board Member of Local Progress, a national network of progressive elected officials, and former California State Director of Elected Officials to Protect America, where she mobilized elected officials to pass bold climate legislation and end fossil fuel extraction. Today, she is a strategic policy consultant for Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, where she works at the intersection of mobility, housing, and environmental justice, with a particular focus on urban oil drilling.

Sahli-Wells holds two bachelor’s degrees from UCLA where she majored in World Arts and Cultures, and in French. She lived in France for 14 years and has traveled extensively, studying visual anthropology, conducting sociological research, working as a translator, and raising her children.

Timeline

  • Director

    Current role