About

Jane Kleeb, President: Jane is an experienced grassroots organizer, political strategist and nonprofit entrepreneur. In 2010, Jane Kleeb founded Bold Nebraska organizing a group of farmers and ranchers that call themselves “Pipeline Fighters.” Protecting the land and water touched a deep nerve with Nebraskans whose family roots are tied to the pioneers and homesteaders that built the state of rich prairie and was at-risk with the Keystone XL tarsands pipeline. In 2016, Jane expanded Bold into a national network called the Bold Alliance which has state offices in Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The Bold Alliance works nationally on ending eminent domain for private gain and ensuring landowners are at the table during the clean energy transition. Jane lives in rural Nebraska with her husband Scott and three daughters.

More About Jane

Mark Hefflinger, Digital & Communications Director: Mark is Bold’s Digital and Communications Director, and currently publishes the daily “Extracted” email newsletter. Mark was born and raised in Omaha, and received a Bachelor’s degree in English and Communications from Boston College. He worked as a journalist in California, covering the digital media industry, music and LGBT issues, and more recently managing communications and digital operations for progressive causes. Mark worked on the No on Proposition 8 campaign in California in 2008, and afterwards with organizations including the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center on voter outreach on marriage equality, as well as on CREDO SuperPAC’s successful Congressional campaign that ousted a 30-year conservative, climate change-denying Congressman in Northern California.

Paul Blackburn, Attorney, Pipeline Expert: Paul Blackburn provides legal services on pipeline and renewable energy matters. He has worked on crude oil pipeline issues since 2008, and also has experience in renewable energy policy and development. Paul represented nonprofit clients in the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission hearing on the Keystone XL Pipeline, and in the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing on expansion of Line 67, another Enbridge pipeline. He has provided policy analysis and strategic advice on a variety of pipeline matters and authored reports on pipeline safety and oil spill response. Paul started his legal career in Washington, DC, at the law firm of Van Ness Feldman, where he assisted clients in renewable energy and coal-fired power plant development, a variety of regulatory, legislative, and litigation matters, and Native American commercial law. After leaving private practice, he began a career in the nonprofit sector, including employment by the Sierra Club, the National Environmental Trust, and Oceana in organizing and media. He also has experience in community wind and solar energy development. Paul holds a B.A. in Biology from Macalester College and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Justin Pearson, Strategic Advisor, Pipeline Fighter: Justin Jamal Pearson is an advocate and politician, elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives representing the 86th district, covering parts of the city of Memphis, in January 2023. When he was sworn into office at the age of 28, Pearson became the second-youngest lawmaker serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Pearson and fellow state representative Justin Jones were expelled on April 6, 2023 for participating in a gun reform protest inside the state capitol to lift up the voices of parents and young people who were grieving the loss of kids and school staff at the Covenant school shooting. Pearson was reappointed by a unanimous vote of the members present at the Shelby County Board of Commissioners on April 12, 2023.

Emma Schmidt, Pipeline Fighters Hub Organizer: Emma works across multiple states to coordinate and support organizers fighting the proposed buildout of CO2 pipelines, as a Pipeline Fighters Hub Organizer with the affiliated Easement Action Teams LLC. Emma is a lifelong rural Iowan based in Calhoun County. After graduating from Iowa State University in 2018, Emma went to work for Food & Water Watch where she organized activists, impacted community members, and elected officials around meaningful policy solutions to address consolidation within our food and farm system. In 2021, Emma leaned on her experience fighting the Dakota Access pipeline to help build a broad opposition movement to a series of hazardous carbon pipelines proposed for the Midwest.

Tom Genung, Regional Pipeline Fighter: Tom Genung and beloved late wife Cathie were a fixture at Bold Nebraska’s events since the founding of the organization in 2009. Tom serves as chairman of the Nebraska Easement Action Team, the co-op of Nebraska farmers and ranchers who refused to sell their land to TransCanada for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and are now working in opposition to proposed carbon pipelines. Tom is a Regional Pipeline Fighter for Bold Alliance, continuing to organize landowners and advocates to get engaged and stop risky pipelines.

Shelli Meyer, Landowner Organizer: Shelli Meyer is a Landowner Organizer working closely with Tom Genung for the Nebraska Easement Action Team, the co-op of Nebraska farmers, ranchers and landowners currently working in opposition to proposed carbon pipelines and eminent domain abuse. Shelli assists in coordinating events for landowners and scheduling agenda items for County Board meetings, tracks and updates landowner lists, and provides email updates from all states to Nebraska landowners. Her family has stewarded their land in Dixon County, NE — which is impacted by the proposed carbon pipelines — since 1924.

Deb Main, Landowner Organizer: Deb Main is a Landowner Organizer for the Iowa Easement Team, the co-op of Iowa farmers, ranchers and landowners currently working in opposition to proposed carbon pipelines and eminent domain abuse. Deb and her husband, Mike, own their family’s Century Farm in Woodbury County and are affected by proposed the Summit hazardous CO2 pipeline.