About Us

Our Mission

Conservation Voters of South Carolina Education Fund is dedicated to maximizing the participation
of conservation-minded citizens in public policy decisions made at the state and local levels
regarding South Carolina’s environment and natural resources.

Since 2004, Conservation Voters Education Fund has hosted the Conservation Common Agenda,
now called the South Carolina Conservation Coalition. The Coalition uses a consensus approach
to setting annual Legislative Priorities supported by more than 30 statewide conservation
organizations representing over 40,000 members.

Conservation Voters Education Fund publishes educational tools and hosts regional projects
to better inform decision makers and the public about state and local environmental issues.

Structure and Funding

CVSCEF is a statewide 501(c) (3) nonprofit nonpartisan organization. Donations are tax-deductible.
CVSCEF is governed by a volunteer board of directors.

Resource Sharing Agreement

CVSCEF reimburses CVSC for services based on the proportion of time expended on behalf of
CVSCEF’S educational programs. (Legal contract for sharing personnel, equipment, and facilities)

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Our Board of Directors

Cynthia Powell, Myrtle Beach | Chair: Powell is an entrepreneur and lifelong conservationist. She proactively gathered over 2,000 signatures in order to protest billboard construction on Highway 22 in Myrtle Beach. In addition, she is former Chair of the Winyah Chapter of the South Carolina Sierra Club. She received her B.A. in Education from USC and her Masters in Education from Winthrop University.

Ann Warner, Columbia: Warner leads strategic visioning and planning for WREN. She was born and raised in the South, and has more than twenty years of experience advocating for the rights of women and girls around the world. She has also worked for CARE USA, building support for humanitarian relief and development programs around the world, and for an HIV/AIDS service and education organization in Atlanta, GA. Warner has a joint Master of International Affairs and Master of Public Health from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Wellesley College. Ann is a graduate of the Riley
Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative.

Arnie Nemirow, Mount Pleasant: Nemirow is the former Chairman, President, and CEO of Bowater Inc. and has served on various nonprofit bards, including as the Chair of The Nature Conservancy of SC from 2009-2012 .

Emma Ruth Brittain, Myrtle Beach: Brittain is an attorney in Myrtle Beach. Brittain earned her B.A. in
History from Furman University and her J.D. from the University of South Carolina Law School.

Ken Harvin, Summerton: Harvin is the Rural Program Director at SCACED. He has spent twenty years as a community development practitioner in communities of color, addressing the issue of social inequality by using community-building and community-organizing principles. Harvin graduated from Scott’s Branch High School in the historic civil rights community of Summerton, South Carolina, and was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps. He holds a master’s degree in nonprofit management with a specialization in community development finance from the New School Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy.

Michael Brown, Greenville: Brown is the Executive Director of Sustaining Way. A native of Spartanburg, Michael holds a B.A. in Political Science from Alabama A&M University, an MPA from The Ohio State University, and a J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Brown served 12 years as the District One Representative for Spartanburg County Council, was the first African American Vice-Chair and chaired the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee, and was a long-serving member of the Economic Development Committee, having worked directly to establish 20k jobs delivering more than $8 billion of development. Among many community service roles, he has served on the South Carolina Bar Board of Governors, serves as President of the Spartanburg NAACP, is an alumnus of the Liberty Fellowship, and is an Aspen Global Leadership Fellow.