Our Team
David Whiteside
Executive Director
David Whiteside became involved with Waterkeeper Alliance during the Summer of 1998, when he accepted a job from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., his godfather and the current President of Waterkeeper Alliance. David attended The Altamont School in Birmingham and graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in Environmental Studies. His senior thesis at UVM involved the creation of several autonomous Alabama programs, including Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper, and Hurricane Creekkeeper. David founded Black Warrior Riverkeeper in September 2001.
Today, David serves on Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s Board of Directors. He was elected Vice President of the Board for 2009. Since joining the board in 2007, David has contributed thousands of volunteer hours towards fundraising, outreach, website updates, and event planning. In 2009, David founded Tennessee Riverkeeper with environmental attorney Mark Martin. Tennessee Riverkeeper has an office near the Tennessee River in Decatur, Alabama, where David is Executive Director and Riverkeeper.
Whiteside’s maternal family has fought for civil rights in Alabama for over 150 years. David’s great-uncle, Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., made a number of landmark civil rights rulings that helped end segregation in the South. In the words of journalist and historian Bill Moyers, Judge Frank Johnson “altered forever the face of the South.” David Whiteside served as a political correspondent for MTV Choose or Lose 2008 – an Emmy Award-winning project wherein 51 state-based citizen journalists covered the 2008 presidential elections from a youth perspective, across all media platforms: broadcast television, web, mobile, and virtual.
Mark Martin
Chief Prosecuting Attorney
Mark Martin is the prosecuting attorney for Tennessee Riverkeeper. He was born in Alabama and began practicing law in 1981 after graduating from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham. Over the course of his legal career Mark has worked on a diverse array of legal issues, ranging from criminal defense to protecting Alabama’s rivers and creeks. In his off-time, one can find him paddling the rivers and creeks of the Black Warrior and Tennessee River watersheds. An Eagle Scout and an avid kayaker, Mark feels very strongly about preserving the quality and integrity of the South’s waterways.
Mark Martin also has prior experience enforcing environmental laws in the Tennessee River watershed. Mark was named “Legal Hero” by the Sierra Club in 2006 for his work in using citizen gathered water monitoring data as evidence of discharge violations from a large hog farm. Over-application of waste on hard pan fields caused runoff into Crow Creek, a tributary of Town Creek, a prominent Tennessee River tributary. Mark represented the Sierra Club and two citizen plaintiffs in a Clean Water Act citizen suit against Whitaker Farms. The resulting consent decree required the owners to pay property damages and significantly improve their operation. An un-lined waste holding pond was closed and replaced with an above-ground tank. More efficient waste application methods were adopted and a nutrient management plan was developed and implemented.
Mark Martin continues his acclaimed environmental litigation in this watershed via his work with Tennessee Riverkeeper
Barry sulkin
chief scientist
Barry Sulkin is an Environmental Consultant based in Nashville with a BA in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia, and an MS in Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University. He worked 14 years for Tennessee’s Division of Water Pollution Control in 3 field offices and as Chief of Enforcement. Work for the state included inspections, sampling, and river studies. Since 1990 he has been an independent consultant and expert witness primarily on water issues for environmental groups, as well as individuals, government, business, and industry. He is also the director of the Tennessee office of PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility), and served as a special EPA employee representing environmental groups on the Federal Advisory Committee on Detection and Quantification under the Clean Water Act. His projects include sampling, river studies, erosion, permits, TMDLs, mitigation, and training across the US.
Beth Alexander
Tennessee Counsel
PAt underwood
cleanup coordinator
Pat underwood brings peaceful confidence rooted in 20+yrs martial arts experience. A thirst for life & knowledge has lead him to many mindful disciplines including: yoga, martial arts tricking, free running, acroyoga, hooping, & Jiu Jitsu. Leading with an open heart & white belt mindset, Pat holds space for others to connect with their inner warrior.