Jennifer Fearing, President

Jennifer Fearing founded Fearless Advocacy — a Sacramento-based advocacy firm specializing in advancing the policy agendas of mission-based and cause-oriented organizations — in November 2014. Over her nearly two decades of lobbying, Jennifer has helped nonprofit clients pursue hundreds of state and local legislative and regulatory successes. Recognized by many as the “go-to” nonprofit lobbyist, Jennifer authored the chapter on nonprofit lobbying in A Practitioner’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy in California, and has been named multiple times by Capitol Weekly as one of the 100 most powerful people in the California capitol community. In 2019, she was honored with a Golden Bear Legislative Award for “Public Interest Lobbyist of the Year.” She holds degrees from UC Davis and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Jennifer serves on the board of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, a leading environmental justice organization based in California’s San Joaquin and Eastern Coachella Valleys.

Jeanie Ward-Waller, Director of Transportation Advocacy

Jeanie Ward-Waller joined Fearless Advocacy in 2024 as the first Director of Transportation Advocacy, bringing expertise from top leadership roles in government and nonprofit advocacy. For six years, Jeanie was a visible change agent inside Caltrans, the largest state department of transportation in the country. She oversaw planning and sustainable transportation programs with a multi-billion dollar budget and over 600 staff as Caltrans’ Deputy Director for Planning and Modal Programs. She also led development and growth of Caltrans’ Sustainability Program and established the first-ever Office of Race and Equity. Jeanie was awarded the Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award from the Sacramento Chapter of WTS for her championship of racial and social equity at Caltrans. 

Prior to her time in state government, Jeanie served as a highly effective advocate and coalition builder in Sacramento as the policy director for the California Bicycle Coalition and for the Safe Routes National Partnership. She has led broad and diverse coalitions of organizations to major policy wins, collaborating across sectors with transportation, housing, equity, and environmental groups to help create and increase funding to state programs that fight climate change through sustainable development. Jeanie was awarded a Streetsie award in 2016 for Tireless Statewide Advocacy from Streetsblog California, a leading sustainable transportation and livable communities publication. 

Jeanie began her career as a structural engineer designing high-rise and large-scale building structures for Boston-based LeMessurier Consultants. She serves as board president for Civic Thread, a local nonprofit that promotes active transportation and mobility justice in Sacramento, and is a licensed professional engineer in California. Jeanie earned her bachelor’s degree from Brown University and holds two master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge. 

Marie Liu, Director of Climate Advocacy

Marie Liu joined Fearless Advocacy in 2025, as the first Director of Climate Advocacy, bringing over 20 years of knowledge and experience in climate and environmental policy. Most recently she served as the California Program Director at the Energy Foundation where she guided strategies to develop and strengthen diverse coalitions and collaborations to pass clean energy and climate policies in California in the transportation, power, and industrial sectors. Additionally, she led Energy Foundation’s work on the development of responsible off-shore wind as a critical renewable energy resource across the West Coast states. 

Previously, Marie served as the Environmental and Climate Advisor for Speaker of the California State Assembly Anthony Rendon, where she provided policy and strategic guidance on environmental issues, including air quality, forestry, solid and hazardous waste, and climate adaptation and mitigation. She has also served as a consultant to the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water. 

Marie received a M.S. in Hydrological Sciences from U.C. Davis where she studied the role of air deposits on the loss of clarity of Lake Tahoe. She also has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from U.C. Santa Cruz and a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from U.C. Berkeley.