In December 2011, Mayor Angel Taveras selected Sheila Dormody to serve as the City's first Director of Sustainability. Sheila comes to the City by way of the environmental advocacy group, Clean Water Action, where she served most recently as New England co-director.

The Sustainability Director's responsibilities include identifying opportunities to reduce the City's energy costs, working with community groups to establish the City's first comprehensive sustainability action plan, transitioning the City to the new Recycle Together program, and other projects.

Sheila serves as a commissioner of the Providence Housing Authority and the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. Sheila won a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Merit Award in 2008 for her work to prevent mercury pollution. A native of Bristol, Connecticut, Sheila earned her B.S. from Southern Connecticut State University. Sheila lives in the Elmhurst neighborhood with her husband, Jim Amspacher, and has a community garden plot in Davis Park.