I bring an unusually diverse set of skills and experience to the environmental consulting work I do for my clients. Over the course of nearly 18 years at the Natural Resources Defense Council in the Climate and Land & Wildlife programs, I led high-level policy advocacy campaigns fighting for state and federal climate policies, and successfully fought proposed new coal plants as well as other dirty energy projects (natural gas, liquified natural gas, and oil). I also helped lead a coalition that secured a moratorium on coal mining on federal lands, and others that stopped construction of 5 large coal-fired power plants in NV and VA.

 

At NRDC, I worked with the mayor, city council and a broad variety of stakeholders to get Columbus, OH to become only the second city in the Midwest to complete a comprehensive climate vulnerability analysis. Similar efforts included convincing water managers in Las Vegas and Denver to become advocates in the fight against climate change, and factor climate change into their long term resource planning. I also forged partnerships with the National Ski Area Association and Protect our Winters (a group of Olympic medalists and high-profile extreme athletes), and coordinated Congressional climate lobbying campaigns.

 

Other work included leading NRDC’s cross-programmatic team to develop detailed strategies to get policy makers to help the growth of renewable energy and electric vehicles through innovative utility sector policies. I also led NRDC’s successful efforts to pass landmark New York State Clean Cars legislation.

 

I’ve written many blog pieces on a range of environmental topics, and been a contributing author to landmark reports by NRDC such as In Hot Water: Water Management Strategies to Weather the Effects of Global Warming as well as those co-produced by NRDC and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, such as National Parks in Peril: The Threats of Climate Disruption and Hotter and Drier: The West’s Changed Climate, and Trout in Trouble: The Impacts of Global Warming on Trout in the Interior West by NRDC and Montana Trout Unlimited.

 

On the philanthropic side, I chaired the Rockefeller Family Fund for 3 years and served on that Board for 15 years, during which time the Fund promoted sustainability among other issues. I also served as a Trustee of the Water Research Foundation, which funds research projects about effects of climate change on water use policy among other projects. I currently serve on the Board of Rockefeller Philanthropy Associates, am on the Executive Committee of the Population Council, and am Secretary of the Board of the non-partisan Trust for America’s Health, which I co-founded in 2001 to promote optimal health for every person and community in the US.

 

I’m a trained journalist and was a staff reporter for newspapers including Newsday, The Albuquerque Tribune and The Stamford Advocate. I was also on staff at Fortune Magazine, writing about finance and tech companies during the internet bubble in 1998-2000. I have written feature articles for The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Outside, Salon, ArtForum, and Town & Country. I have a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and got my BA in English from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Click here to see my LinkedIn profile and resumé.