Education & Experience

Establish Next Interior as the place to imagine and advocate for the next iteration of the US Department of the Interior and how it benefits current and future generations of Americans.

Key Achievements

• Provide leadership and management for founding a new advocacy organization.

• Organize the Exploratory Committee to fully scope the mission and make recommendations on the best business model for Next Interior.

• Communicate the importance of Interior to the general public and build capacity for others to advocate for the Department with elected leaders.

• Build partnerships with other nonprofits, businesses, and stakeholders with whom Next Interior will work to shape the future.

• Develop the initial structure, processes, and policies for Next Interior.

https://www.nextinterior.org 

Protected and managed natural resources, provided scientific information, and helped fulfill our Trust obligation to Tribes by leading policy and environmental management in the 70,000-person Department of the Interior.

Key Achievements

• Provided leadership and management of 9 departmental offices and ~200 staff distributed across the Nation.

• Oversaw diverse functions from permitting and compliance to ecosystem restoration, totaling over $100M per year.

• Provided strategic policy guidance to senior leadership on: climate and sustainability; economic analysis and risk management; Environmental Justice; ecological restoration; Artificial Intelligence adoption; and more.

• Ensured efficient information flow between top leadership and departmental offices.

• Made executive decisions and elevated critical issues requiring senior leadership attention and action.

Additional Details

• Senior executive serving the Assistant Secretary – Policy, Management, and Budget (AS-PMB) to advance the mission of the Department of the Interior.

• Provided leadership and management of nine executives who lead Departmental offices in domains ranging from environmental compliance to Gulf Coast restoration to policy analysis. 

• Provided policy leadership, expertise, and advice to the AS-PMB on matters including climate policy, economic analysis, performance and risk management, sustainability, Environmental Justice, ecological restoration, orphaned wells, artificial intelligence (AI) and data, and other matters. 

• Ensured the needs of offices are elevated, topics are prepared for top leadership awareness and action, and that information from top leadership is disseminated down across the offices. 

Advanced the missions of the Department of the Interior and its bureaus by leading the Office of Policy Analysis (PPA) in policy analysis, economic analysis, and program coordination and leadership.

Key Achievements

• Led evidence-based development of policies for climate, Tribal, conservation, and infrastructure priorities supporting >$20 billion per year of spending. Initiated building a culture of evidence-based policymaking, including by establishing a statistical policy community of practice to support >250 staff.

• Provided expert counsel to Interior's top officials, White House Office of Science and Technology and Council on Environmental Quality on issues including climate, nature, statistics, Indigenous Knowledges, and more.

• Championed office excellence through innovative leadership programs, strategic planning, and professional development opportunities. Expanded funding by >$1.5M for critical policy initiatives and >12 FTE capacity.

• Communicated policy initiatives to the Secretary, assistant secretaries, and broader audiences, reaching thousands of people, through briefings and public events. 

Additional Details

• Ensured policymakers had evidence for decisions through in-depth analyses or special studies of (a) national, regional or other needs, (b) program objectives and goals, (c) alternative approaches to meeting objectives and goals which would produce the same or greater benefit at the same or lesser cost, and (d) establishment of relative priorities.

• Provided expert advice on the integration of natural resource and environmental programs at the Department of the Interior with other agencies of the government consistent with the policies and objectives of the White House, the Domestic Council, the Council on Environmental Quality, Council of Economic Advisors, the National Security Council, and other entities within the Executive Office of the President.

• Advised the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretary - Policy, Management, and Budget, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary - Policy and Environmental Management on the development and evaluation of prospective programs and in monitoring cost-effectiveness of programs and assuring adequate evaluation of departmental program issues and economic alternatives.

• Conducted or supervised major negotiations and/or coordination of leadership assignments to address natural resources and other issues assigned to PPA, such as invasive species and climate change policy.

• Cultivated evidence-building capacity for Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, DEIA, and other mission-critical areas as the Statistical Official for the Department of the Interior under the Evidence Act. Established a Department-wide community of practice for statistics and evidence, supporting over 250 statistical and data staff across the country.

Affiliate faculty in the Environmental Science and Policy Department of George Mason University.

• Lead conservation policy-relevant research.

• Teach a 1-day course on the implementation of the Endangered Species Act for the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation twice per year.

• Meet with other faculty to update on current events in conservation law and policy and to facilitate collaborations.

Ensure high-quality, policy-relevant science is published through the leading conservation journal as associate editor for Conservation Letters.

Improved the policy relevance of Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) work as a member of the Task Force on Policy Tools and Methodologies. As part of Task Force:

• Developed a proposal for the Plenary for briefs on IPBES assessments for high-level policy makers;

• Created processes and procedures for better-integrating policy makers at the beginning of and throughout the assessment process;

• Developed content and templates for onboarding new members of IPBES assessment teams; and

• Integrated policy tools with other task forces, such as those for Indigenous and Local Knowledge and Knowledge and Data.

Delivered practical yet innovative conservation solutions by leading the Center for Conservation Innovation (CCI) in the integration of science, technology, and policy.

Key Accomplishments

• Pioneered cutting-edge solutions that directly informed and shaped conservation decision-making, including next-generation Endangered Species Act policies and automated habitat monitoring technologies.

• Built powerful partnerships with over 20 partners across government, academia, and private sectors to create innovative conservation technologies and policy solutions.

• Amplified CCI's impact by growing team capacity from four to 15 staff, inclusively developing strategic and work plans, and establishing effective operational and communications processes.

• Communicated complex science to diverse audiences including Congress, partner agencies, and the public through dozens of hearings, briefings, and conferences, with communications and marketing teams.

• Led comprehensive operations including >$1 million annual budget development and execution, strategic hiring, performance management, and cross-functional team supervision.

Additional Details

• Grew CCI more than three-fold in less than three years, and by doing so strategically, more than tripled the capacity of Defenders' work by leveraging and further developing existing resources. 

• Direct cutting-edge conservation research to inform decision-making for existing laws like the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and next-generation policies like “30x30”; technology development to advance automated habitat monitoring and collaboration; and policy review and development to protect species.

• Established new and grow existing collaborations with partners across Defenders', in government, the private sector, academia, and others. Convene workshops of diverse stakeholders, including non-traditional partners, to find new conservation solutions, such as for the application of new technologies in pesticide ESA consultations.

• Set the vision for our work, led the development of a strategic plan, established policies and processes, developed annual work plans and budgets, raise funds, and carry out multilevel personnel management.

• Communicated conservation science, technology, and policy with the press, public, scientists, decision makers, and by testifying to Congress.

• Developed annual budgets, including basic operations plus professional development for team members; hire personnel, give performance reviews, develop performance improvement plans, recommend awards, terminate individuals, and assign duties as needed; ensure personnel have the resources and training they need to complete their duties.

Improve capacity to make data-driven, high-resolution predictions of land cover change to improve early interventions for conservation by leading a project named PLACE - Predicting Landscapes to Advance Conservation Effectiveness. This project combined high-resolution satellite imagery with machine learning methods for land cover classification and a variety of inputs to predict the likelihood of land cover changes before they happen, so that conservation efforts can be more proactive and less reactive.

Transformed conservation by leveraging big data and innovative technologies to create practical conservation policy solutions that resulted in saving untold thousands of dollars.

Key Accomplishments

• Developed evidence that redefined our understanding of conservation policies such as the Endangered Species Act, 30x30, and the use of technology to advance efficient, effective conservation.

• Built and led cross-functional teams of up to over 1,000 scientists, technology developers, and policy experts.

• Created nearly 100 accessible and innovative tools including peer-reviewed papers and web applications.

• Championed science-based recommendations to shape decision-making at nonprofits and federal agencies.

Additional Details

Led research and development of practical, innovative solutions for conservation using novel data, data science, and creative policy ideas. Example outcomes include projects that:

• • • redefined our collective understanding of how a key provision of the ESA is implemented at the national scale;

    • developed new data-focused technologies to make ESA data and documents readily available for decision-making; and

    • provided essential analyses to advocate for - and acquire from Congress - expanded funding for FWS programs.

• Outcomes have been accompanied by building conservation science, technology, and policy capacity across the Defenders and outside the organization. 

• Managed interns and led teams working across departments on projects that advanced science, technology, and policy integration for conservation.

(Analyst 2015 to 2016, Senior analyst 2016 to 2018.)

Primary scientific duties centered on bioinformatic analysis of frog genome sequencing data, including genome assembly, genome annotation, and comparative genomic analyses. 

• Developed novel computational pipelines on supercomputing systems to improve vertebrate genome assembly.

• Examine the genetic basis of frog skin microbial communities, including understanding why some species are tolerant of the chytrid fungus while other species are susceptible.

• Led or assisted in the production of several grant proposals that involved intense attention to detail; one international proposal spanned 468 pages and balancing budget allocations of $700K per year for five years across five components on two continents. 

• Managed, trained, and advised three undergraduates and two graduate students across seven projects to produce scientific publications, publicly available databases, and to advance student learning; developed year-out work plans across complex projects.

PhD student investigating the relationship between genetic variation and community ecology dynamics.

• William C. Powers Graduate Fellow: prestigious fellowship to investigate the relationship between ecosystem function and biodiversity at the level of genomic variation. Used next-generation genomics tools, including DNA-seq and RNA-seq, with cutting-edge bioinformatics and supercomputing tools to identify molecular bases of ecologically important trait variation. Developed novel high-throughput measurement tools and techniques for animal behavior and plant growth. Developed novel agent-based models to test hypotheses about how variation in gene network characteristics could percolate up to influence ecological community dynamics.

• Teaching Assistant: Biology of Birds (Spring semesters 2008-2013), teaching topics from identification and field methods to avian anatomy, physiology, ecology, and evolution. Fall semester assignments included Introductory Biology and Biostatistics. Learned to explain complex topics from avian physiology to statistical analyses and programming in approachable ways and provide constructive feedback.

• Mentored, taught, and managed up to 120 students, including core performance tracking. Worked as part of teaching teams with shared responsibilities, peer training, and collaborative leadership.

• In research, managed a team of a postdoc and three undergraduates on a project examining the dimensionality of genotype X environment variation in an alga, a complex project involving thousands of experiments, concurrent with my dissertation research.

Advanced recovery and conservation of ten federally threatened and endangered species working at landscape levels.

Key Accomplishments

• Restored hundreds of acres of critical habitats through field research, captive breeding programs, and ecosystem management.

• Secured tens of thousands of dollars in project funding through competitive grant writing and execution.

• Formed strategic partnerships with dozens of private landowners and with government agencies to implement large-scale conservation initiatives spanning >1,000,000 acres.

Additional Details

Advanced on-the-ground conservation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trust species, including federally threatened and endangered species, such as fish, plants, invertebrates, birds, and frogs native to Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. 

• Field research and monitoring via seining, trapping, electrofishing, bird banding, and automated camera traps; captive propagation of fish, plants, and frogs for restoration; grant-writing to fund projects and project reporting.

• Restored wetlands, riparian areas, and uplands by leading and participated in research and management, making recommendation, and participating in wetland construction, erosion control, and vegetation management, both on- and off-refuge. 

• Advanced conservation by working across the landscape, working with personnel from federal agencies (e.g., Forest Service) and state agencies (e.g., Arizona and New Mexico Game and Fish) on conservation, inventory, and management projects on public lands (e.g., Coronado and Gila National Forests) and on adjacent private lands. 

• Worked extensively with private landowners and NGOs such as Malpai Borderlands Group and Cuencos Ojos to acquire funding and undertake habitat restoration and/or conservation actions on private lands, including Safe Harbor Agreement and Habitat Conservation Plan development and implementation.

• Carried out regulatory compliance to complete projects, including: ESA section 7 intraservice consultations, including biological assessments and revisions working with Ecological Services; NEPA Environmental Assessments; ESA five-year reviews and recovery team member; reviewed Special Use Permits for the refuges; and other regulatory compliance requirements, such as Clean Water Act section 404 permitting and Archaeological Resource Protection Act reviews. 

• Managed up to four employees directly and oversaw two additional employees on both research and resource management projects.  Served on regional research and conservation action grants prioritization panel.

• Assisted and/or detailed to bird and herpetofauna inventory and monitoring projects in Costa Rica, Alaska (PRISM monitoring program), Venezuela, and points in-between.

Advanced on-the-ground conservation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trust species, including federally threatened and endangered species, such as fish, plants, invertebrates, birds, and frogs native southeastern New Mexico.

• Worked with refuge personnel and personnel from New Mexico Game and Fish Department to inventory and monitor fish, herpetofauna, mammal, invertebrate, and plant populations.

• Inventory and monitoring of bird populations using standard banding techniques and weekly bird counts. Managed volunteers to schedule and complete banding and surveys.

• Analysis of 22 years of weekly bird count data to assess the effects of variation in wetland management strategies. This included a novel comparative analysis of local populations with continental population data.