About
I bring two decades of applied research, program leadership, and field experience to every engagement. I love working at the intersection of environmental science, governance, and practice with organizations and institutions that are aiming to achieve achievable and impactful outcomes. My work falls into three areas below. They are distinct enough to serve different needs and connected enough to reinforce each other.
Working with me
Every engagement begins with a conversation. I want to understand what you are building, what is not working, and what success actually looks like for the communities and organizations your work is meant to serve. From there we can identify the specific form of support that makes the most sense.
I bring the same commitments to every engagement: intellectual rigor, practical honesty and integrity about what the evidence does and does not support, genuine respect for community knowledge alongside scientific knowledge, and a long-term orientation toward building things that last rather than delivering outputs that satisfy a reporting requirement.
I am not the right fit for every organization. If your work is primarily about managing appearances and egos rather than meaningfully changing outcomes, or if community voice is a program component rather than a genuine commitment, we are probably not a good match. If you are serious about the work supporting people and the environment, I am serious about supporting it.
I. RESEARCH & PROGRAM LEADERSHIP
I design and direct complex, cross-sector research and practice initiatives, which range from early-stage program design through implementation, monitoring, and strategic review. I have led multi-million-dollar international programs in collaboration with universities, governments, NGOs, and community practitioners across four continents. I know what it takes to build something that works at scale, and I know what the most common failure points look like before they become problems.
I work with organizations that are:
— Building or scaling research programs at the intersection of climate adaptation, environmental governance, disaster risk reduction, food systems, or community resilience
— Rethinking how their research translates into policy and practice
— Navigating the transition between program phases or organizational models
— Seeking a senior research leader with international experience and an established network across Africa, Central Asia, Latin America, and the American Southwest
Specific services include:
Research design and methodology — developing rigorous, contextually appropriate research frameworks for applied social-environmental questions
Program design and strategic planning — building the architecture of multi-stakeholder, multi-site programs that are both scientifically sound and operationally viable
Program evaluation — assessing program effectiveness, equity, and impact with attention to what the numbers do and do not tell you
Proposal and grant development — writing and reviewing funding proposals for foundations, government agencies, and international donors, with particular expertise in USAID, bilateral, and foundation funding streams
Capacity strengthening — designing and delivering learning and development experiences for researchers, practitioners, and program teams
II. CONSULTING & TECHNICAL ADVISORY
I provide strategic advisory and technical consulting to foundations, NGOs, international organizations, research institutes, and government agencies working on environmental and climate challenges. My value lies in my technical capacity and ability to move fluently between the world of rigorous evidence and the world of practical decision-making, and to help organizations do the same.
I am particularly useful when an organization is:
— Making strategic decisions about where to invest in environmental research or programming
— Trying to understand what the evidence actually says about a complex governance or adaptation challenge
— Designing or evaluating a program that needs to work in communities very different from the ones the organization knows best
— Navigating the equity and power dimensions of research partnerships with Global South institutions
— Building new approaches to knowledge translation and getting research findings into the hands of practitioners and decision-makers who can use them
Specific services include:
Strategic advisory — serving as a thought partner and senior advisor to organizational leaders on research strategy, program direction, and evidence use
Expert review — providing rigorous independent assessment of research designs, program models, evaluation frameworks, and funding proposals
Systematic reviews and evidence synthesis — producing accessible, policy-relevant summaries of what the research literature says on specific environmental governance and adaptation questions
Stakeholder engagement and facilitation — designing and facilitating processes that bring diverse stakeholders — communities, governments, researchers, funders — into productive conversation about complex environmental challenges
Expert advisory panels — contributing specialized knowledge on climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, environmental governance, and Global South research systems
III. SENIOR ROLES & FELLOWSHIPS
In addition to independent consulting and advisory work, I am open to senior leadership opportunities within organizations whose mission aligns with mine.
I am particularly interested in:
Senior or lead researcher positions at universities, think tanks, or research institutes working on climate adaptation, environmental governance, resilience, food systems, or disaster risk reduction
Program director or senior program officer roles at foundations, NGOs, or international organizations with portfolios in climate, humanitarian assistance, or disaster risk reduction — particularly in Africa, Latin America, or Central Asia
Fellowship opportunities that provide protected time and resources to advance applied research, build the cooperative infrastructure I am developing, or write the book that needs to be written
I am open to remote, hybrid, or relocation depending on the opportunity. I am equally interested in roles that draw on my international experience and roles focused on the American West, where the environmental governance challenges are as complex and consequential as anywhere I have worked.