Our ecosystems experts


  • Kaiser, Dan Director of Agriculture Innovation, Climate-Smart Agriculture

    Areas of expertise: Agriculture technology, ecosystem service markets, biodiversity, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), agriculture sustainability.

    Office: Remote

  • Kuzdas, Christopher Senior Manager, Climate Resilient Water Systems

    Areas of expertise: Water management and governance; public policy; decision support; social-ecological systems; risk management; rural development and planning

    Office: Remote

  • McDow, Will Director, Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds

    Areas of expertise: environmental markets, mitigation policy, working lands conservation

    Office: Raleigh, North Carolina

  • McLaughlin, David Economist

    Areas of expertise: Agricultural and Resource Economics, Environmental Economics, Public Economics, Econometrics, Causal Inference, Data Science

    Office: San Francisco

  • McLellan, Eileen Lead Senior Scientist

    Areas of expertise: Water quality, watershed protection and restoration, ecological resilience, land use planning, rural development, environmental policy

    Office: Washington, D.C.

  • Monast, Maggie Senior Director of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Finance & Markets

    Areas of expertise: Environmental economics and policy, agricultural finance and sustainability, agricultural supply chains

    Office: Raleigh, North Carolina

  • Moran, Kevin Associate Vice President, Regional Affairs

    Areas of expertise: Public policy, water law and management, coalitions, ballot campaigns and organizational leadership

    Office: Remote

  • Oldfield, Emily Agricultural Soil Carbon Scientist

    Areas of expertise: Soil organic matter, carbon sequestration, natural climate solutions

    Office: Washington, D.C.

  • O’Connor, Rachel Manager, Climate Resilient Water Systems

    Areas of expertise: Water policy and governance, water data systems, stakeholder engagement, coalition building, collaborative planning processes

    Office: Remote

  • Pearen, Holly Senior Attorney

    Areas of expertise: Endangered Species Act, Safe Harbor and Candidate Conservation Agreements, habitat restoration, public lands, resilience, pesticides

    Office: Boulder, Colorado

  • Proville, Jeremy Director, Office of the Chief Economist

    Areas of expertise: Climate change, GIS, data visualization, remote sensing, land use change, environmental markets

    Office: New York City

  • Puig-Williams, Vanessa Director, Texas Water Program

    Areas of expertise: Water policy, water law, environmental law, groundwater management, conservation transactions, stakeholder engagement, endangered species

    Office: Austin, Texas

  • Rudek, Joe Lead Senior Scientist

    Areas of expertise: Agricultural emissions to land, water, and air from livestock, rice and upland crops; methane emissions from natural gas end use; and supply chain sustainability

    Office: Remote

  • Schiller, Anna Program Manager, Climate Resilient Water Systems

    Areas of expertise: Conservation biology, spatial analysis, groundwater management, land use planning

    Office: San Francisco

  • Schwartzman, Steve Senior Director, Tropical Forest Policy

    Areas of expertise: Climate change, tropical forest policy, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), Brazil and the Amazon, indigenous peoples, incentives for environmental protection

    Office: Washington, D.C.

  • Shelton, Shelby Manager, Climate-Smart Agriculture

    Areas of expertise: Soil science, nutrient management, sustainable agriculture, agricultural supply chain solutions, conservation, and resilience

    Office: Raleigh, North Carolina

  • Snider, Natalie Associate Vice President, Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds

    Areas of expertise: Ecosystems, large-scale restoration and protection planning, science communication, natural resources management and policy, science-based decision making, ecosystem services, natural infrastructure, rivers and deltas.

    Office: Washington, D.C.

  • Steinhilber, Emily Director, Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds, Virginia

    Areas of expertise: Coastal resilience, climate solutions, environmental law and policy, stakeholder engagement

    Office: Remote

  • Suttles, Kelly Senior Research Analyst, Climate-Smart Agriculture

    Areas of expertise: Watershed modeling, Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), land use change, climate change

    Office: Raleigh, North Carolina

  • Thomas, Ben Senior Policy Director, Climate-Smart Agriculture

    Areas of expertise: Agricultural and food law, policy implementation, political strategy, coalition building

    Office: Austin, Texas