Who We Are
The Conservancy's Global Climate Adaptation Program Core Team
The goal of all work done by the Climate Change Adaptation core team is the rollout and success of on-the-ground adaptation and resiliency strategies as described in What We Do.
These strategies involve work by TNC staff at many levels of the organization, and in landscapes all around the world. They provide input to the things you find on this website.
The Climate Adaptation Program Core Team is a small team of people - Anne Wallach Thomas, Frank Lowenstein, Jeff DeBlieu, Jen McKnight, Evan Girvetz, and Chris Zganjar - who are introduced briefly below.
Frank Lowenstein, Climate Adaptation Strategy Leader. In this role Frank heads up the organization’s work on how natural systems can contribute to helping people adapt to climate change. During his 17 years with The Nature Conservancy Frank has worked to conserve forests and wetlands in many diverse habitats, including the Selva Maya of Mexico, the Tumbesian dry forests of Ecuador, pine forests of the Bahamas and the deciduous forests of the Northeastern U.S.
Jeff DeBlieu, Project Development Advisor - Jeff brings to the team more than 20 years of on-the-ground experience as a local conservation practitioner, most notably as the manager of one of the Conservancy's very first adaptation projects on the Albemarle Peninsula in North Carolina. As adaptation projects advisor, he serves as a liaison and consultant to project teams across the Conservancy, helping them identify and apply appropriate approaches and resources to inform their adaptation strategies. Jeff also works closely with Conservancy communications staff to incorporate direct conservation experience and the needs of local conservation projects into our strategic communications and outreach efforts.
Evan Girvetz, Senior Scientist - Evan is a conservation ecologist with more than a decade of experience in climate vulnerability assessment, environmental decision support, and conservation planning. He was previously a researcher at the University of Washington where he co-led the development of Climate Wizard (with Chris Zganjar), and also has extensive experience facilitating the use of Climate Wizard in a variety of on-the-ground climate adaptation planning efforts. As senior scientist, Evan focuses on providing expert technical advice to project teams and policy makers, developing effectiveness measures for adaptation strategies, and enhancing the Climate Wizard and other science resources.
Anne Wallach Thomas, Knowledge Management Specialist - Anne is responsible for establishing best practices in knowledge management for the Adaptation Program. She collaborates with the team to assess client needs, develop and manage efforts to collect, compile and deliver information and develops and maintains our online knowledge base. She also collaborates closely with strategic communications and field staff to make sure that what we know gets put to work in support of our outreach efforts. Previously, Anne was part of the Conservancy's Conservation Leverage Group, and in that role advised the Climate Change team on how to establish and implement strategic knowledge management practices. Anne has a bachelor's degree in Political Economy of Industrial Societies from the University of California-Berkeley.
Chris Zganjar, Climate ecologist and information specialist - Chris is an ecologist whose expertise is in coastal ecosystems and the development of technologically based decision support applications to assist environmental planning and conservation efforts. Prior to joining the Conservancy he conducted various coastal research activities examining barrier-island and wetland restoration, hurricane damage assessment, and sea level rise impacts in Louisiana. He is one of the co-developers of the Climate Wizard (with Evan Girvetz). As information specialist with The Nature Conservancy, Chris specializes in the development of tools and application of technology that help conservation practitioners make better use of available scientific data and analyses.
Jen McKnight, Climate Adaptation Policy Analyst - In this role, Jen focuses on bringing the Conservancy's expertise to bear in shaping global and national level climate change adaptation policy. Jen began her career with the Conservancy in 2001 in the Corporate Fundraising Department. In 2004, Jen left that position to pursue her Master's in Environmental Policy at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. After graduation, she returned to The Nature Conservancy in 2006 and began her work with the Climate Change Team. Jen holds a bachelor's degree in geoscience from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and enjoyed putting that degree to work as a natural resource management intern at Lava Beds National Monument in California prior to joining the Conservancy.
The Conservancy's Volunteer Contributors
This site is produced in partnership with a group of talented and energetic volunteers, coordinated by The Nature Conservancy of Washington, who collect information, organize and edit narratives and use the technology to post and maintain this site. Without them this site would not be possible.
We at The Nature Conservancy, as well as our partners and friends who benefit from this site are very grateful for all the valuable help and assistance we continually receive from these volunteers.
