Our Team
We are climate resilience practitioners, facilitators, and process innovators who believe that addressing the global climate crisis requires us to focus on our strengths and work collaboratively to meet the scale of the problem.
The Geos Institute team consists of the Board of Directors, Core Staff as well as a network of Collaborators & Partners. Our Core Staff are responsible for maintaining the legal, financial, operational, and programmatic work of the organization. Our Collaborators & Partners provide additional expertise and capacity when needed and help advance the work of the Geos Institute.
Core Staff
Collaborators & Partners



The National Strategy Team guides the development of the Climate Ready America system by making decisions and solving problems within the system that are national or system-wide in nature. It is growing and will be made up of experts in climate adaptation, mitigation, and environmental justice. These members will share a commitment to the 10 guiding principles for a nationwide system of climate services and the Living System organizational management model. Team members work closely with the Geos Institute board and staff to support the ongoing evolution of the Climate Ready America system.
- Lola Schoenrich, Vice President, Great Plains Institute
- Nikki Cooley, Co-Manager of Tribal Climate Change Program, Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
- Lara Hansen, Chief Scientist & Executive Director, EcoAdapt
- Glynis Lough – Director, Science for Climate Action Network, Aspen Global Change Institute
- Linda Langston, Former Lynn County Commissioner, Former President of National Association of Counties, and Chair of the Geos Institute Board of Directors
- Andrea Webster, Resilience Policy Advisor, North Carolina Office of Recovery & Resiliency, Dept of Public Safety and Geos Institute Board of Directors
- Micah Hahn, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor Environmental Health, Institute of Circumpolar Health Studies, University of Alaska-Anchorage and Geos Institute Board of Directors
We have selected five states or statewide organizations to pilot Climate Innovation Centers and are developing a single, nationwide Support Team to assist those pilots. This first pilot phase will show proof of concept and provide the learning necessary to determine how states with different circumstances can be served by the same system. We are testing five viable pathways to building a Climate Innovation Center, based on five different hosting bodies:
- State government
- Academic entity
- Cooperative extension
- Statewide nonprofit
- Operational structure involving a nonprofit partnering with regional planning commissions
These pathways will show us how Climate Innovation Centers can be built and operated under widely varying state circumstances.