Tonya Graham
Executive Director
Tonya Graham is the Executive Director of the Geos Institute. Over the past 17 years, she has taken a lead role in leading community-based climate resilience programs at the Institute, including leading the Institute’s team in developing the Whole Community Resilience planning framework. This framework takes a holistic approach to help communities understand and address climate change impacts, and develops solutions that are both ecologically sound and socially equitable. She and the Institute’s ClimateWise team have helped community leaders across the country understand likely future conditions, determine vulnerabilities, and develop strategies to address them that care for both people and nature.
Through these on-the-ground projects, Tonya has helped communities adapt to changing climate conditions in Oregon, California, Montana, Alaska, Texas, Kentucky, Colorado, Hawaii, and Ontario, Canada. In 2012, she co-organized with the Kresge Foundation the first national gathering of adaptation practitioners: The Practitioners Workshop on Climate Change Adaptation: Integrated Strategies for Human and Natural Communities. She has developed climate adaptation curricula for the Association of Climate Change Officers.
In 2019, she and the Geos Institute team launched Climate Ready Communities, an “assisted do-it-yourself” climate resilience planning program that provides affordable assistance to small, mid-sized, and/or under-resourced communities nationwide. She is a co-author of A Practical Guide to Building Climate Resilience, the free, step-by-step planning guide which serves as the foundation for the Climate Ready Communities program.
Tonya now leads the Geos Institute’s primary initiative – Climate Ready America. In that capacity, she convenes the National Strategy Team of partner organizations, supports in-state partners working to develop their Climate Innovation Centers, develops partnerships, and secures funding to expand the program.
Tonya is a member of FEMA’s National Advisory Council and recently served as the Vice-President of the Council’s Climate Subcommittee. She also served on the Project Advisory Committee for Community-Based Adaptation in the United States: Understanding How and Why Communities are Taking Action. Tonya is a member of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals where she has led working groups to develop climate adaptation guidance for congressional committees and incoming administrations.
Tonya served four years as a city councilor in Ashland, Oregon, where she is currently the mayor. She formerly served as the Treasurer for the Nonprofit Association of Oregon. Tonya holds a B.S. in Biophysical Environmental Studies from Northland College and a M.A. in Community Development from Goddard College.
Email: tonya@geosinstitute.org
Call: 541.482.4459 x301 (office)
Text: 541.778.0718 (mobile)