Full Name
Tonya Graham
Job Title
Executive Director
Company
Geos Institute
Speaking At
Speaker Bio
Tonya Graham is the Executive Director of the Geos Institute where she and her team work to ensure that all communities have access to the help they need to take effective climate action regardless of their size, location, or wealth. Tonya has taken a lead role in developing the concept of Whole Community Resilience, which takes a holistic approach to addressing climate change impacts and develops solutions that are both ecologically sound and socially equitable. Since 2008, she has led a team that helps community leaders understand likely future conditions, determine vulnerabilities, and develop strategies to address them that care for both people and nature.
In 2019, Tonya led the development of 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, a free, step-by-step planning guide which serves as the foundation for the Climate Ready Communities program.
As a member of the ClimateWise team, 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 climate adaptation practitioners.
Tonya served on the Project Advisory Committee for Community-Based Adaptation in the United States: Understanding How and Why Communities are Taking Action. She is a member of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, where she has led working groups to develop climate adaptation guidance for Congress and incoming administrations.
Her primary focus is the development and implementation of Climate Ready America, a nationwide system of climate support services that supports, leverages, and connects the good climate work already being done at the local level while filling service gaps and spurring climate action at the scale of the challenge.
Tonya serves as the Mayor of Ashland, Oregon, through which she has served on the League of Oregon Cities’ Energy and Environment Committee to develop legislative agenda items related to these topics. She also serves as the Vice Chair of the Climate Subcommittee on FEMA’s National Advisory Council.
In 2019, Tonya led the development of 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, a free, step-by-step planning guide which serves as the foundation for the Climate Ready Communities program.
As a member of the ClimateWise team, 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 climate adaptation practitioners.
Tonya served on the Project Advisory Committee for Community-Based Adaptation in the United States: Understanding How and Why Communities are Taking Action. She is a member of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals, where she has led working groups to develop climate adaptation guidance for Congress and incoming administrations.
Her primary focus is the development and implementation of Climate Ready America, a nationwide system of climate support services that supports, leverages, and connects the good climate work already being done at the local level while filling service gaps and spurring climate action at the scale of the challenge.
Tonya serves as the Mayor of Ashland, Oregon, through which she has served on the League of Oregon Cities’ Energy and Environment Committee to develop legislative agenda items related to these topics. She also serves as the Vice Chair of the Climate Subcommittee on FEMA’s National Advisory Council.
