Implementation Committee
CRC Implementation Committee
The Implementation Committee is a small group of individuals in addition to Center staff who meet quarterly to help be a voice of direction, track progress, serve as a connector to efforts outside of the Center, and, as scope and mission areas align, participate in moving different priorities forward. They represent different areas of expertise, geographies, and experiences to ensure that the Center is meeting the community-defined objectives. Implementation committee members also provide regular updates on their own work and activities with the broader network of climate resilience practitioners and researchers to keep the Center connected.
Bridget Carle
Bridget Carle is a Senior Vice President in Guy Carpenter’s Global Public Sector Practice, forging partnerships with public entities and designing risk transfer solutions to alleviate financial exposures related to extreme weather events and other catastrophes. She works closely with colleagues across Guy Carpenter’s public sector regional teams to increase financial resiliency to disasters at the sovereign and sub-sovereign level. Bridget is an advisor to several organizations including Insurance for Good, The Water Institute’s Community Resilience Center, and the OECD’s Board on the Financial Management of Large-Scale Catastrophes. Prior to joining Guy Carpenter, Bridget was a Vice President on Swiss Re’s public sector team for over a decade where she managed government and multilateral development bank clients across the Americas. She helped to create and implement dozens of innovative risk transfer solutions, including the world's first pandemic bond and extreme weather coverages for more than 16 Caribbean and Central American countries through the CCRIF. Outside of her private sector experience, she also spent two years working at The Rockefeller Foundation and a summer supporting research at WWF Cape Town. Bridget holds a B.S. in Financial Management from Clemson University and an M.S. in Food Policy and Nutrition Science from the Friedman School at Tufts University. She is also an Aspen Institute Fellow.
Abbey Hotard
Abbey Hotard is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Alabama in the School of Marine and Environmental Sciences. Her interdisciplinary research explores issues of disaster recovery, coastal relocation, and climate adaptation policy. She earned her PhD in Marine and Coastal Management and Science and her Master of Marine Resources Management degree from Texas A&M University at Galveston. Between earning her graduate degrees, Hotard served as a volunteer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C. and a Science Policy Fellow through the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program hosted at the EPA Gulf of Mexico Division.
Leslie Gahagan
Leslie Gahagan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Alabama with a major in marine biology. She began her career with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management as a stormwater inspector. Leslie is employed with the City of Foley as the Sustainability and Natural Resources Director where she manages the Environmental Department and Nature Parks Department. She is a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control. Leslie is active with many organizations including serving as the President of Wolf Bay Watershed Watch and Past President of the Alabama Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. With the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Leslie serves on the Executive Committee and as Co-Chair of the Community Action Committee. Leslie participates as an active member of the Baldwin County Environmental Advisory Committee. She developed Graham Creek Nature Preserve, the largest municipally owned nature preserve and manages it for conservation, habitat management, passive recreation and educational programs. With over twenty years of experience, Leslie continues to be active in public education and outreach for stormwater management, water quality and conservation.
Naisy Dolar
Since March 2019, Naisy has served as the Grants and RESTORE Program Manager for Santa Rosa County’s Grants and Special Programs Department. In this role, she oversees a $50M portfolio of grants focused on sustainable projects aimed at restoring the Gulf Coast’s natural resources and marine habitats. With over 20 years of experience in managing public programs across education, workforce training, and government sectors, Naisy has developed a strong foundation in program management and community development. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified Grant Management Specialist. In addition to her professional work, Naisy is actively involved in her community as the Community Investment Chair and a board member for the United Way of West Florida. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Psychology from Loyola University Chicago and a Master of Arts in Counseling and Human Services from Roosevelt University.
Ali Rellinger
Ali Rellinger is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Sciences at Mississippi State University leading the Program for Local Adaptation to Changing Environments (PLACE) coastal climate resilience program. She’s located at the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, MS. Ali has a dual appointment with the coastal resilience team at the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. Since 2018 Ali has worked with the PLACE team in a variety of roles with a special focus on climate education and literacy for audiences of all ages before becoming program director in 2023.
Charles Sutcliff
Charles joined the National Wildlife Federation as their Senior Advisor for Resilience in 2024 after spending more than a decade in the Louisiana Governor’s Office. While in the Governor’s Office, Charles worked on policy in support of the CPRA and the coastal program through the 2012, 2017, and 2023 master plans and was the lead staff for the Governor’s Advisory Commission. In 2020, Charles was a part of the governor’s small team running the Climate Initiatives Task Force and helping to develop the 2022 Climate Action Plan. In 2020 he also became the state’s first Chief Resilience Officer, initially working to broaden the state’s approach to managing the implications of the coastal crisis, and then later being appointed to the role statewide and across multiple environmental hazards. Charles is from Baton Rouge, LA and attended college at LSU and has a master’s degree from New York University.