As a chemical engineer by education, Garvin became involved in coastal Louisiana restoration after hurricanes Katrina and Rita when he was doing recovery work in New Orleans for then-Shaw. As that work was winding down, he was asked to transition to work as the operations manager for the state’s Coastwide Reference Monitoring Systems (CRMS) program. During his seven years managing the CRMS program, Garvin also performed coastal wetland vegetation damage assessments in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. From this, Garvin transitioned to four years managing Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) projects for the state where he was responsible for up to 32 projects at any given time.

Garvin’s experience includes a wide range of coastal restoration and protection projects and programs including feasibility analysis, engineering & design, construction management and development of restoration plans and environmental assessments for Natural Resource Damage Assessment projects.

Before joining The Water Institute, Garvin was a director at C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates where he served as a senior project manager and the coastal practice lead. While there, Garvin served as project manager for projects like the Queen Bess Island Restoration and the development of two Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessments for a total of eight projects in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.