Lolita Jackson currently serves as the Special Advisor for Climate Policy & Programs in the NYC Mayor's Office. She is the primary liaison to foreign and domestic governments around climate, and administers activities for New York City's participation in global climate and resilience networks as well as the United Nations. Lolita is part of the team responsible for OneNYC, NYC's overall resilience plan, and is also lead for the administration with financial institutions, NGOs, universities and other governments regarding work on divestment and climate finance. She is a sought after speaker on this topic and speaks at global conferences on NYC's divestment and sustainable investment work. She has also provided guest lectures at Harvard, Yale and Columbia Universities, and gave a TEDxPenn talk in 2016. Lolita is a 1989 alumna of the Penn School of Engineering, majoring in Applied Science with a concentration in Chemical Engineering.
Prior to her appointment to this role, she held numerous positions within the NYC Mayor's Office. Immediately after Hurricane Sandy, she was named to the management team of the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, which produced NYC's resiliency plan A Stronger, More Resilient New York, and was named Director of External Affairs of the Housing Recovery Office. Lolita was previously Director of Special Projects for the NYC Mayor's Office, where she was in charge of operational city agencies for the Second Avenue Subway and Barclays Center projects, and Manhattan Director of Community Affairs. Prior to her tenure in the NYC Mayor's Office, Lolita worked for Morgan Stanley Investment Management for 12 years, where she was a Vice President who helped manage a $10 billion product line.
Outside of work, she is Chairman of the British American Project US Advisory Board, a US-Japan Leadership Program Fellow, Jazz Museum in Harlem Executive Committee member, Trustee of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Royal Society of Arts US immediate past Chairman, Trustee Emerita of Children's Aid Society, President of the Penn Class of 1989 and a member of the St. Andrew's Society of NY. She is also a professional singer who has performed in Shanghai, Sydney, Berlin, Tokyo, and Carnegie Hall and performs annually in Scotland.
Grant Ervin serves as the Chief Resilience Officer and Assistant Director for the Department of City Planning for the City of Pittsburgh. Grant oversees the integration of sustainability and resilience into City services, programs and policy. He works to make the City of Pittsburgh a smart, sustainable and resilient city by fostering partnerships, leveraging assets and finding creative ways to solve civic problems. Prior to joining the City of Pittsburgh, Grant served as the Regional Director for 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, a statewide sustainable development policy organization; and as Public Policy Manager for Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG) - a community based organization serving Pittsburgh's 90 neighborhoods.
Grant serves as an integrator of city activities by working across departments, agencies and sectors to form public policy and market based solutions. He brings deep experience, intersecting the worlds of environmental, community & economic development and infrastructure policy to create innovative and sustainable solutions for local governments, community development organizations and state agencies. In his role with the City of Pittsburgh, he oversees the development of the City's energy transition strategy, climate policy, environmental social and governance (ESG) analysis, district scale sustainability and circularity.
Grant has helped lead the development of a variety of innovative programs and decision support activities including: Pittsburgh's participation with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), creation of the ONEPGH Resilience Strategy, Pittsburgh Equity Indicators, Pittsburgh Climate Plan, Pittsburgh's inclusion in the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Initiative; the United States Department of Transportation's Smart Cities Challenge, the creation of the Uptown Eco-Innovation District, District Energy Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh and Neighborhood Community Information System, participation in the Urban Transitions Alliance and the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative.
Grant serves on the board of directors of Eco Districts, Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal (PACT) District Heating Company, American Institute for Architects (AIA) Pittsburgh Chapter and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). He is a member of the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN). Grant resides in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh with his wife and two daughters.
Copyright © 2020 Urban Elephant Media LLC - All Rights Reserved.