JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville has hired a former White House staffer who developed coastal restoration projects in New Orleans to be the city’s chief resiliency officer, Mayor Lenny Curry said Tuesday.
Anne Coglianese is scheduled to start July 19 in the new role, which needs City Council approval.
Curry announced hiring Coglianese during a briefing on preparations for Tropical Storm Elsa, saying that her background “will be critical in emergency situations, including storms like this.”
He tweeted later that “Anne has worked in resiliency at the highest levels of federal government & will fill a crucial role.”
Her selection drew enthusiastic responses from people interested in sustainability.
“From all appearances, it looks like he made an excellent choice. … Her credentials in resilience are deep,” said City Council member Matt Carlucci, who worked at length with a special committee that in February outlined steps to improve local resilience to stresses including flooding, extreme heat and rising sea levels.
Carlucci said he had wanted committee members and subject-matter experts to gather for a follow-up discussion and said he hoped Coglianese would be able to be there.
Coglianese hopefully will be able to make an impact in City Hall early, said St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman, who said the resiliency officer will face “a very high sense of urgency in the community” for action.
“We’re seeing flooding in our urban core on a daily basis,” Rinaman said.
She said she hopes Coglianese can help influence choices in the five-year capital improvement plan Curry will introduce to the council this month to bolster the city’s efforts at resilience.
Rinaman said Coglianse has “an impressive resume for someone so young,” and could be of real help to the city if she can impact choices.
Coglianese, who is apparently not yet 30, was a coastal resilience manager between 2017 and last year in New Orleans city government, working on developing the city’s coastal strategy and restoration projects under that city’s resilience officer.
She worked in the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 2015 until January 2017, coordinating events focused on resilience and working with an alphabet of federal agencies involved with the interagency Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience.
She entered the environmental quality council as an intern the year she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond. After leaving her job in New Orleans last year, she worked on completing her master’s degree from the University of Michigan.
