Florida's "Chief Resilience Officer" Has Nearly Zero Environmental Background, But Hey, It's Florida
And it's Republicans, of course.
Florida’s first chief resilience officer, the person in charge of adapting the most vulnerable state in the nation to climate change, has an impressive resume. But it’s missing one thing — any obvious experience with climate change or resilience. The candidate Gov. Ron Desantis is expected to name as soon as Wednesday, sources tell the Miami Herald, is Julia Nesheiwat. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nesheiwat had no comment. No formal announcement has been made.
The last four years, she’s been the deputy special envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department, where she works with hostage families, foreign governments and the multi-agency group called the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell to bring Americans back home. Her professional background is in military and diplomacy issues, and the closest experience she has with environmental issues seems to be a stint at the Department of Energy under the Obama administration, where it appears she focused on energy security.
EDIT
The job posting for the state’s CRO job lists as an “essential requirement” that the candidate have a master’s degree in an Environmental Science related field, “with a minimum of 5 years working experience in the resilience and sustainability related field preferred. Bachelor’s Degree in an Environmental Science Field with 10 years of related experience will be considered in lieu of a master’s degree.”
EDIT/END
https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/07/31/floridas-first-climate-change-czar-is-light-on-relevant-experience/
