Carter H. Jr. Strickland

Carter is the Chief Sustainability Officer and Co-lead of the Critical Infrastructure working group of the New York Panel on Climate Change, 5th Assessment, which spans 64 campuses, including three teaching hospitals, and educates 1.3 million students. With over 30 years of experience across government, nonprofit, and private sectors, Carter has been a leader on developing strategic visions and implementing tangible solutions to environmental issues and is a recognized subject matter expert in water, air, energy, natural climate solutions, climate risk assessment, and green business development, with a proven track record of driving organizational change, creating partnerships and policies, and building infrastructure. Previous posts include Mid-Atlantic Regional Vice President and New York State Director for the Trust for Public Land, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, advisor for Closed Loop Partner’s organics recycling business, policy advisor to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a litigator and professor at the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, prosecutor with the Office of the New York Attorney General Environmental Protection Bureau, and a board member of the Land Trust Alliance (New York), Billion Oyster Project, Natural Areas Conservancy, and Regional Plan Association. Carter teaches a graduate seminar on environmental infrastructure for sustainable cities at Columbia University.

Previously, Carter served as Mid-Atlantic Regional Vice President and New York State Director for the Trust for Public Land, where his team worked with communities to protect land, create parks and greenways, build green infrastructure, and to pass the Bond Act and other funding for natural climate solutions. He was Commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, where he oversaw the largest municipally owned water utility in the country, developed the country’s largest green infrastructure program, launched a pilot to process food waste at the utility’s anaerobic digesters, led the response to Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy, and developed resiliency, water efficiency, clear air, solid waste, and sustainability strategies, policies, and capital programs. Carter teaches a graduate seminar on environmental infrastructure for sustainable cities at Columbia University and NYU, has been an advisor for Closed Loop Partner’s organics recycling business, and served as a board member of the Land Trust Alliance (New York), Billion Oyster Project, Natural Areas Conservancy, and Regional Plan Association. Earlier in his career, he served as a senior sustainability policy advisor to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a litigator and professor at the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, and a prosecutor with the Office of the New York Attorney General Environmental Protection Bureau. 

Carter is an avid hiker, skier, climber, and paddler through New York State and more far-flung destinations whenever he can. He is a resident of Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and raised his two children.