Originally from the Czech Republic, Katerina moved to the region from New Orleans and Tidewater, Virginia, two of America’s most at-risk areas for climate change impacts. Both communities are also emerging hubs for offshore wind development.

Katerina most recently co-led incubation and served as chief strategy officer of a regional coastal resilience innovation hub called RISE. In that role, she helped urban and rural communities pilot novel processes and technologies to reduce their climate vulnerabilities, turning these into opportunities to drive innovation and job creation.

Previously, Katerina served as deputy chief resilience officer for the City of Norfolk, where she developed and implemented the city’s resilience strategy and created the city’s resilience department to secure new resources and help it adapt to climate impacts in ways that maximize community benefits.

Prior to this, Katerina facilitated partnerships and information sharing between military and civilian entities working on complex natural and man-made crises at the NATO Civil-Military Fusion Center. Katerina received her doctorate in International Studies from Old Dominion University in Virginia, where she served as an adjunct assistant professor, focusing her research on energy security.