executive leadership
Kathy Baughman McLeod​
Chief Executive Officer
Kathy brings a record of executive leadership and impact for public, nonprofit, and private sector institutions including the Arsht-Rockefeller Resilience Center, Bank of America, The Nature Conservancy, and the Office of the State of Florida’s Chief Financial Officer.
Her recent proven success extends from global climate resilience policy, risk and adaptation financing, and nature-based climate solutions, to strategies to combat extreme heat.
She is a member of FEMA's National Advisory Council and was named by Reuters as one of 20 “Trailblazing Women in Climate for 2024.” She holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, an MS in Geography from Florida State University, and a certificate in Health Impact Assessment from the University of Liverpool.
Geraldine Henrich-Koenis
​Chief Communications Officer
Geraldine’s leadership in public and media relations, global communications, advocacy, branding, and crisis management for global, national, and local nonprofits has delivered tangible, lasting impacts.
Her work has benefited organizations including the Arsht-Rockefeller Resilience Center, Center for Reproductive Rights, The Nature Conservancy, and Families USA. Her mastery of communications strategically conveys the urgency and complexity of the impacts and solutions of extreme heat.
She holds an MA in International Development from the University of Amsterdam, a BA in Communications from George Mason University, and speaks English, Spanish, and Dutch.
Mary McBryde
Chief Program Officer
Mary’s achievements include working with nonprofit, philanthropic, and financial partners to mobilize investment and create innovative solutions that protect people and the planet from the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.
She has furthered the missions of the Arsht-Rockefeller Resilience Center, Liquid Assets, Fidelity Foundation, Lyme Timber, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and brings deep expertise in philanthropy, strategy and program development, nature-based climate solutions, and coalition-building.
Mary holds an MS in Forestry from the University of Washington and a BA from SMU.
​Christina Stanton
Chief Operations Officer
Christina is a seasoned executive with an entrepreneurial passion for people, innovation, and achieving impact.
She previously served as the COO of Climate Finance Advisors and held other positions at the Arsht-Rockefeller Resilience Center, NextEra Energy Resources, Natsource Asset Management, NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies, and the Development Bank of Japan.
Christina holds an MPA from Columbia University and a BA in International Relations with a minor in Women/Gender Studies from Sweet Briar College.
staff
Eugenia kargbo
senior heat strategist, africa
Eugenia is CRA’s Senior Heat Strategist for Africa and Chief Heat Officer of Freetown, Sierra Leone. She leads CRA’s work to protect women and vulnerable communities in Freetown and West and East Africa with a focus on heat action planning and nature-based cooling. She was designated as Time Magazine’s 100 Next Most Influential people of 2022 and has been featured by the New York Times and other international publications for her work in Freetown.
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Her professional career started in the banking industry before serving as the Technical Lead for the Environment and Sanitation Department Freetown. Since 2021 to date, Freetown has made tremendous strides to reduce extreme heat by designing and implementing sustainable cooling initiatives to enable vulnerable communities and groups such as women to adapt to rising temperatures.
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Eugenia also served as a Co-lead for the #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign to plant, grow and digitally track 1 million trees in the city of Freetown to address the urgent risks of climate change, an initiative that has provided green jobs for over 2000 youth. She has also served as a data analyst for the Presidential Delivery Unit.
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She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Sierra Leone and a master’s degree in entrepreneurship from the University of Milan.
laurie goering
extreme heat editor
Laurie Goering is an award-winning climate change journalist and editor, with a passion for storytelling and working with frontline journalists across the world to develop other great climate change storytellers.
She created and for 14 years ran the Thomson Reuters Foundation's news website on the human impacts of a warming planet, recruiting and managing a team of Global South freelance writers in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, many of them in the most climate-vulnerable parts of the globe.
Prior to coming to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Laurie was a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune newspaper based for 15 years in Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, South Africa, India and the UK. She opened the first post-revolution U.S. newspaper bureau in Cuba in 2000 and covered the Second Gulf War in Iraq in 2003. She has written about and run coverage on a broad range of climate change issues for more than 20 years.
Matt MCfarlane
general counsel
Matt McFarlane serves as the General Counsel for Climate Resilience for All. Based in Baltimore, Matt’s legal expertise stems from two decades of experience in dispute resolution, intellectual property, and organizational governance across a variety of fields.
He holds an ScB in Biochemistry from Brown University, a PhD in Molecular & Cellular Physiology from Stanford University Medical School, and a JD from Fordham University School of Law. Matt has advised and served on the boards of nonprofit organizations dedicated to environmental conservation, individual rights, access to justice, and the performing arts.
He currently serves as President of the Grass Foundation, where he furthers his commitment to advancing neuroscience education and research. His work reflects a consistent dedication to leveraging expertise and leadership to create lasting, positive change.
visala anNamalai
program consultant
Visala is a communications and development professional with experience in addressing critical issues at the intersection of human rights, climate, human mobility, and development. She brings a wealth of experience in project management, stakeholder engagement, and research for international organizations and nonprofits including UN Agencies such as the International Organization for Migration, and the International Labour Organization.
Most recently, she developed the Tuvalu Labour Migrants Reintegration Strategy 2022, looking at climate resilience, gender, and sustainability in the Pacific Islands' context.
She holds an MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in the United States, an MA in human rights and democratization from Mahidol University in Thailand, and a double degree in law from the Tamil Nadu National Law University in India.
gloria ngumi
associate
Gloria supports operational development, grant reporting, and Gender Equity and Social Inclusion activities at Climate Resilience for All. A public interest lawyer, she has expertise in international trade, sustainability, and human rights law, with a focus on sustainable finance for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Her broader expertise includes sustainable finance for nature-based solutions, investment opportunities in developing countries, environmental governance in both the EU and U.S., WTO and international trade law, and public interest law.
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Gloria holds an LL.M. in International Trade Law from Georgetown University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law, and an LL.B. from the University of Nairobi.
