Carter Strickland

Carter H. Strickland, Jr. has over 30 years of experience in the environmental field across a variety of approaches from strategic planning and implementation to regulatory counseling and litigation. He is currently the Chief Sustainability Officer and Executive Director of Climate Action at The State University of New York.

Previously, Strickland 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 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. Earlier in his career, Strickland 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.