Meet Our Team
ICLEI USA is staffed by experienced leaders and climate and resilience specialists committed to your success.
Honoring Nancy Metayer
Nancy Metayer, Former Vice Mayor of Coral Springs, FL, and ICLEI USA Senior Equity Officer, brought a rare combination of technical expertise, public leadership, and genuine care for people. She listened closely, created space for others, and made sure communities were not just included, but centered. Her impact is lasting. It lives on in the communities she supported, the policies she helped shape, and the people she inspired. We will carry her forward in how we listen, how we lead, and how we continue this work. We remain committed to building communities that are more just, inclusive, and resilient.
We are holding her family, friends, and community in our thoughts.
Our Leadership Team
Saharnaz Mirzazad
Executive Director
Saharnaz joined ICLEI USA in July 2024 as the Executive Director and, as such, is a member of ICLEI’s global senior management team. Previously, she worked at ICLEI USA to assist local governments in combating the impact of climate change through localized actions. With over twenty years of experience in the public and private sectors, Saharnaz has worked on infrastructure development, climate resiliency, and community development. In the private sector, she worked as a consultant on multiple community revitalization and urban design projects. Since 1990, ICLEI has built and served a movement of local governments pursuing deep reductions in carbon pollution and tangible improvements in sustainability and resilience. ICLEI is the world’s leading network of over 1,500 cities, towns and metropolises, providing hands-on assistance with technical experts located in 17 global offices.
Jess Grannis
Director of Programs
Jessica served as a senior advisor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) supporting NOAA’s work implementing its Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law programs. Previously, Jessica oversaw the execution of the National Coastal Resilience Fund at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and served as the interim vice president for coastal conservation and director of coastal resilience at the National Audubon Society. Before that, she spent over ten years directing the adaptation program for the Georgetown Climate Center at Georgetown University Law Center. Jessica first started her work in adaptation and resilience as staff counsel for the California State Coastal Conservancy and the Ocean Protection Council. She also had the pleasure of serving on the American Society of Adaptation Professionals Board of Directors.
Jessica received an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center; JD from the UC San Francisco College of the Law; and BA from the University of Chicago.
Kale Roberts
Director of Membership & Local Diplomacy
Kale’s prior experiences include work with the United Nations Development Programme’s Climate Change Adaptation Team from the Bangkok Regional Hub, where he supported countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region to develop Green Climate Fund adaptation projects. He was climate and energy editor of Mother Earth News, North America’s largest sustainable living magazine. From 2010 to 2012, he served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, working on a project with the Thai Ministry of Energy to build home-scale biogas digesters and initiate carbon accounting in community forests. Kale received an M.S. in Climate Science and Policy from Bard College and a B.S. in Environmental Science from Cal Poly Humboldt. He teaches at the Bard College Center for Environmental Policy and raises chickens and tomatoes in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
Kristi Kimball
Senior Advisor Fundraising
Kristi is an entrepreneurial changemaker focused on helping thousands of communities across the country to decarbonize quickly. In recent years, she founded the Clean Energy Communities Fund, a philanthropic fund designed to create a step change in the adoption of clean energy and electrification technology across the country by investing in community capacity building. Kristi also co-founded two nonprofits to promote clean energy and home and vehicle electrification – Energize Bend (in Bend, Oregon) and Electrify Oregon (a statewide network of 20+ community-based organizations). While consulting for Canopy Climate, she engaged with many local governments to help them make faster progress on their climate goals.
Kristi has deep experience in philanthropy and systems change work. She served as executive director of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation for almost a decade and as program officer for the Hewlett Foundation. She has also worked in Congress, in the Executive Branch, in policy evaluation at Urban Institute, and in state and local policy advocacy for smart growth and sustainable development in California. Kristi earned a BA from Dartmouth College and an MPA from Princeton University. Kristi lives in Central Oregon with her family, their dog and a beautiful forest in the backyard.
Ryan Silber
Director of Municipal Investment Fund
Previously, Ryan spent nearly six years at the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the California Strategic Growth Council. He managed a $1.2 billion place-based investment program, ran California’s Environmental Leadership Development Project certification program, and sat on the California Housing Finance Agency Board of Directors. He contributed to statewide plans and policy for greenhouse gas mitigation, climate change adaptation, housing production, and displacement avoidance, while also leading interagency policy working groups.
Originally from Rochester, Minnesota, Ryan is a former camp counselor, canoe and backpacking trip leader, and team-building facilitator. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, skiing, exploring museums, cooking, and gardening. Ryan holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Finance, Economics, and Operations Management, along with a certificate in Environmental Studies, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Our Core Team
Alyssa Wilbur
Membership Manager
Angelica Greco
Resilience Program Manager
Anne Marie Cleary Rauker
Communications Manager
Dora Gonzales
Business Operations Manager
Eli Yewdall
Sustainability Program Manager
Hannah Corn
Climate Finance Senior Program Officer
Jeanne Everett
Climate Finance Senior Program Officer
Jenny Nitzky
Sustainability Senior Program Officer
Katie Bartels
Municipal Investment Fund Senior Admin Officer
Marisa Kellogg
Senior Program Officer
Matthew Katz
Senior Technical Officer
Sarah Burke
Sustainability Senior Program Officer
Angela Fox
Program Officer
Caio Pereira
Climate Finance Program Officer
Dan Dickerman
Program Officer
Jadon Basilevac
Sustainability Program Officer
Madison Hodges
Program Officer
Melany Arriola
Sustainability Program Officer
Michelle Robidas
Resilience Program Officer
Onyx Addison
Communications and Design Officer
