The Challenge of Financing Resiliency Webinar

Building on funding and financing topics covered at recent Virginia Coastal Policy Center events, such as the May 2019 Resilience Funding Forum and the Fall 2019 Conference (The Three Ps of Resilience: Planning, Partnerships, and Paying for It All), VCPC will partner with The Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communitiesat the College of Charleston to host a discussion on strategies and tools local governments can use to finance resilience projects.

Zoom Webinar instructions will be provided after registering for the event.

Speaker Information:

• Welcoming Remarks: Joseph P. Riley, Jr., former Mayor of Charleston. Joe Riley is widely considered one of the most visionary and highly effective governmental leaders in America. He served ten terms as Mayor of the City of Charleston from 1975 to 2016. He graduated from The Citadel in 1964 and the University of South Carolina Law School in 1967 and served in the S.C. House of Representatives from 1968 to 1974. In his time as Mayor, Charleston transformed from a decaying urban center to a top cultural destination. He is known for his innovative redevelopment projects, carefully crafted to add to the overall quality of life in the city. He diffused racial tensions by working closely with the African American community. The crisis leadership that he demonstrated after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 gained national praise for getting the city quickly cleaned up and running. Today, Riley is professor of American Government and Public Policy at The Citadel and Executive in Residence at the Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities at the College of Charleston. Riley has held numerous national leadership positions and received many awards and distinctions.

• Background on the Virginia Coastal Policy Center and previous VCPC events on the issues of resilience funding and financing: Elizabeth Andrews, Professor of the Practice and Director, Virginia Coastal Policy Center at William & Mary Law School. Elizabeth Andrews formerly served as Senior Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Environmental Section of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, where she oversaw a team of attorneys representing and providing counsel to the Secretary of Natural Resources and the natural resources agencies of the Commonwealth. She also chaired the Office’s internal APA Committee and became known for her expertise in Virginia administrative law. Most recently, she served as the Water Policy Manager for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, where she worked closely with the legislature, the regulated community and environmental organizations to address the water quality and quantity challenges facing Virginia, particularly its coastal areas. Professor Andrews is a graduate of William and Mary and received her Juris Doctor degree, summa cum laude, from the Washington College of Law at American University. She serves as the Virginia representative on the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Climate Resiliency Workgroup, and as a member of the Alternative Management Structures Workgroup of the Eastern VA Groundwater Management Advisory Committee.

• Overview of the issue: Robert O’Neill, Executive in Residence, Riley Center for Livable Communities. Former Executive Director of ICMA; Director of the National Academy of Public Administration; County Executive of Fairfax County, VA; and City Manager of Hampton, VA.

• Resilience financing: The social equity challenge – Maurice A. Jones, CEO and President of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Former Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia; Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); President of Pilot Media; Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services; Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Mark Warner; and Legal Counsel to the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.

• Understanding how FEMA’s BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) program can benefit local resiliency – Pamela Williams, Executive Director of the BuildStrong Coalition and Vice President of Navigators Global. Former Counsel for the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, with more than 18 years of federal agency and congressional experience including serving as Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs for FEMA and Associate Chief Counsel for Legislation and Policy for FEMA.

• Overview from a local government perspective: the greatest challenges for financing resiliency, including credit rating impacts – Mark Jinks, City Manager of Alexandria, VA. Currently the City Manager of Alexandria, Virginia, Mark Jinks has served Northern Virginia localities in various senior management and financial positions for more than 40 years. In those roles he has been responsible for the planning and financing of major infrastructure projects including an $370 million infill Metrorail station, a $100 million energy-to-waste facility, a regional water treatment plant, and a waterfront redevelopment plan. He has also been key in rejuvenating school capital funding, the development of over 2,000 units of affordable and workforce housing, as well as planning, negotiating or advising on public-private partnership economic development projects in Virginia and in Poland.

• Opportunities for use of Public Private Partnerships in financing resiliency – David Agnew, Managing Director at Macquarie Group – Macquarie Infrastructure. Former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for President Obama; former businessman and community leader in Charleston, SC and a top deputy to Charleston Mayor Riley; former Special Assistant in the Office of U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich; former management consultant at Price Waterhouse.

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