Carol R. Collier, FAICP, FAWRA, Sr. Advisor, Watershed Management and Policy at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
crc92@drexel.edu Ms. Collier serves as senior advisor and government liaison at the Academy of Natural Sciences. One of her main projects is the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI), a cross cutting collaboration working to conserve and restore the waters that supply drinking water to 15 million people in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The DRWI, working with over 60 organizations, is scaling up impact and accelerating the protection of important landscapes, restoration of degraded areas, and adoption of green infrastructure and best farming practices through on-the-ground action, policy change and outreach/education. She advises on watershed management and development of more resilient systems for an uncertain future throughout the nation and the world.
Ms. Collier served over 15 years as Executive Director of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Before joining DRBC, Ms. Collier was Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s 21st Century Environment Commission. Governor Tom Ridge formed the Environment Commission in 1997 to establish the Commonwealth’s environmental priorities and to recommend a course of action for the next century. In 1995 she became the Regional Director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Southeast Region. Prior to PADEP, Ms. Collier served 19 years with BCM Environmental Engineers, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, Pa., beginning as a student intern and ultimately becoming Vice President of Environmental Planning, Science and Risk. Ms. Collier has a B.A. in Biology from Smith College and a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. She was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners (FAICP) and is a Certified Senior Ecologist.
She is on the Boards of the PA/DE Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, the Pinchot Institute for Conservation (Chair – 2011-2012), the Water Resources Association of the Delaware River Basin and the Fund for Fairmount WaterWorks. She was President of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) in 2013. In 2004 she was a member of a nine person U.S./China/Japan team to assist the Peoples Republic of China with river basin management. She has also participated in water management and sustainable forest practice events along the Yangtze River in China and in the rain forests of Ecuador which involved building sustainable communities. In 2015 she attended the COP21 climate change talks in Paris and in 2016 the COP22 in Marrakesh. She believes proper management of water resources is the key to our economic and environmental future.
