Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced the appointment of Dr. Julia Nesheiwat as Florida’s first Chief Resilience Officer (CRO). The CRO is tasked with preparing Florida for the environmental, physical and economic impacts of sea level rise. Nesheiwat will report to the Executive Office of the Governor and will work in partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, in addition to local communities and stakeholders.

Nesheiwat has more than 20 years of renewable energy and environmental experience focused on water and natural resources as a senior executive in federal cabinet-level agencies, academia and as a combat veteran. Previously, she has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, building the first Energy Resources Bureau working closely with the Oceans, Environment and Science Bureau and serving as Chief of Staff to Special Envoys and Under Secretary for Energy, Environment and Sustainability. She managed the resiliency and energy working group on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Advisory Council and is a well-known advocate on energy and environmental programs and critical infrastructure protection, power sector sustainability and innovation projects. She previously served as a visiting professor at the Naval Post Graduate School on Energy & Environmental Security and Lecturer at University of California San Diego and Stanford University. She's also a former U.S. Army intelligence officer with combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Raised in Lake County, Nesheiwat received her Ph.D. in 2014 from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in national energy security in 2007 from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and her bachelor of arts degree in sociology in 1997 from Stetson University.