Susan Crawford (Moderator)

John A. Reilly Clinical Professor of Law, Emeritus, Harvard Law School and Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Susan Crawford is a senior fellow in the Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A former professor at Harvard Law School teaching courses about climate adaptation and public leadership, Crawford is currently writing a book about the range of physical adaptation actions needed as rapid climate change accelerates, and the legal and financial reforms necessary to facilitate them. Her book Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm (2023) was named a Lillian Smith Book Award winner in 2024. She writes regularly about the intersection of climate change and finance on Substack (“Moving Day”) and is a frequent public speaker.

Crawford’s writings weave current climate science, personal histories, and policy into compelling narratives. Her prior books include Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution–And Why America Might Miss It (2018), The Responsive City: Engaging Communities Through Data-Smart Governance (with Stephen Goldsmith) (2017), and Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, (2013), as well as several op-eds and essays. A lawyer by training, she was a partner with WilmerHale (then known as Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering) in Washington, DC, before launching her academic career.

Crawford served as special assistant to the president for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy in 2009. She was one of Politico’s 50 Thinkers, Doers and Visionaries Transforming Politics in 2015 and was a member of the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from 2005-2008. Crawford received her B.A. and J.D. from Yale University and served as a clerk for Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Carlos Martín

Vice President for Research and Policy Engagement at Resources for the Future; Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies; Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Design

Carlos Martín is the Vice President for Research and Policy Engagement at RFF, Project Director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, and a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has over 25 years of experience researching housing technology and the physical quality of existing homes. Dr. Martín’s research on housing adaptation to climate change, housing decarbonization, disaster mitigation and recovery, substandard housing, housing and environmental justice, and construction innovation and workforce. Carlos came to the Joint Center from the Urban Institute, where he was a senior fellow. Previously, he was an assistant staff vice president for construction codes and standards at the National Association of Home Builders, SRP professor for energy and the environment at Arizona State University, and coordinator for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing. Carlos is a fellow at the Brookings Institution and serves on several National Academy of Science committees and civil-sector and federal advisory boards including HUD, EPA, FEMA, the McKnight Foundation, National Housing Trust, Climate Resolve, and Resilient Cities Catalyst. Carlos received his BSAD in architecture from MIT and his MEng and PhD degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University.

Ann Roberson

Program Manager, South Carolina Safe Home Mitigation Grant Program, South Carolina Department of Insurance

Program Manager, Grant Writer, Project Developer and Communications Director with more than two decades of experience serving the citizens of South Carolina. Ann played a pivotal role in founding the SCDOI’s SC Safe Home Mitigation Grant program, a coastal initiative from the Omnibus Coastal Property Insurance Reform Act of 2007. Her leadership in this endeavor has extended through the years, and she remains at the helm of its management today.

Among her responsibilities, Ann acts as the Department liaison to key bodies such as the South Carolina Building Codes Council, the State Emergency Management Division and Emergency Support Function 24, which handles matters about Business and Industry in South Carolina.

Recognized for her innovation and creativity, Ann developed and managed the SCDOI’s inaugural grant-backed statewide outreach program, “Held in Trust: A Child Safety Seat Awareness Program.” This initiative garnered the esteemed Governor’s Year of the Child Community Hero Award in 2001. In 2013, she again demonstrated her tenacity for community impact by collaborating with AT&T, the University of South Carolina, and Clemson University to spearhead an awareness campaign addressing the perils of texting while driving, aptly named the “No Texting Challenge.” This awareness strategy has been replicated by other Departments of Insurance across the country.

Ann is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and a 2003 graduate of the South Carolina Executive Institute. Prior to her tenure with the Department, Ann worked with The Town of Hilton Head Island, The Lowcountry Council of Governments, and The National Trust for Historic Preservation where she served as a Grants and Special Projects Coordinator and Public Information Officer.

Nikisha Williams

Vice President of Collective Impact, The Miami Foundation

Nikisha Williams, a Miami native, currently serves as Vice President of Collective Impact at The Miami Foundation. In this role she is responsible for leading large-scale change through cross-sector collaboration by bringing together government, philanthropy, nonprofits, and corporations together to solve major community challenges in bold ways that couldn’t be accomplished without collective action.

Nikisha’s career spans the public sector and communications, where she most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of the Opa-locka Community Development Corporation, where she was responsible for leading the operations of the organization, including human resources, marketing, fund development, as it expanded its placemaking, workforce development, health and arts/culture initiatives in the community. Prior to that, Nikisha served as the Director of Employee Communications and Change at C&W Communications, a telecommunications company with operations with more than 7,500 employees in 30 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Prior to her role at C&W Communications, she managed communications for c-suite executives at AT&T in both New York and Dallas.

She spent eight years at GolinHarris, where she led client accounts, developed and implemented public relations campaigns, managed account teams, provided strategic media counsel and created marketing strategies for various clients. Her experience spans the retail, technology, consumer packaged goods and non-profit industries.

She graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism and a Bachelor of Art in Spanish.