Mélina Blanc Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Illinois, United States

- Lead and support the development of Delta’s NBCS portfolio, assisting municipalities who are disproportionately affected by flooding and climate change by integrating natural climate solutions and Green Infrastructure (GI) to reduce climate change impacts by capturing 100 million stormwater gallons and leveraging $100 million in municipal GI investment.- Provide technical expertise on programmatic work and recommendations on project management processes.- Manage implementation of project work and production of deliverables for the Northwest Indiana Tree Planting Consortium, including the coordination of 25 partners. The planted trees throughout Lake County, Indiana will treat seven million gallons of stormwater runoff annually, improve wildlife habitat across 15 miles, and engage upwards of 200 volunteers through plantings and maintenance trainings.- Manage and facilitate the Michigan City (IN) Stormwater Advisory Group, a cluster of sanitary district, transportation, planning, sustainability, and community representatives focused on discussing flooding issues and prioritizing stormwater projects.- Managed implementation of project work and production of deliverables for the Duck Creek Tributary Restoration project, assisting the City of Hobart, IN to implement streambank stabilization and restoration, and to install a riparian buffer along the Tributary corridor, a key waterway that flows throughout the entire watershed.- Collaborate with and facilitate quarterly cluster meetings of the Resilient Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities (RISC) network, a cluster of private, municipal, state, and federal leaders of the Great Lakes region focused on climate resiliency via delivery and finance of market-based green stormwater infrastructure.- Co-managed the initial implementation of the Delta Institute’s Environmental Finance Center (EFC) for EPA Region 5 for Regional Water Infrastructure (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota).

Paris, France

- Appointed international expert at the European Commission to negotiate regulations on Geographical Indications. - Managed a team of 10 members. - Designed and implemented governmental policies in the fields of 1/organic agriculture, 2/ high environmental value agriculture and 3/ labels of quality and origin for agricultural products.- Reviewed French Geographical Indication's applications.- Appointed national expert and voting member at the National Institute of Origin and Quality's deliberating bodies.- Built positive working relationships with multiples stakeholders including governmental officials, farmers associations, inspection bodies and research institutes.- Regular public speaker at seminars.- Hosting of foreign officials.

Brussels Region, Belgium

- Designed climate change, agro-forestry and sustainable agriculture programs in Latin America ($87M).Prepared requests for proposals and selected projects.- Monitored 11 rural development projects ($13M).- In charge of reporting on programs to different governmental bodies such as the European Parliament, the European Courts of Auditors and to European member states’ governmental officials.

Brussels Region, Belgium

- Assessed the performance of 140 projects financed under the Thematic Program for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and made recommandations.- Co-authored of a report published by the European Publication Office (ISBN 978-92-79-43944-5).

Egypt

- Developed business and built strong relationships with international and national donors.- Designed projects on rural development, eco-tourism and small agro-ventures.- Worked with various stakeholders to adapt proposals to local needs and capacities.

Montreuil, Île-De-France, France

- Implemented European aid programs ($19M) with public and private stakeholders.- Proposed wording of French regulations.- Designed national aid programs for livestocks and managed budget ($3,3M).

Montreuil, Île-De-France, France

- Provided recommendations to leadership teams on process and policies improvements related to crops and livestock production.- Proposed changes to current legislation or policies and created communication tools explaining policy actions and impacts.- Planned and conducted strategy meetings with professionals from the goats and sheep industries to brainstorm and develop new programs.- Managed a team up to 14 people and put in place processes to implement aids programs ($3,3M to $21,7M).- Represented French interests at trade committees’ negotiations of the European Commission.- Implemented the European export refund mechanisms ($128,3M) for the milk industry.- Analyzed the grain markets and authored economics' review.

Sana‘A, Yemen

Analyzed an agrarian system based on field survey and formulation of local rural projects.

Bachelor Of Science

Master Of Scientific Sciences

Master Of Political Sciences

Master Of Social Sciences