Paula Conolly, Aicp (She/Her) Email & Phone Number

Philadelphia, Pa

Job Description: Co-founded a national network whose mission is to activate local governmentsin the US and Canada to equitably implement green stormwater infrastructure (giexchange.org).Accomplishments:-Co-created numerous field-building documents and resources, including a landmarkguide summarizing the funding and financing tools that are available to support andsustain local green stormwater infrastructure programs.-Led the network toward adopting equity and authentic community engagement astenets of the green infrastructure practice and co-developed an equity evaluationframework for public sector green infrastructure programs.-Co-created the network through fundraising, visioning, memberrecruitment, and strategy development and execution, and partnership curation. Led amajor strategic planning effort at the five-year mark to sharpen the organizationalapproach.-Led development of a organizational technology platform, including a website,salesforce database, and online member discussion forums.-Managed daily operations, including overseeing staff, grant writing and reporting, andmanaging budgets in excess of $1M.-Increased funds raised from philanthropic organizations and increased membership bymore than 100% within five years.

Job Description: Oversaw a team of policy and planning professionals supporting waterresources protection for the City of Philadelphia.Accomplishments:Policy-Served as a policy strategist for Philadelphia’s Green City, Clean Waters Program, a worldrenowned, $1.2B effort to improve water quality in the Philadelphia region. Ms.Conolly’s team changed “business as usual” in Philadelphia to implement over thirty acres of green infrastructure on vacant lands, parks, and streets, and helped raise over $2M to support comprehensive improvements to the city’s public spaces.-Advised the City on the use of Public Private Partnerships, pay-for-success tools, and innovative incentives programs modeled from the energy sector for green stormwater infrastructure. -Evaluated the impacts, developed and drafted policy positions, structured a monitoringapproach, and established a public communications strategy on behalf of the City ofPhiladelphia around major water resource challenges, such as pharmaceuticals indrinking water sources, climate change, and natural gas drilling.-Assessed federal and state water policies for their implications for Philadelphia. Advised senior leaders on responses to media inquiries and federal and state rule-makings.Partnerships -Helped establish an award-winning multi-sector collaboration to protect and improve the region’swater supplies (www.schuylkillwaters.org). Helped secure $1.3M from public and private fundsto protect and improve the quality of Philadelphia’s drinking water sources.-Served as Philadelphia’s ambassador to major regional water initiatives as well as federal and state water agencies toward the protection of Philadelphia’s drinking water sources.-Developed an expansion strategy for Philadelphia’s Early Warning System, a web-basedcommunications tool used to notify water suppliers, emergency response personnel, and government agencies of water emergencies, such as oil spills.

Job Description: Served as client liaison and project manager for an international consultingfirm.Accomplishments:-Developed data management systems for clients at the Environmental ProtectionAgency and the United States Army to support public health and environmentalprotection.-Served as primary client liaison, managed employees, and tracked financial informationfor several contracts in excess of $500k.