5th Wednesday In Person Meeting with Kendra Abkowitz, Senior Director, Sustainability and Resilience, Metro

Kendra Abkowitz has served the city of Nashville in sustainability and resilience for three years. Before that, she worked for nearly a decade in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, conducting and directing policy research and planning.

From her position in the mayor’s office, Kendra works across the city and with innumerable stakeholders to launch and oversee initiatives meant to provide the growing population access to affordable and sustainable transport systems, reduce the environmental impact of the city, and provide universal access to green spaces.

As assistant commissioner and director of policy and sustainable practices (2015-2021) at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), Abkowitz worked with communities, businesses, academic institutions and other stakeholders to deal with pressing environmental challenges statewide. She helped design the state’s plan for deploying American Rescue Plan dollars toward water infrastructure investments.

Prior, Abkowitz was a TDEC senior policy analyst and policy analyst (2012-2015), spearheading early efforts to design a regulatory framework for water reuse in Tennessee. She also led a statewide assessment of extreme weather vulnerabilities at Tennessee’s parks and created an energy consumption reduction plan for state-owned facilities.

Before joining TDEC, Abkowitz was a Sustainability Professional in Vanderbilt University’s Sustainability and Environmental Management Office (2008-2012).

She is an appointee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s local government advisory committee; a member of the Women in Science and Engineering Affinity Group; a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council; a recipient of the Nashville Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 recognition and a graduate of LEAD Tennessee.

Abkowitz holds a doctorate in environmental management and policy from Vanderbilt University; a master’s degree in business administration from Middle Tennessee State University; a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in sociology and economics from Vanderbilt University.