Deputy Resilience Officer, Miami-Dade Dept. of Regulatory and Economic Resources
Nichole Hefty earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from the University of Miami, Florida in 1987. She began working for Miami-Dade County in 1989, beginning as an environmental compliance inspector until 1992 and then transitioning to work in the County’s Pollution Prevention (P2) Program. She was promoted to Manager of the P2 Program in 1995 and served in this capacity until 2006. Mrs. Hefty began working on climate change related policy and initiatives in 2002, when the Urban CO2 Reduction Program was merged into the Pollution Prevention Program. Her responsibilities in this capacity included coordinating and facilitating implementation of County (internal) and community-wide climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives, and aligning them with regional, state, and federal resources and priorities.
She has served as a Steering Committee member of the SE Florida Regional Climate Compact (Compact) since it began in early 2010. The Compact is a groundbreaking partnership of four SE Florida counties (Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, & Palm Beach) that are collaborating regionally on climate change adaptation and mitigation issues, policies, and strategies for Southeast Florida. Mrs. Hefty was a member of the core team responsible for the development of Miami-Dade County’s community-wide Sustainability Plan, “GreenPrint; Our Design for a Sustainable Future,” and served as the Chief of the County’s Office of Sustainability from November 2012 to November 2015, at which time the County hired a Chief Resilience Officer and the Office was transitioned into the Office of Resilience. Miami-Dade County, along with its partners the City of Miami and the City of Miami Beach, as “Greater Miami and the Beaches,” was designated as a Rockefeller 100 Resilient City. Mrs. Hefty now serves as the Deputy Resilience Officer within the Office of Resilience and looks forward to working with community and Compact partners to develop a Resilience Strategy for Greater Miami and the Beaches.
