Forbes Tompkins

PROFILE

Forbes Tompkins leads outreach to federal agencies for Pew’s U.S. conservation project. In this role, he focuses on key congressional legislation to build resilience to current and future climate-related disasters and to support wildlife connectivity and ecosystem restoration. Tompkins previously supported Pew’s flood-prepared communities initiative and worked on federal legislation and agency actions to improve resilience to flooding. During his time at Pew, he also took a one-year assignment through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act to serve as director for climate adaptation and resilience with the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In doing so, he helped to lead efforts such as developing a first-ever national climate resilience framework, exploring innovative resilience strategies, and assisting more than 20 federal agencies with generating climate adaptation plans.

Before joining Pew, Tompkins was a research associate at the World Resources Institute, where he analyzed the effects of rising sea level and heavy precipitation on communities, local response efforts, and the need for national policy to mitigate damage. He also held positions at the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development and on Capitol Hill as an environmental science and policy expert. He gained experience forecasting the weather with the Florida State University weather show and WCTV in Tallahassee, Florida.

Tompkins holds a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Florida State University and master’s degrees in meteorology from the Florida Institute of Technology and in energy policy and climate from Johns Hopkins University.