Katie engages a multi-disciplinary team of Conservancy staff and partners across the Great Lakes basin to integrate The Nature Conservancy’s Great Lakes Project conservation and policy strategies. She has also created a series of case studies that share examples of how climate considerations are being incorporated into conservation planning and on-the-ground management for coastal, forest and agricultural systems throughout the region.  Before coming to The Nature Conservancy, Katie worked as the Director of Conservation and Policy Research for Heart of the Lakes Center for Conservation Policy, a statewide organization representing Michigan’s regional land conservancies. Katie completed her master’s and Ph.D. at Michigan State University’s Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Truman State University in Missouri.