P. Lynn Scarlett
Trustee Emeritus
Lynn Scarlett, former deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of the Interior from 2005-2009, is a visiting scholar at Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C., and an environmental analyst working on climate change adaptation, ecosystem services, water issues, landscape-scale conservation, and science and decision making. In 2009, she served as a visiting lecturer on climate change at the University of California Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She became deputy secretary of the Interior Department after serving for four years as the Department's assistant secretary for policy, management and budget. She served as acting secretary of the Department for two months in 2006. Ms. Scarlett chaired the Department's Climate Change Task Force and now serves on the national Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests. Ms. Scarlett is author of numerous publications on incentive-based environmental policies. Her most recent publication, Green, Clean, and Dollar Smart, on urban greening, was published in February 2010 by the Environmental Defense Fund. Ms. Scarlett serves on the board of the American Hiking Society, the Continental Divide Trail Alliance, and RESOLVE (nonprofit environmental dispute resolution), and is a Trustee Emeritus of the Udall Foundation. She received her B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework and exams in political science and political economy. She is an avid hiker, canoe enthusiast, and birder.