logo
  • ABOUT US
  • OUR WORK
  • INSIGHTS
  • CAREERS
  • NEWS
  • INVESTORS
  • LOCATIONS
Water Wednesday Webinar
Rising Seas in a Warming World
Building coastal resilience to safeguard communities from rising sea levels

Agenda

Aligned with the theme of World Water Day 2025 – Glacier Preservation – we explore the impacts of rising sea levels and how we’re working with coastal communities to safeguard against flooding, erosion, and storm surges.

Hear from project leaders in New York, Norfolk, New Orleans and the Texas Coast how gray and green infrastructure is being used to shield built and natural environments from rising sea levels.

Meet the speakers:

  • Gwen Dawson, SVP Design & Construction, of the Battery Park City Authority. Gwen is responsible for the Authority’s capital planning, design and construction program, and sustainability plan implementation. During Gwen’s tenure, the Authority has overseen the completed build-out of the Battery Park City development parcels, the restoration of its historic Pier, and the implementation of a broad capital program focused on the maintenance, restoration, and enhancement of Battery Park City infrastructure, public spaces, and related facilities and amenities. Central to the Authority’s current capital program is a $2B program of transformative coastal resiliency projects designed to reduce the risk to Battery Park City and portions of Lower Manhattan from future coastal surge and storm-related flooding associated with climate change.
  • Chris Levitz, Coastal Engineering & Resiliency Manager for the Gulf Coast, AECOM. Chris specializes in resilience planning and design, with a strong focus on coastal and flood risk. Through these efforts, he has prioritized consensus-building with communities, working to align community development goals with ecological and long-term climate change needs. He focuses on developing approaches to merge green and gray infrastructure for a more resilient and adaptable community future, bringing these elements into planning and design. He serves as AECOM’s lead for nature-based solutions under hazard mitigation and the lead for AECOM’s partnership with the Network for Engineering With Nature.
  • Christene Mitchell, PE, ENV SP, Senior Program Management Manager, AECOM. Christene is currently serving as Deputy Program Manager for the Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Program, a $2.6B cost-shared project between the City of Norfolk, Virginia and the Army Corps of Engineers that’s purpose is to reduce the City’s risk from coastal flooding and damage from nor’easters, hurricanes and other significant storm events.
  • Mike Patorno, PE, SVP Global Water Resources Leader, AECOM. Mike oversees all AECOM’s major water resource programs, including numerous coastal and hurricane protection projects for local, state, and federal agencies and international programs and projects. His experience spans disaster recovery efforts for Hurricane Katrina and Sandy, as well as large-scale coastal defense and flood mitigation programs across the U.S. and internationally.


submitting form...
Thank you

form submitted

add to calendar
Watch now

Sign up to watch this on-demand webinar.

Please check if you’d like to receive insights, thought leadership and other email communications from us that are relevant to your inquiry.

Aligned with the theme of World Water Day 2025 – Glacier Preservation – we explore the impacts of rising sea levels and how we’re working with coastal communities to safeguard against flooding, erosion, and storm surges.

Hear from project leaders in New York, Norfolk, New Orleans and the Texas Coast how gray and green infrastructure is being used to shield built and natural environments from rising sea levels.

Meet the speakers:

  • Gwen Dawson, SVP Design & Construction, of the Battery Park City Authority. Gwen is responsible for the Authority’s capital planning, design and construction program, and sustainability plan implementation. During Gwen’s tenure, the Authority has overseen the completed build-out of the Battery Park City development parcels, the restoration of its historic Pier, and the implementation of a broad capital program focused on the maintenance, restoration, and enhancement of Battery Park City infrastructure, public spaces, and related facilities and amenities. Central to the Authority’s current capital program is a $2B program of transformative coastal resiliency projects designed to reduce the risk to Battery Park City and portions of Lower Manhattan from future coastal surge and storm-related flooding associated with climate change.
  • Chris Levitz, Coastal Engineering & Resiliency Manager for the Gulf Coast, AECOM. Chris specializes in resilience planning and design, with a strong focus on coastal and flood risk. Through these efforts, he has prioritized consensus-building with communities, working to align community development goals with ecological and long-term climate change needs. He focuses on developing approaches to merge green and gray infrastructure for a more resilient and adaptable community future, bringing these elements into planning and design. He serves as AECOM’s lead for nature-based solutions under hazard mitigation and the lead for AECOM’s partnership with the Network for Engineering With Nature.
  • Christene Mitchell, PE, ENV SP, Senior Program Management Manager, AECOM. Christene is currently serving as Deputy Program Manager for the Norfolk Coastal Storm Risk Management Program, a $2.6B cost-shared project between the City of Norfolk, Virginia and the Army Corps of Engineers that’s purpose is to reduce the City’s risk from coastal flooding and damage from nor’easters, hurricanes and other significant storm events.
  • Mike Patorno, PE, SVP Global Water Resources Leader, AECOM. Mike oversees all AECOM’s major water resource programs, including numerous coastal and hurricane protection projects for local, state, and federal agencies and international programs and projects. His experience spans disaster recovery efforts for Hurricane Katrina and Sandy, as well as large-scale coastal defense and flood mitigation programs across the U.S. and internationally.