Shalini Vajjhala

Shalini Vajjhala is founder and CEO of re:focus partners, a design and finance firm developing resilience solutions and public-private partnerships for vulnerable communities globally. An infrastructure expert, she has two decades of experience designing and funding community-centered resilient infrastructure solutions and co-creating new organizations, including The Atlas and PRE Collective, to foster public-sector innovation. Previously, Vajjhala served in the US government, including special representative in the office of EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, deputy assistant administrator in the EPA Office of International and Tribal Affairs, and deputy associate director for energy and climate at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She joined the Obama administration from environmental think tank Resources for the Future. Shalini was also a visiting associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a nonresident senior fellow with The Brookings Institution Metro Program.