Lauren M. Miller, CC-P

To the world, Lauren Miller is an envi­ron­men­tal scientist and resiliency expert with extensive knowledge in the area of climate change services. But to her clients, Lauren is a master manager of stakeholder rela­tion­ships, developing long-lasting part­ner­ships that promote collab­o­ra­tion and partic­i­pa­tion among all team members. She’s spread her expertise around the world—from Boston to Jakarta—and has helped clients like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources observe and plan for the future impacts of climate change. And, she's a leader in helping our clients address the requirements for risk and resilience assessments in compliance with America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA).

What inspires you? I get inspiration from those who, in their own way, promote positive change. I’m fortunate to work with people who have entered their respective fields to be change-makers and I find that their collab­o­ra­tions reinforce my profes­sional purpose.

Which of CDM Smith’s core values do you identify with? Shared commitment because I believe we must work collab­o­ra­tively to solve the real, difficult challenges ahead. CDM Smith has an important role to play in imple­ment­ing solutions to climate change. I work with others to continually improve our internal capacity to address these challenges, as well as shine a spotlight on the firm’s leadership on these issues.

How has your career evolved since you joined CDM Smith, and why? I was hired to provide greenhouse gas management services to our clients (and learned how to do air quality emissions inventories and permitting on the job). This included conducting inventories of GHG emissions for our clients and helping them identify ways to reduce emissions. That was the focus of the climate change market at the time – when many of us were optimistic that climate change could be managed by getting to the root of the problem. This is still a crucial aspect of combating climate change but unfortunately, due to the nature of greenhouse gas emissions, society has already committed itself to a certain amount of climate change impacts. This had created the need for us to adapt to climate change – to become resilient – and my career has adapted alongside it. My focus is now helping our clients prepare for the effects of climate change rather than accounting for and reducing their contributions to the problem (although this is still critically important and CDM Smith helps clients do this too!).

What are your 3 non-work passions? First is the greatest team in all of sports: the Boston Red Sox. I also love travel. During my years as an undergrad, I studied abroad three times and since then I’ve hit five continents and three oceans with near-term plans to get to a sixth continent and fourth ocean very soon! My third and most recent passion is yoga and meditation; I’m a recent convert but it’s helped me focus on the real priorities and keep balance in my life.