Dr. Blaine is founder and principal of Blue Cairn Group, which specializes in consulting around climate change leadership and action. She has over 20 years of experience in climate science, policy, and international development, most recently serving as a vice president on a climate change initiative at the National Geographic Society. She also led the climate change team in USAID’s Bureau for Africa for over a decade, where she developed USAID’s strategy and investment plan for its climate change work in Africa, and built and led a team that provided thought leadership and technical support to USAID missions in Africa. Before USAID, Dr. Blaine worked on climate change and international development at McKinsey & Company; served as a policy advisor on water at the U.S. Department of State; and taught math and physics as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania.
Dr. Blaine has a Ph.D. in oceanography and climate from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and an A.B./Sc.B. in comparative literature and mathematical ecology from Brown University.