Jainey Bavishi has been tapped to be the Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere in the Department of Commerce. Bavishi serves as the director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency, where she leads a cross disciplinary team that prepares the city for the impacts of climate change through science-based analysis, policy, program, and project development.

Under the Obama administration, Jainey served as the associate director for Climate Preparedness at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and director of External Affairs and senior policy advisor at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She was also the founding director of the Equity and Inclusion Campaign, a coalition of community based leaders in the Gulf Coast region that focused on recovery from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike.

Jainey has her master’s degree in city planning from MIT, and a bachelor’s degree in public policy and cultural anthropology from Duke.