Kelley St. John (she/her) is the Climate Action Manager for the City of Buffalo co-leading the organization of the newly formed Office of Emergency Management and Resiliency, with a focus on enhancing outreach and engagement around environmental sustainability and community resilience efforts and streamlining coordination of interdepartmental carbon-reduction initiatives. Kelley recently spearheaded the development and adoption of the City’s first Climate Action Plan and is currently engaged in implementation efforts through oversight of the Mayor’s Climate Implementation Council.
As the City’s designated climate and sustainability expert, St. John has worked from within the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning to coordinate the City’s participation in state-sponsored climate and energy programs, develop legislation, and coordinate generational municipal development projects. Prior to this role, Kelley was a core member of the then-new grants management office in the Department of Administration and Finance for the City of Buffalo, advising on financing opportunities and policy decisions to support the Administration’s sustainability and resilience goals, working with the Buffalo Fire Department, Engineering, Parks & Recreation, Strategic Planning, and Buffalo Sewer Authority, among others. St. John also acted as the reporting and compliance team lead overseeing the City’s early implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act $331 million federal pandemic-recovery stimulus fund. Kelley has an extensive background in local government policy and finance, having worked on national food systems policy and planning research and supporting Great Lakes communities with development and implementation of various aspects of their climate action work.
St. John holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree, and undergraduate degrees in Environmental Policy (BS) and Environmental Design (BA), from the University at Buffalo. She is a native of Western New York’s rural Southern Tier from a multi-generational dairy farming family and has lived and worked in Buffalo for more than a decade.