Great Blue Heron at Great Falls and Mather Gorge. Photo by Roy Sewall.

On May 9th, Governor Youngkin announced Greg Steele as Virginia’s first standalone Chief Resilience Officer within the newly established Office of Commonwealth Resilience. 

This new governmental position, under the Secretariat of Natural and Historic Resources, will spearhead resilience coordination and planning across multiple state agencies to protect communities from disaster and extreme weather impacts through all regions of the Commonwealth.

VCN and our Partner organizations advocated for legislation to establish and support the Office of Commonwealth Resilience with a standalone Chief Resilience Officer, which passed in 2024 (HB1458).

This legislation codified key recommendations from the Administration’s Resilience Coordination Working Group from 2023. By law, the Chief Resilience Officer has the authority, staff, and resources to drive effective communication and collaboration so Virginia can successfully compete for a variety of funding opportunities and advance resilience. 

The Governor’s appointment of a Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) to lead the Office of Commonwealth Resilience demonstrates Virginia’s commitment to resilience building. Virginia joins the rank of resiliency leaders as one of 16 states to establish this standalone position. Our state-level CRO will help leaders effectively plan at the state, county, and municipal levels, marking a major step forward in protecting communities from future climate impacts. 

Greg Steele comes from an engineering background with a demonstrated career in the Army Civilian Service, including 24 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District. Our Network is excited to see Greg bring his experience in overseeing nationally significant initiatives in water and land resources and the execution of significant storm resilience projects to this new Office. 

Greg will be supported by two additional employees in the Office of Commonwealth Resilience. 

Caitlin Verdu will serve as the Resilience Coordinator. Some know Caitlin through her previous role as the Watershed Program Manager at the Virginia Department of Forestry, where she was the agency’s lead on watershed forestry and resilience, including the Virginia Security Corridor Sentinel Landscapes Partnership.

Sigrid Lampe has served in the Resilience Policy Advisor role in this new office since January 2025 and previously interned in the Regulatory Affairs and Outreach Division at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.