Our People

Emily Peterson

Contact

Biography

Emily is a Director supporting foundation and nonprofit clients in designing and evaluating grant programs and investments across a variety of environmental issue areas, with an emphasis on the climate and ocean sectors. Over her decade-long tenure at CEA, Emily has supported dozens of clients on their strategic planning and monitoring, evaluation, and learning efforts, including The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Climate Leadership Initiative, and Rockefeller Foundation. For the last seven years, Emily has developed and served as the editor of Our Shared Seas, a platform to inform ocean philanthropy, policy, and practice. She has led the development of the most comprehensive mapping of global ocean funding, a seminal resource to inform the field and inspire philanthropic collaboration.

Prior to joining CEA, Emily worked in Washington, D.C., as a foundations associate at Oceana. During her graduate studies, she conducted projects for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Triangle Land Conservancy. In addition, she has led conservation-oriented field programs in Botswana, rural Thailand, and the Fiji Highlands.

Emily holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Middlebury College and a Master of Public Policy from Duke University.

Some of her most formative lived experiences have included participating in the post-Katrina recovery process for several years in her hometown of New Orleans and witnessing the intersection of the environmental justice and climate movements. On a typical Sunday morning, she enjoys spending time on the trails and bringing her dog to the beach.