Chip Kline — Director of Coastal Activities for State of Louisiana; Chairman, Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board

Chip Kline has served as Chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) Board and the Director of Coastal Activities for the State of Louisiana since 2018. Kline oversees policy initiatives related to Louisiana’s coastal program and manages the day-to-day operations of the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities. In this position, he is responsible for integrating the functions of all state agencies as they relate to coastal protection and has been integral in advancing the objectives of the State’s Coastal Master Plan in Louisiana and Washington, D.C.

He works closely alongside Louisiana’s Congressional delegation and the Louisiana Legislature to advance policies supportive of Louisiana’s coast. Kline has successfully negotiated policy initiatives related to permits for hurricane protection and coastal restoration projects; issues regarding the engineering, design and implementation of the mid-basin sediment diversions; strategy and negotiations related to the RESTORE Act; efforts to increase the Federal revenues coming to Louisiana through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act; and the successful passage of CPRA’s Master and Annual Plans and other legislation through the Louisiana State Legislature.

Kline represents Governor John Bel Edwards on the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Protection, Restoration, and Conservation, the Louisiana State Mineral & Energy Board, and the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council. He is married to Emily May Kline, father to Sydney and Henry, and is an active member of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.

Representative Garrett Graves

Congressman Garret Graves represents Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Representative Graves is the Ranking Member for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation and is the Ranking Member for the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. He also serves on the House Natural Resources Committee.

Last Congress, Graves was also a member of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, which is instrumental in the development, passage and enactment of a range of policy wins on rivers, levees, flood protection, coastal issues and Corps of Engineers reforms. He has brought about critical upgrades to federal disaster response and recovery programs, streamlining FEMA operations, creating faster recoveries, and helping make communities across the nation more resilient to disaster.

Garret is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he resides with his wife Carissa and their three children

Janet Coit — Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries and the Acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA

Janet Coit was named the Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries and the Acting Assistant Administrator for NOAA in June 2021. She has worked on environmental issues, natural resource management, and stewardship for more than 30 years. She directed the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for more than 10 years, where she focused on improving natural resource conservation, promoting locally grown food, including seafood, and addressing the climate crisis.

Before joining Rhode Island DEM in 2011, Coit was the state director for The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island for 10 years. Prior to that, she was counsel and environmental coordinator in the Providence office of the late Senator John Chafee and, subsequently, then-Senator Lincoln Chafee. Coit also served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, where she advised on national environmental policy.

Coit is a magna cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College. She holds a law degree from Stanford Law School, where she was president of the Environmental Law Society and a member of the Environmental Law Journal.

Sharon Lavigne — Founder RISE Saint James

Sharon Lavigne is native to St. James, Louisiana, a small town along the Mississippi River. Growing up, Sharon lived off the land. Sharon was a Special Education teacher for 38 years in the St. James Parish school system. In 2018, Sharon founded RISE St. James, a faith-based, grassroots, nonprofit organization fighting for clean air and water as well as the eradication and expansion of petrochemical industries in St. James Parish. She hosted the first meeting in her den with approximately 10 individuals present. Shortly after, Sharon retired to dedicate herself full-time to the fight for environmental justice. Ms. Lavigne has adopted the mantra “To love a community is to find ways to heal the community.”

In June 2021, Sharon was awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for environmental activism in her community. In February 2022 Lavigne received the Mary Magdalene Award for Courageous Women of Faith from the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, in New York City. Most recently, Lavigne received Notre Dame's 2022 Laetare Medal, the most prestigious honor given to an American Catholic layperson. Sharon is a mother of six and a proud grandmother of 12. She is blessed to have her family’s support in protecting the environment and the eradication of air, water, and land pollution in majority Black communities.

Presentation of the Nancy Foster Conservation Award

Presented by

Carrie Selberg Robinson, Director, Office of Habitat Conservation, NOAA Fisheries

Carrie Selberg Robinson is the Director of the Office of Habitat Conservation within NOAA Fisheries and has been in this role since 2020. She served as Deputy Director from 2015-2020. Previously, she was the NOAA Fisheries Chief of Staff and worked at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. She participated in NOAA’s Leadership Development Competencies Program and the National Conservation Leadership Institute. Carrie has a degree in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College and a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University.

Carrie Selberg Robinson will be presenting the Dr. Nancy Foster Habitat Conservation Award. NOAA established this award in 1997 to honor Dr. Foster’s legacy and long-term contributions to protect and restore coastal and marine habitats through her leadership in NOAA. This award recognizes those who exemplify her passion and dedication to coastal stewardship. Past winners of this prestigious national award have shown extraordinary commitment, innovation, and excellence in coastal and marine habitat protection, restoration, education, or research. Please join NOAA in celebrating the achievements of this year’s winner.