IAGLR17IAGLR17

An IAGLR plenary featuring Cameron Davis

Great Lakes Evolution in a Time of Hyper Change

Thursday, May 18
11 - 12
Cobo Ambassador

When we think of the Great Lakes “ecosystem,” we often think immediately about the biological, chemical and physical linkages between species and their niches. But more and more, the health of the Great Lakes is linked to our other ecosystems: institutional, political, economic, technological, financial and even changes in the media landscape. Will changing dynamics within these ecosystems help or hurt the Great Lakes? The answer depends on whether we see them and how proactive we are in managing them.


About the speaker


Vice President, GEI Consultants
Former Senior Advisor to U.S. EPA Administrator
@aquavate

Cameron (Cam) Davis has more than 30 years’ experience in integrating policy, law, science and economics. Previously, as senior advisor to two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrators in Washington, D.C., he coordinated the work of 11 federal departments, including the departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, among others. His work included federal policy and funding coordination valued at more than $2 billion under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has been widely recognized as a successful results-oriented program with strong bipartisan support. In addition, Davis collaborated with state resource agencies, municipalities, tribes, academia, business and civic stakeholders to clean up toxic hotspot Areas of Concern, prevent the migration of invasive species to the Great Lakes and reduce runoff to improve water quality. He was also a lead negotiator on the U.S. negotiating team along with the U.S. Department of State that led to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 2012, the first time in a quarter-century that the internationally recognized pact had been revitalized. In February 2017, Davis became a vice president at GEI Consultants, Inc., where he is responsible for guiding the firm’s Upper Midwest water quality, policy, infrastructure and other water resources efforts. Davis earned his law degree, including certification in environmental and energy law, from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law and a B.A. from Boston University in International Relations.