Kristin is a Maryland native, born and raised on the Eastern Shore with her feet in the marshes of the Chester River. After completing a Bachelor of Science in Journalism at the University of Maryland, she began her career in state service working for then Governor William Donald Schaefer in 1989. She earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Baltimore in 1994. During her more than 32 years of public service, Kristin has held various policy, administrative and executive appointed positions in Maryland. Most recently before coming to UMCES, Kristin was the Assistant Secretary for Land Resources at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources where she managed over 500,000 acres of conserved land and oversaw a workforce of 1500 people. She was part of the leadership team that negotiated the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. All these positions honed her skills in conflict resolution, change management, science-backed decision making, programming innovations, strategic budgeting, public engagement and collaboration. Kristin came to her role as Chesapeake Bay Cross Program Coordinator in 2015 where she responsible for breaking down the silos among the various state and federal agencies and non-profit partners engaged in Chesapeake Bay restoration, and connecting the work across disciplines. In her spare time, she is raising a nature-loving son with regular hiking and paddling trips throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.