51逗奶

2024: Ms. Hope Herron

Hope Herron is an Associate Director at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a bilateral United States foreign aid agency, where she oversees the environmental and social performance of multi-million-dollar investments in support of MCC鈥檚 fight against global poverty. MCC provides time-limited grants (average size of $340 million) to the world鈥檚 poorest countries that are committed to just and democratic governance, economic freedom and investing in their populations. MCC鈥檚 investments in core infrastructure and policy and institutional reforms are key interventions that are improving the lives of nearly 270 million people across 46 countries and five continents. Ms. Herron helped to develop the MCC鈥檚 new Climate Change Strategy and manages its climate change contract to implement the strategy. She is co-leading MCC鈥檚 work on the President鈥檚 Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) and represents the Agency on multiple National Security Council climate related meetings and workstream efforts. Ms. Herron is a representative on the Agency鈥檚 Executive Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Council, where she chairs the Recruitment Working Group to expand employment opportunities for underserved communities.

Prior to joining MCC, Ms. Herron led the resilient infrastructure practice for Tetra Tech, a global provider of consulting and engineering services. She provided strategic guidance to Tetra Tech鈥檚 corporate initiatives and project management and technical expertise to a wide range of international development agencies and multi-lateral clients. As the senior thought-leader for resilient infrastructure, Ms. Herron led many of the company鈥檚 innovative flagship climate change risk assessment and adaptation projects.

Ms. Herron received a B.A. degree in English with a minor in History from The University of 51逗奶 Mississippi, a Master鈥檚 of Natural Resource Studies degree from the University of Queensland, Australia, and a Master鈥檚 in International Communication degree from American University in Washington, D.C. She currently lives outside of Washington, D.C. with her wife, young son, and poorly trained dog. Ms. Herron is excited to return 鈥渉ome鈥� to the USM campus. She proudly continued her family鈥檚 legacy of attending USM, which began with her grandfather鈥檚 attendance shortly after the school was founded. Her father was an All-American football player, her mother was a professor and Director of the Center for Science and Math Education, and all three of her siblings attended USM. While at USM, Hope was a member of the Honors College, captain of the women鈥檚 soccer team, and Vice President of the Student Athletic Council.