Dr. Dale Medearis is a senior regional planner for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC). In that capacity, he helps oversee the NVRC’s regional climate, energy and sustainability programs. He also manages NVRC’s international programs. NVRC’s global engagement is based on transfers and applications of policy and technical innovations from pioneering countries to Northern Virginia with beneficial environmental, economic and social outcomes. He helped co-launch the first formal climate and energy partnership between the 40 largest U.S. and European metropolitan regional councils, co-initiate the Transatlantic Climate Bridge, co-launch the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s “Cities and Climate” Network and co-develop the Transatlantic Urban Climate Dialogue with the Freie Universitaet of Berlin (Germany). Prior to working for NVRC, Medearis spent approximately 20 years at the Office of International Affairs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, as the program manager for western Europe and urban environmental programs. In that capacity, he worked to transfer and apply “green” building, brownfields, smart growth, energy, climate and related urban innovations from OECD-member countries to the United States. He also helped oversee EPA’s science and technology agreements with the EU and Western Europe. He served as the program manager for the U.S. National Park Service’s Potomac American Heritage River Initiative. He has been the vice-chair of the OECD Territorial Development Committee and chairman of the OECD Working Group on Urban Affairs. In addition to serving as a board member of the American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Medearis also serves on the board of advisors for the American Friends of Georgia. Medearis has been awarded fellowships to study urban and environmental planning in Europe from the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the European Union, the German Academic Exchange Service and the American Council on Germany.
Medearis has taught courses on environmental policy and planning courses as an adjunct faculty at the University of Redlands, Virginia Tech University and the Johns Hopkins University. Medearis has a Ph.D. in environmental design and planning from Virginia Tech University, an M.S. in Cartographic and Geographic Science from George Mason University, an M.G.A. in Government from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Redlands. He is a member of the board of the American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.