Our Team

As a connector, facilitator, and advocate, Grasshopper Mendoza has led more than 100 public and professional gatherings focused on systems-oriented approaches to integrated water management, sustainable real estate development, equitable economic development, innovation, and entrepreneurship. She brings a decade of integrated water management advocacy to the Adaptation Strategies team, and in 2019 became a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM). With more than 19 years as a Louisiana-licensed REALTOR®, she applies her dedication to equity and adaptation to a wide range of commercial and community opportunities.

Andrea is an environmental scientist with two decades of water quality experience in Southeast Louisiana. She directed research projects that led to the removal of water quality impairments on multiple waterways in SE Louisiana. She also created a program to track and correct pollution sources in watersheds that became the model for the State of Louisiana and was promoted nationally and internationally by USEPA. The results of her work are tangible: people can swim in Lake Pontchartrain and area waterways again!

Tara is a land use and transportation planner with more than a decade of urban and regional planning, policy, and design experience. She specializes in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, strategic planning, project management and evaluation, and led research with local, state, and regional government agencies to support improved policy implementation and program outcomes. Tara’s recent work focused on sustainable modes of transportation and the intersection of active and green infrastructure as tools for climate adaptation and mitigation. She serves on the Louisiana DOTD Complete Streets Advisory Council, chairs the Ride New Orleans Policy Committee, is a Water Wise Gulf South Neighborhood Champion and Trainer, and an instructor for the Master of Science in Transportation program at the University of New Orleans. 

Vivek is an urban planner who specializes in environmental, transportation, and land use planning and public policy. His work experience includes planning, policy, and research roles at the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, the University of New Orleans Transportation Institute and Division of Planning, and Bayouland RC&D. Vivek has also served as a subject matter expert advising the New Orleans City Council on issues of urban transportation and safety, and storm water management.

Steve is a seventh generation Louisiana native, futurist and musician focused on systems-oriented planning and action. He is a co-founder of the Louisiana Water Economy Network and earned a Master of Science in Urban Studies at the University of New Orleans with his pioneering research defining Louisiana’s water economy. Steve has nearly two decades of experience in public service focused on equitable economic development, including four years as a sustainable housing agent with the LSU AgCenter Cooperative Extension Service helping with hurricane recovery, and thirteen years as assistant director of the Louisiana Music Commission in support of the state’s diverse musical legacy.

STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Jibade is a public policy strategist with experience across multiple arenas. Adept at utilizing research and data analysis as tools to mine solutions to social policy, he takes an integrated, systems-oriented approach to economic development by incorporating environmental health and wellness principles to maximize impact at both macro and micro scales. Jibade is equally as passionate when working on Product Development projects that are at the intersection of environment and health.