Professional Affiliation

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator

Expert Bio

Jainey K. Bavishi is the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy NOAA Administrator. In this role, Bavishi is responsible for providing agency-wide direction with regard to climate resilience, fisheries, coastal and ocean programs, including efforts related to NOAA’s implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

A distinguished expert in the field of climate adaptation and resilience, Bavishi most recently served in the New York City Mayor’s Office as director of the Office of Climate Resiliency where she oversaw the implementation of climate resilience strategies for the nation’s largest city. Prior to that, she was the associate director for climate preparedness at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She also held posts as the director of external affairs and senior policy advisor at NOAA from 2010 to 2013.

Bavishi also led a nonprofit initiative that built partnerships to scale innovative approaches to disaster risk reduction in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to that she was the head of a philanthropic initiative to build a coalition of community-based leaders focused on an equitable recovery from hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike in the Gulf Coast region.

Bavishi earned a bachelor’s in public policy and cultural anthropology from Duke University, and a master’s in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.