Margaret Davidson, NOAA

Senior Leader Coastal Inundation and Resilience, National Ocean Service

Margaret Davidson has been an active participant in coastal resource management issues since 1978, when she earned her juris doctorate in natural resources law from Louisiana State University. She later earned a master’s degree in marine policy and resource economics from the University of Rhode Island.

Davidson served as special counsel and assistant attorney general for the Louisiana Department of Justice and later as the executive director of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. She joined National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as the founding director of the NOAA Coastal Services Center in 1995. Davidson also served as the acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean Service from 2000 to 2002. She holds a faculty appointment at the University of Charleston.

Davidson has served on numerous local, state, and federal committees and has provided leadership for national professional societies. She has focused her professional work on environmentally sustainable coastal development practices and the reduction of risk associated with extreme events and climate.

From April 2012 to May 2014, as acting director of NOAA’s Ocean and Coastal Resource Management Office, Davidson led the formal integration of OCRM and the Coastal Services Center to bring more effective products and services to constituents and coastal communities. In May 2014 Davidson was appointed principal scientific advisor on coastal inundation science, development, and policy for NOAA. In this role, she has the responsibility for ensuring that all NOAA coastal inundation efforts are based on sound science principles and reflect solid resource management and planning techniques. She works across NOAA to coordinate and execute a research operation plan focused on advancing coastal inundation science and service with connections to social science.

Among her recent professional awards: Fulbright Fellowship, American Meteorological Society Fellow, Gilbert White Fellow, 2007 Nobel Prize for the IPCC, and Zurich Fellowship for Climate Adaptation. She has also been recognized by NOAA for her work: Presidential Merit Awards in 2002 and 2010 and a NOAA Administrator’s Award in 2014.