Mr. Wesley Brooks

Wesley Brooks is the Chief Resilience Officer of the State of Florida, where he heads efforts to prepare Florida for the environmental, physical, and economic impacts of sea level rise. As Chief Resilience Officer, he oversees the Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection. In managing the effort around rising sea levels, the Chief Resilience Officer synergizes the efforts of several state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Transportation, Division of Emergency Management, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Department of Economic Opportunity. Brooks has been Director of Federal Affairs for the Department of Environmental Protection since January 2020. In that role, he developed and implemented strategies on items including Clean Water Act 404 assumption, expedited construction of the Everglades projects and reauthorization of the Coral Reef Conservation Act. He previously was a staffer for members of the state’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. He also served in U.S. Rep. Brian Mast‘s and former U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen‘s offices. In federal politics, he worked on policies for Everglades restoration, coastal resiliency, coral reef conservation, water quality and harmful algal bloom monitoring. Brooks received bachelor’s degrees in political science and biology from Duke University and earned his doctorate in ecological science from Rutgers University.