The Office of Sustainability and Resilience (OSR) is the regional advocate and resource on topics such as energy efficiency, waste reduction, recycling, sustainable economic development, food systems, and green building practices. As the “green” liaison for both city and county mayors, the office coordinates various regional initiatives related to sustainability.
The forerunner to the Office of Sustainability and Resilience, the Memphis-Shelby County Office of Sustainability, was formed in April 2011 and was charged with the implementation and oversight of the Sustainable Shelby plan (2008). Its efforts were expanded in 2016 with the award of a $60 million HUD National Disaster Resilience Grant. Since then, the development of the Memphis Area Climate Action Plan (2020) and Mid-South Regional Resilience Plan (2020) have carried forward the legacies of these efforts to identify strategies to mitigate our impact on climate change and consider our ecological and social landscape in building more resilient communities.
“Resilience is the capacity of individuals,
communities, institutions, businesses, and systems
within a city to survive, adapt, and grow, no matter
what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they
experience.”– Resilient Cities Network
Meet our Staff
Jared darby
Administrator
Jared is a meteorologist and resilience planner for the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development where he serves as the Administrator for the Office of Sustainability and Resilience. Jared received a B. S. degree in geoscience from Mississippi State University in 2003 and an undergraduate certificate in environmental science. In 2010 Jared received a M.S. in Geography with a concentration in Environment and Society from the University of Alabama. Jared is also a Certified Floodplain Manager. While attending the University of Alabama, Jared began his career in planning as a GIS support planner and later moved on to land use planning. During his career as a planner, he was able to introduce resilient initiatives into the land use entitlement process. He directed the Mid-south’s first regional resilience master plan which involved over 54 local, state, and federal agencies.
Jared is currently managing a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) – National Disaster Resilience Competition (CDBG-NDR). The grant funds total $1 billion for disaster recovery and long-term community resilience. Shelby County, TN was awarded $60,445,163 and the only county in the United States out of 13 recipients to be awarded funds.
Leigh Huffman
Manager
Leigh joined the Office of Sustainability and Resilience in November 2021 and is an experienced planner with a background in sustainable development, urban planning, and policy. In her current role, Leigh implements and monitors progress toward the goals in the Mid-South Regional Resilience Master Plan and the Memphis Area Climate Action. She fosters relationships among all organizations working to make a more sustainable and resilient Mid-South region.
Previously, Leigh served as a Planner and Assistant Zoning Administrator for the City of Brevard, NC. Among other responsibilities, she secured a grant to install EV charging stations and organized public input sessions for the Comprehensive Land Use Plan update. Leigh’s passion for environmental planning led her to serve as a Local Pathways Fellow for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Youth Division, where she wrote a proposal to tackle Brevard’s municipal solid waste collection focusing on a model for behavior change. Prior to the City of Brevard, she was a contractual urban planner for Robinson Design Engineers – a hydrologic engineering firm focused on stream restoration.
Leigh holds a Master of City and Regional Planning with a concentration in Environmental and Health Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her work and research demonstrate her dedication to sustainable development and improving communities through effective planning and policy.
Robin Richardson
Planner II
Robin Richardson first joined the Office of Sustainability and Resilience as an intern in August 2022 for the 2022-2023 school year, and she is now a full-time planner with OSR. She is originally from Sugar Land, TX, though she has called Memphis home since graduating with her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from Rhodes College. She graduated from the University of Memphis’s Master of City and Regional Planning program in May 2023, where she was awarded the 2023 American Planning Association Outstanding Student Award. During the course of her studies, she participated in the 2022 edition of the Community Planning and Ecological Design (CoPED) program, a joint project with the University of Memphis, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the University of Catania.
Prior to joining OSR, Robin was an Urban Fellows Intern with Memphis Parks, where she completed digitization and archival work on Memphis Parks’ planning maps and documents from the past century. She also has several years’ worth of administrative experience in nonprofit and healthcare settings.
Megan Farrell
Planner I
Megan holds a Master of Science degree in Geography where she studied forest health and air quality in state parks in Tennessee. She is from Memphis, TN, and graduated from The University of Memphis in 2022. She is known for her expertise in geospatial analysis. Her career is fueled by a passion for addressing environmental inequalities and encouraging sustainability in underserved communities. In November 2022, Megan joined the Shelby County Office of Sustainability and Resilience, where she utilizes her knowledge of GIS applications and sustainability to effect positive change in her role as a Planner.
Logan Landry
Planner I
Logan graduated from Rhodes College in May 2023 where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies. She is originally from New Orleans, LA but has lived in Memphis since 2019. She first joined the Office of Sustainability and Resilience in the fall of 2022 as an undergraduate intern. She was welcomed back to OSR in the fall of 2023 as a full-time planner where she uses her previous experience with the office and academic background to conduct work on the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program.
