Michael Hinson stepped in as Maryland’s first chief resilience officer in November 2023, bringing more than a decade of experience in disaster management and strategic planning to his newly minted role. Twice, in 2016 and 2018, he led recovery efforts after devastating Ellicott City floods.
Appointed by Gov. Wes Moore and placed within the Maryland Department of Emergency Management, Hinson is responsible for crafting and coordinating a comprehensive resilience strategy for the state in an increasingly challenging era. His mandate is to unify scattered resiliency efforts across the state and ensure Maryland can adapt to, mitigate and recover from hazards and emergencies—ranging from natural disasters to cyber threats.
Last year, while outlining his vision in a conversation with Inside Climate News, Hinson emphasized that the state needed to define what counts as resilience and the importance of inventorying fragmented efforts across agencies. His primary goal was to develop a statewide resilience strategy, bringing together diverse sectors such as food systems, environmental systems and housing under a unified framework.
Eventually, he noted, his office would have to come up with a work plan and turn objectives into tangible outcomes. Staffing up quickly was crucial for making it all possible, he said, and to lay a solid foundation for statewide adaptation to climate risks and natural disasters.
To get a sense of where things stand now, Inside Climate News again sat down with Hinson to reflect on his first year in office, his achievements, the hurdles he’s encountered and his vision for safeguarding Maryland against the threats of extreme weather and rising sea levels driven by a warming climate.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
AMAN AZHAR: It’s been a year since we last spoke. What are the major strides your office has made since then?
MICHAEL HINSON: One of the biggest accomplishments was defining resilience for Maryland. Resilience is a broadly interpreted word, and it can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. We worked with stakeholders from local governments, state agencies, academia and nonprofits to create a comprehensive definition.
This definition now serves as a North Star for guiding our work, helping us determine what is in scope or out of scope, which has been crucial for maintaining focus and direction.
AZHAR: What does resilience mean for Maryland, and how does it differ from the federal definition?
HINSON: It was crucial to define resilience specifically for Maryland because the term can be interpreted in many ways. For an individual Marylander, resilience may be their ability to respond to and recover from an adverse incident … but for us at the state level, there needs to be a little more nuance. Our definition provides guardrails so that we don’t try to boil the ocean, for lack of a better term.
The federal definition of resilience is very broad and has a lot to do with [environmental] shocks and stressors and how people respond and recover from those. Our definition is similar in spirit but is more detailed, outlining specific focus areas like environmental and natural systems, housing and other key sectors that impact Maryland’s resilience. This allows us to tailor our approach to the state’s unique needs while staying aligned with federal guidelines.
AZHAR: Did you manage to fully staff the Office of Resilience, and did it help get you off the ground?
HINSON: When we last spoke, I was still in the process of building the team. Now, we are fully staffed, and I’ve been fortunate to have amazing staff who were brought in, and they’ve been fantastic.
We brought on a food systems resiliency coordinator who revitalized the Maryland Food System Resilience Council, helping them evolve into the next level by refocusing their mission post-COVID-19. We also added a resilience planner with emergency management and continuity of operations experience, as well as a deputy chief resilience officer from the American Flood Coalition, bringing a broader view on how other places are dealing with the issues we face. This team has been instrumental in moving our initiatives forward.
AZHAR: During our last conversation, you mentioned developing a statewide resilience strategy. What is the current status of that effort?
HINSON: This is our headline document, and we’re right in the thick of it. We’re literally smacked up in the middle of the biggest lift of the process, which is the data gathering and stakeholder involvement. We expect to complete this phase by mid-spring, followed by writing and composition during the summer and early fall.
We’re on track for the early side of the timeline and are hopeful to share the final version by the end of 2025 or early 2026. This strategy will unify Maryland’s scattered resilience initiatives into a cohesive plan, ensuring all agencies are rowing in the same direction.
AZHAR: Can you outline the key sectors and priorities included in this strategy?
HINSON: There are some main sectors: Housing, community and local government capacity—especially frontline communities, environment and natural systems—and cyber resilience. Maryland has been a leader in coastal resilience, and we’re expanding that to include watershed resilience. We’re also focusing on place-based resilience, targeting hotspot areas, like Crisfield and Annapolis, that face chronic flooding and sea-level rise. We really want to have a lens on place-based resilience and how we can move the needle the most in those areas.
AZHAR: How is your office navigating changes in federal funding and political uncertainties?
HINSON: It’s a dynamic situation, and there’s no clear direction on where things are going federally. The state of Maryland is preparing as best as it can by coordinating with the governor’s office and other state agencies.
For our work, specifically, because we are not deep into any project implementation phase yet, it is not directly impacting our office. However, federal funding will be crucial for larger-scale investments as we transition to implementation.
AZHAR: You previously emphasized the importance of inventorying resilience projects across the state. What progress has been made on that front?
HINSON: We’re inventorying projects, programs, tools and funding streams across the state. The executive order from September 2024 established an Agency Resilience Liaison Program, giving us a designated contact point in every state department. This allows us to collect and organize relevant data systematically. We’re very hopeful that we have our hands on a lot of that information, which will give us probably the best picture of what we actually have going on across the whole of government.
AZHAR: Environmental justice is a key priority for Gov. Moore. How does it factor into resilience planning?
HINSON: Environmental justice is embedded in the legislation that created our office. It guides our investment priorities and is an essential part of our work. It’s not just a legislative requirement; it’s also a priority. We are going to have to work with our federal partners to see the changes that they have and how we can best work with them while still accomplishing our legislative mandate.
AZHAR: What role do grassroots organizations play in your resilience strategy?
HINSON: Grassroots organizations are essential, and without them, I don’t see a path to success. We’ve involved community and grassroots organizations through sector workgroups and the Whole Community Initiative. Their participation ensures that resilience measures are grounded in local realities and effectively address community needs.
AZHAR: What keeps you up at night?
HINSON: I don’t know any emergency manager who would say that they sleep well. … Ultimately, we are paid to be worried about these things. Cybersecurity is a major concern due to the interconnectedness of critical systems. I don’t know that everyone fully realizes how vulnerable we are if these systems fail.
Extreme weather events, especially storms, flash flooding and heatwaves, are also significant worries. The challenge of educating newcomers to Maryland about these risks is another concern. Knowing what you need to be prepared for is half of the work.
AZHAR: What should Marylanders expect from your office in the future?
HINSON: We’re developing more tools and resources, including ResilientMaryland.com, a toolkit designed primarily for local governments but accessible to everyone. We’re hoping to eventually have further technical assistance, like process guidance for local jurisdictions so they can build their own resilience strategy.
We’re also working with local governments to establish more resilience authorities, which provide additional financial mechanisms to help fund some of these projects.
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News on March 1.
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