Capita In Conversation with Jane Gilbert

In this episode, Capita’s Ankita Chachra talks to Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer for Florida’s Miami-Dade County. In 2021, Jane became the first Chief Heat Officer in the world, a position that is now found in cities across the globe. Jane talks about how heat particularly impacts children and families, the types of strategies that can help keep residents safe, and how she is helping to create a vision for a more livable and climate-resilient city
Jane Gilbert is Arsht-Rock’s Chief Heat Officer in Miami-Dade County, US. Gilbert works across departments and partners to address the increasing risks to human health, lives and livelihoods associated with extreme heat. She has over 30 years experience in public private partnerships, climate mitigation and adaptation, and urban resilience.
Before joining the County, she served as the City of Miami’s first Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) for four years. In this role, Gilbert led the climate and urban resilience strategy development and implementation for the City of Miami. She developed and implemented a city-level response to the impacts of sea level rise and climate change.
Prior to public service, Gilbert led three nonprofits and managed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) work for large corporations. She holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science from Barnard College and Master’s from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Ankita Chachra is committed to creating sustainable, just, and vibrant cities for young children and families. She has over ten years of global experience working on her mission through partnerships with city agencies, and the private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors.
Ankita previously worked at Bernard Van Leer Foundation as the Knowledge for Policy Director. She found her passion for prioritizing the needs of children and caregivers in urban environments while leading the Streets for Kids Program at NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI), where her team published the guide on Designing Streets for Kids (globaldesignin...) . She worked under Bloomberg’s Initiative for Global Road Safety, primarily in Latin America and Asia. Ankita was also part of the core team that developed the Global Street Design Guide (globaldesignin...) , the first-ever worldwide guideline for designing city streets.
Capita is an independent think tank and community. We anticipate global change, shape narratives, and partner with leaders to craft effective policies for a future in which families and their communities can flourish.