Kari Vigerstol
Director of Water Security Science & Innovation
Seattle, WA
Kari Vigerstol Kari Vigerstol is Director of Water Security Science & Innovation for The Nature Conservancy. © Nicole Berry
AREAs OF EXPERTISE
water resources planning & management, corporate water stewardship, hydrology, systems thinking
Biography
Kari Vigerstol is the Director of Water Security Science and Innovation for The Nature Conservancy’s global water program, strategically strengthening and advancing the science behind the Conservancy’s source water protection and water scarcity strategies. Over the last 19 years Kari has brought her technical skills and partnership building experience to dozens of watersheds around the world towards protecting water sources and improving water use and management.
Kari’s experience includes community organizing to raise awareness about and measurably improve the quality of urban waterways, water resource engineering assessment, design and project management, and leading the Conservancy’s corporate water stewardship work, advancing collective action in critical basins around the world through integrated water resource management, agricultural best management practices and development of sustainable funding mechanisms.
Kari holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Rice University and the University of Washington, with a focus in Water Resource Planning and Management. She led the team behind Beyond the Source: the environmental, economic, and community benefits of source water protection and has co-authored a number of papers on sustainable water management. Kari is an avid trail runner and outdoor adventurer, including biking across Africa to raise money for a community well in Ethiopia and recently running around Mt Rainier’s 96 mile Wonderland Trail in three days.