Dr. Charisma Acey is an Associate Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. She also serves as Faculty Director of the Berkeley Institute and Research Director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley. For more than 25 years, Charisma has partnered with communities, non-profits, local governments, academia and industry in the US and countries in Africa and Latin America to develop interventions designed to empower and improve equitable social and environmental outcomes for vulnerable, marginalized populations. Her work in African cities has focused on expanding access to clean water, safe sanitation, household clean energy, women’s empowerment and corporate social responsibility. In the US, her consulting and research projects focus on public participation and community outreach, urban agroecology, healthy food access, wildfire vulnerability, air quality and environmental justice. She has experience leading organizational and industry-wide change to foster anti-racism and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and belonging. She is a Health Equity Leadership Institute Fellow and an American Marshall Memorial Fellow, and served on the External Advisory Board of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). Dr. Acey is certified in Diversity Leadership and holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Master’s in Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.