Earlier in October, the GLOS Board of Directors confirmed and welcomed new board member Adam Tindall-Schlicht. The GLOS board and staff are all delighted to have Adam on board to help support and direct the organization with his expertise from his impressive career.
To learn more about Adam and what he is looking forward to getting started on as board member, GLOS Communications Specialist Sam Johnson met with him.
Here is a part of that conversation:
Sam: Where are you from? And how did you get to have a career in the Great Lakes?
Adam:
“I grew up in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, which is in Milwaukee County, on Lake Michigan. My Great Lakes career has been one of unexpected passion. Even though I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan, as I look [back] on the roles and responsibilities that I’ve had as a Great Lakes executive, it’s really been a place of passion and a place of love.
[I began] my service as a career employee at the U.S. Department of Transportation, leading the International Trade Office for the U.S. Seaway, or the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS). Then I became an executive leading Port Milwaukee as its director for several years. Most recently, [I left] the port to become the White House appointed administrator of the GLS. It has been such a privilege and an honor to serve the region that is instrumental to the health, vitality, and economy of countless millions in both the United States and Canada.
My work now [continues in] transportation, infrastructure, coastal resiliency, and the Great Lakes region as the Senior Advisor for Transportation in the US and Canada at Ramboll. Ramboll is a multinational engineering design and sustainability consultancy practice working on an array of projects through the lens of sustainability and resiliency as the ethos of our design and consultancy approach.”
Sam: Have the Great Lakes always been a passion of yours? Was it automatic that you would go into work related to them and this region?
Adam:
“I think there are some people that know that their careers will bring them into the Great Lakes policy world from the day that they are born. For me, it was having mentors, leaders, friends, and colleagues in industry, in government, in academia, and in the community that showed me how important Great Lakes related work is. Over that time, being able to grow in my career and ultimately becom[ing] both an executive and political appointee at the highest levels of Great Lakes policy, has been a personal and a professional journey that continues to reward.”
Former U.S. Deputy Transport Secretary Polly Trottenberg with Adam Tindall-Schlicht (courtesy of Ramboll).
Sam: How did you become aware of the opportunity to join the GLOS Board of Directors?
Adam:
“I was tapped by Tom Rayburn, but GLOS and its board was well known to me, both as former Seaway administrator and as Milwaukee’s former port director. GLOS’ role and its importance in the Great Lakes community of organizations cannot be [over]stated.
I join the GLOS board at a time of change, given Tom Rayburn’s legacy of leadership and contributions to the region overall. From his work in organizations like the Great Lakes Commission and the Lake Carriers Association, Tom has been a leader, a friend, a supporter, a trusted colleague to me for almost 20 years. As outgoing GLOS Board Chair, Tom is leaving such incredibly big shoes, and he cares so deeply about this organization. Tom’s model of service to GLOS is one that I intend to emulate to the best of my ability on the Board.”
Sam: Where would you like to see GLOS grow in your initial years with the board?
Adam:
“I think we can safely say that day-to-day we depend on trusted lake data; everything from waves and wind, visibility and ice. That is part and parcel of how we utilize the Great Lakes as a freshwater resource: from a sustainability perspective and from a safety perspective.
The [Seagull] platform is a backbone of this work through the Board. We can turn real-time scientific observation into decision making on the Great Lakes. I’ve been a beneficiary and a practitioner of the data that GLOS provides, turning that into critical decision making as an executive that has led Great Lakes policy at the state, local, federal, and international level.
I view the work that GLOS does as economic infrastructure and as critical infrastructure. Better maps, better tools, better science leads to safer navigation, to improved modeling, and ultimately smarter coastal investments that provide value on both sides of the border throughout the Great Lakes region.
The GLOS Board can catalyze, support, and empower community-powered decision making. That really helps to support inclusive local and regional modeling that is scalable, not just for our region, but for other freshwater and shared water resource rich regions around the world.
Bringing that perspective into the Board is something I hope to do, but chief among the responsibilities of a board member is to support and uplift the expertise of the expert staff that GLOS already has. That is really the ultimate privilege of serving on the GLOS Board.”
Sam: WHERE do you most like to connect with the Great Lakes?
Adam: “In my career, I have been able to visit so many different corners of the Great Lakes region, and each is singular and each has a special place in my heart.
Milwaukee is my hometown. I lived for many years in downtown Cleveland on Lake Erie. My husband and I honeymooned in Bayfield, Wisconsin, which is a small community off of Lake Superior, just a couple hours east of the twin ports of Duluth and Superior, which are also so incredible.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the north country of upstate New York. I’ve lived and worked in the village of Massena, which is sort of the entrance point into the Great Lakes region from an international shipping perspective.
No matter where you are on the Great Lakes, if you are in a small village, an emerging harbor town, or a globally recognized city, one thing that remains true across each of these locations is how culturally, economically, environmentally lives are impacted by the presence of our fresh water. That’s what makes each and every community I’ve connected with on the Great Lakes so rarefied.”
Aaron and Adam Tindall-Schlicht Wedding Portrait, July 2020 (courtesy of the New York Times).
Sam: HOW do you like to connect with the Great Lakes?
Adam:
“My recreational time right now is filled by the drumbeats of my 2 year old daughter. She dictates where we go. Our most favorite Saturday tradition is on shores of Lake Michigan not far from our home in Milwaukee’s Bayview neighborhood. We will start every Saturday going to one of the best farmers’ markets in Wisconsin at South Shore Park. Then we spend several hours at the fabulous new children’s playground there, which was just reinvigorated by Milwaukee County. Then we close the day with lunch at the South Shore beer garden. No matter in late spring, early summer, midsummer, or early fall, it’s a perfect Great Lakes day.”
Sam: How did you find yourself as the inspiration for a character in a children’s book?
Adam:
“In Bayview, there is a local author named Katie Meyer, who during COVID would go on daily walks with her husband and her dog. [She would] often pass the wind turbine which is situated on the grounds of Port Milwaukee. It’s the only wind turbine that operates, to the best of my knowledge, in the city of Milwaukee itself. As an educator, a teacher, and a supporter of public and private education in the United States, Ms. Meyer was drawn to “Gust” as representative of a story on renewable energy on the Great Lakes, and I was very lucky to be included as a character.
This story is not just about how Gust [the wind turbine] provides power that we depend on across the Great Lakes region, but does so in the company of his friends, including a port director named Adam.”
“Gust” by Katie Meyer Cover page (courtesy of Orange Hat Publishing).
Thank you Adam for sharing your story and some of your thoughts and ideas as you begin your time on the GLOS Board of Directors. We look forward to learning from you and growing with your support.