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Dale Medearis
Senior Environmental Planner
Northern Virginia Regional Commission

Dr. Medearis is a senior environmental planner for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. He co-leads with Steve Walz the NVRC’s regional climate and energy programs and manages NVRC’s international environmental partnerships through the European Network of Metropolitan Areas and Regions (METREX). In 2010, he spent 8-months as a Fellow at the Free University of Berlin’s Environmental Policy Research Center to study and write about the transfer of local energy and climate policies from German cities to the U.S. In 2008, he developed the first formal partnership on climate and energy between the 40 largest US and European regions. Prior to working for NVRC, Medearis spent approximately 20 years at the Office of International Affairs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, as the program manager for Western Europe and urban environmental programs. He was the Vice-chair of the OECD Territorial Development Committee and Chairman of the OECD Working Group on Urban Affairs. Medearis has been awarded fellowships to study urban and environmental planning in Europe from the German Academic Exchange Council, the FU Berlin, the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, the Fulbright Commission, the European Union, and the American Council on Germany. He has a Ph.D. in environmental design and planning from Virginia Tech University, an M.S. in Cartographic and Geographic Science from George Mason University, an MGA in Government from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Redlands.