Jeff Hicks co-founded Fernleaf on the vision that data can maximize the effectiveness and equity of climate adaptation. Through his work on Climate.gov, the US Climate Resilience Toolkit, and the National Climate Assessment, Jeff has helped to develop the foundational climate change indicators used nationally for decisions in government and beyond. Seeing a need to bridge these national insights to the scale of local decisions, Jeff has built Fernleaf’s practice to specialize in quantitative and solutions-oriented climate resilience assessments for local and regional stakeholders.

Prior to co-founding Fernleaf, Jeff helped develop several high-profile environmental assessment applications for NOAA, NASA, the US Forest Service, and Los Alamos National Laboratory; and for a global set of companies including Chevron, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Intel, Kodak, and Lockeed Martin.

Jeff is a product of the North Carolina public education system, having graduated from UNC Asheville and the NC School of Science and Mathematics. In his spare time, he’s likely wandering the forests of Western NC with his wife (who he met in Dendrology class), doing the bidding of his 3 cats, or writing music. He serves on the board of Irene Wortham Center in Asheville, a nonprofit dedicated to helping economically- and developmentally-challenged individuals live full lives.