Kate Brown, Executive Director, Global Island Partnership

Kate Brown is the Executive Director of the Global Island Partnership, a platform that enables island leaders and their supporters to take action to build resilient and sustainable island communities. Kate is a passionate advocate for islands. She is a valued and trusted international partnership and collaboration leader, with a unique ability to connect dots for issues and people. Kate has extensive experience in all island regions globally, and brings an extensive network of island leaders, blue sky thinkers and people dedicated to supporting islands.

Kate has experience working inside government, non-profits and intergovernmentally as well as a keen sense of the most important elements of the international policy setting space relevant to islands as well as what is needed for implementation to happen. A strategic thinker who is able to present clear ideas and set up the right conditions for collaboration to thrive. Kate is originally from New Zealand and lived for eight years in Apia, Samoa.

Celeste Connors, Executive Director, Hawai‘i Green Growth Local2030 Hub

Celeste Connors has twenty years of experience working at the intersection of economic, environment, energy, and international development policy. Before joining Hawai‘i Green Growth, she was CEO and co-founder of cdots development LLC, which works to build resilient infrastructure systems and services in vulnerable communities. Celeste previously served as the Director for Environment and Climate Change at the National Security Council and National Economic Council in the White House where she helped shape the Administration’s climate and energy policies, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Prior to joining the White House, Celeste served as a diplomat in Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Germany. She also held positions at the U.S. Mission to the UN, served as the Climate and Energy Advisor to the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, and worked for City of New York.

Celeste is a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the East-West Center and was a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in the Energy, Resources and Environment Program. She holds an MSc in Development Studies from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a BA in International Relations from Tufts University. Celeste has served on numerous boards including her current service on Hawaiian Electric Industries, the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA), the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience at the University of Hawaii and Icebreaker One. She previously served on the Board of America’s Service Commissions, the IUCN World Conservation Congress National Host Committee, and was a Term Member on the Council on Foreign Relations. Celeste grew up in Kailua, O‘ahu.

Austin J. Shelton III, PhD, Director, University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability and University of Guam Sea Grant

Dr. Austin Shelton joined the faculty of the University of Guam (UOG) in 2016 as an assistant professor of extension and outreach. Shelton later received appointments to concurrently serve as the director of the UOG Center for Island Sustainability and UOG Sea Grant. In 2019, he was selected as an Obama Leader Asia Pacific. Shelton leads initiatives that support the transition of island communities toward a sustainable future. He is currently co-chairing the Guam Green Growth G3 Initiative with the Office of the Governor of Guam to locally advance the 17 U.N Sustainable Development Goals.

A native of Guam, Shelton grew up observing environmental challenges of island communities and was inspired to become a marine and environmental scientist. Shelton conducts research to revive island ecosystems and builds STEM capacity in Pacific Islander communities through student research experiences and science fairs. Shelton manages a portfolio of grants from Sea Grant (NOAA), National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR, NSF INCLUDES, Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Hawaii-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Units (U.S. Navy), and the Northern and Southern Guam Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

Shelton coordinates multiple regional and international collaborations as the representative of the Guam focal point for the Local2030 Islands Network, Global Island Partnership (GLISPA), and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); delegate to the National Sea Grant Association; and UOG member representative to the Global Consortium for Sustainability Outcomes. Locally, he is a member of the Governor of Guam’s Climate Change Resiliency Commission and Aquacultural Task Force and a member of the Guam Legislature’s Council on Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience (C3PR).

Shelton earned a B.S. degree in marine biology from Hawai`i Pacific University and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in zoology with a specialization in marine biology from the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa.