CCT Dine & Discuss - Climate Change and Resiliency Plans for Our Community

The Village Spot is welcoming us with open arms and is excited to have our group!

The Village Spot

3150 Village Walk Circle

Naples, FL 34109

(Please announce at the gate that you’re attending the Center for Critical Thinking Dinner)

Refund Policy: Refunds only available up to 3 days before the event.

Eligible refunds are subject to a $4 service fee

The event will start at 6:00 pm.

Speakers: Naples City Councilman Raymond Christman, and FGCU Professor Dr. Michael Saverese

Topic: Climate Changes: Are We Prepared For What’s To Come? How Resilient Can We Be And What Are The Local Governments Doing To Protect Us?

About the Speaker: Ray Christman was elected to Naples City Council in a special election in April 2019 and re-elected to a full term in February 2022. He brings to his work on Council decades of relevant professional experience and a passion for building a better community and protecting Naples’ environment.

Ray graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Business and has a Masters Degree in City Planning from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. His work in his hometown of Pittsburgh included heading up the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Pittsburgh Technology Council, an organization that spearheaded Pittsburgh’s transition to a new high tech economy.

During his career, Ray also served as Pennsylvania Secretary of Commerce under Governor Robert P. Casey, and headed both the Pittsburgh and Atlanta Federal Home Loan Banks.

In his service on City Council, Ray has particularly focused on environmental challenges facing Naples and Collier County. These particularly include water quality issues and managing growth and development in a balanced way. He serves as City Council’s representative on the Collier County Coastal Advisory Committee.

Prior to his election to City Council, Ray served as Executive Director of Ethics Naples, a non-profit that led a successful referendum initiative to create a new ethics code and independent Ethics Commission for the City of Naples.

Ray and his wife, Eileen, have been married for 42 years. In 2003, they purchased the home in Naples where they still reside. They have three adult children and one grandchild.

About the Speaker: Dr. Michael Savarese is a Distinguished Professor of Coastal Geology, Climate Resilience, & Preparation within the Department of Marine and Earth Sciences within Florida Gulf Coast University’s Water School. He has degrees in geoscience with background in coastal geology, paleontology, and sedimentology & stratigraphy. He has been a faculty member at FGCU since the University’s opening in the fall of 1997. Mike’s teaching and research interests concern the history of environmental change in coastal settings, particularly in response to human development, climate change, and sea-level rise. Throughout his years at FGCU, he has served as a liaison between scientists and managers/decision-makers, serving in the past as the Chairperson of the Big Cypress and the Southwest Florida Restoration Coordination Teams. More recently, he has served as a community liaison to foster coastal resilience and climate-change preparedness efforts throughout Southwest Florida and beyond, working closely with natural, urban, and cultural resource managers and elected officials within local, state, and federal government.