Raised in Kansas, Ronnie cultivated his predilection for leadership and service through the 4-H and FFA organizations. At Kansas State University, he studied International Agribusiness with minors in Nonprofit Leadership and Spanish. After graduating Summa Cum Laude, he began Peace Corps service in Paraguay. There, he learned Guarani, led the establishment of the district’s first public library with IT classes, enhanced the leadership capacity of the Boy/Girl Scouts, formed an annual literacy program, taught personal finance and led the redesign of a national youth development program. While at Georgetown, Ronnie has supplemented his experience with academic and professional activities centered around governance, public service delivery and climate action. He has studied evidence-based approaches to public service provision, climate adaptation and mitigation strategies that are consistent with economic growth, technological solutions to climate change and corruption, principle-based multilateral negotiation skills, and quantitative analysis methods utilizing Stata. Currently, Ronnie is consulting with Mercy Corps Ventures to develop an investment framework for blockchain solutions to foster climate-resilient agriculture and communities. Furthermore, in his work with the World Bank, he developed and is leading the preparation of a pilot using blockchain for quick, secure, and transparent fund disbursement to community groups in the Horn of Africa. During his summer work with the World Bank, Ronnie maintained a database tracking COVID’s impacts on marginalized groups globally, created compelling visualizations in Tableau, and regularly published findings to inform staff of emerging needs. Ronnie hopes to apply his knowledge of technology, service delivery, negotiation, and climate mitigation and adaptation strategies to oversee climate finance projects and foster increased global cooperation towards overcoming the climate crisis.