Ryan Thomas

Ryan L. Thomas is an urban resilience strategist, educator, and climate innovation leader based in Greater Boston. He serves as Director of Urban Resilience at The Trustees, where he advances climate-ready landscapes, food access initiatives, and equitable open-space strategies across the region’s urban neighborhoods.

Ryan’s work integrates land conservation, environmental justice policy, and long-horizon climate planning. He collaborates with municipal, state, and community partners to strengthen coastal resilience, expand community gardens, and build neighborhood-scale adaptation frameworks responsive to rising seas, urban heat, and biodiversity loss.

In addition to his nonprofit leadership, Ryan has taught graduate and undergraduate courses focused on urban design, environmental justice, climate futurism, geographic information systems, and equitable housing development at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston Architectural College, and Tufts University. He holds a Master in Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, concentrated in Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology.

Through HACE’s Boston Chapter, Ryan is committed to strengthening alumni collaboration around practical climate action, cross-sector partnerships, and place-based solutions that protect and regenerate the Commonwealth’s landscapes for generations to come.