Resilience Planning for Maryland Defense Communities

Biography

Cyrena has worked with communities across the country for more than 30 years to guide responses to major defense actions such as military base closures, realignments, expansions, defense industry adjustments, and compatible community development issues affecting military operations, including climate resilience and alternative energy development. As an independent Strategic Planning Consultant she recently supported the Maryland Department of Commerce Office of Military & Federal Affairs to carry out their Maryland statewide military installation readiness and defense economic diversification strategy projects. As a Senior Principal with Stantec she served as Strategic Planning Advisor for defense communities in support of the military mission and continued community growth and economic development. In this role she served as the Project Manager for the Military Installation Resiliency Review for NSA Annapolis that the City of Annapolis sponsored in partnership with Anne Arundel County and NSA Annapolis. In 2023, the American Planning Association Federal Planning Division recognized this project for their Outstanding Collaborative Planning Project Honor Award. She also served as Contributing Author for the joint Stantec and Association of Defense Communities publication Advancing Resilience for Defense Communities: A Planning Framework.

Cyrena also spent 25 years with the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment (now Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation) in Washington DC serving as both Compatible Use Program Manager and Project Manager supporting communities and the Military Services in response to the 1993, 1995 and 2005 BRAC actions and guiding more than 80 Compatible Use/Joint Land Use Study projects across the country.

Cyrena recently retired and is now living in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Charlottesville, Virginia.