Scott Rayder ’92 MPA is the new executive director of the Alabama Water Institute (AWI), based at the University of Alabama. He assumed that role on August 1.

AWI conducts integrated research and education on complex issues of water quantity, quality, and security, globally and locally. As its executive director, Rayder will facilitate collaboration with the National Water Center, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration center located on the University of Alabama campus. 

Rayder was previously senior advisor to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and to the president and vice president of the UCAR Foundation. He has extensive experience building relationships and opportunities with the private and public sector, including longstanding relationships with federal funding agencies. His extensive career includes more than six years as chief of staff of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2001-08). In 2016, he served on the presidential transition team for the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA.

For more on this appointment, see this Yellowhammer article.

08/12/20