The City of Toronto has appointed Elliott Cappell as chief resilience officer, a new position created to help Toronto prepare for catastrophic events and urban stresses. Cappell, a Toronto native, is an international climate resilience strategy specialist with experience in over 20 countries. He has more than 12 years of strategic policy experience, most recently at Adam Smith International, a policy development and project management firm, where he served as head of climate change strategy.

As Toronto's CRO, Cappell will oversee the development and implementation of a comprehensive resilience strategy for the city. Toronto was selected from almost 1,000 cities to be part of 100 Resilient Cities. The 100RC organization, which will fully fund the position, is part of a $164M commitment by The Rockefeller Foundation to build urban resilience in 100 cities around the world.

"Toronto is a diverse, dynamic and growing city," Cappell said in a press release. "I am thrilled to become the city's first Chief Resilience Officer and am excited to begin working with city council and staff, residents, businesses and community stakeholders on a strategic action plan for resilience.”