About
Garry A. Harris is the President of Sustainability Solutions Institute (SSI), an advisory and consulting firm that provides diverse sustainability, energy engineering,and community development services. The SSI consists of two organizations’ Center for Sustainable Communities, a non profit dedicated to making communities cleaner, greener, healthier, safer and more climate resilient, and HTS Enterprise, energy engineering, policy, research and education. Mr Harris has worked tirelessly to advance numerous local, regional and state wide coalitions and manages a broad portfolio of projects and programs and special initiatives focused on environmental advocacy, clean energy,transportation,resilience, technology development, sustainable cities, building electrification, women’s equality, environmental and climate justice, STEM education and research, faith, severe weather, emergency preparedness, affordable housing, community revitalization, economic and work force development, and job creation, clean energy, transportation, social justice, and health disparities. He won FEMA(s) 2017 Individual and Community Engagement Award (honorable mention) for developing Building A Weather Ready Nation for ALL (Rally for Resilience) initiative.
Mr Harris currently serves in several positions of leadership for numerous sustainability, climate, clean energy and resilience, and equity centered initiatives including Project Manager, ECO District Hampton Roads Project, Board of Directors Virginia Environmental Justice Collaborative,and Board of Directors Elizabeth River Project (Equity and Environmental Justice Chair); Rollins School of Public Health Hercules Research Center Community Advisory Board, and UN Regional Centers for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development Americas Governance Committee and Sustainable Cities and Economic Prosperity Working Group and Leadership TEAM for the Dogwood Alliance Environmental Justice FOREST Circle.
He actively participates and is a key contributor to several initiatives including Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Community Advisory Board, Regional Transportation Advisory Panel, Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan Development, Virginia Green New Deal Sustainable Cities and Transportation Initiative, Resilient Virginia, Virginia Environmental Justice Academy, FEMA National Resilience Partnership Network, Southeast and Caribbean Disaster Resilience Partnership,NOAA Weather Ready Nation, and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control EJ Strong Disaster Preparedness and Vulnerability and Hazard Mitigation Initiative, American Public Health Association and was a founding member of the Greater Atlanta UN Regional Center for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development and Office Shore Wind Workforce Alliance.
Mr Harris is the Former National President of the National Technical Association (NTA) and the member of the Board of Directors, American Association of Blacks in Energy.
He was Creation Care Ministry Leader (Environmental) at the Historic Ebeneezer Baptist Church (Atlanta Georgia), Board of Directors Georgia Interfaith Power and Light and Green Faith Fellow and Community Organizer.
Mr. Harris is a graduate of the 2009 Class of Leadership Atlanta; 2013 Class of the Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership; 2014 Class of Regional Leadership Institute; 2016 Environmental Justice Leadership Academy 2016, Non Profit Diverse Leadership Institute (2017) and graduate of the US EPA Environmental Justice Academy (2016) and graduate of the Climate Reality Corps Leadership Program (2012).
Mr. Harris has earned numerous engineering and technical credentials in energy, environmental fields holds a BS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Virginia, a MS in Technology Management (Southern College of Technology) and a MS in Quality Systems Engineering (Southern Polytechnic State University) both now known as Kennesaw State University and is completing the Masters Degree in Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology).
He is a member of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
He has two sons, Garry Allan and William Avery.