{"682999":{"#nid":"682999","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Chatfield Hired as New BBISS Director of Business Administration","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKristina Chatfield has been hired as the Director of Business Administration for the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), a new role that will provide administrative leadership and oversight for BBISS\u2019 growing portfolio of programs and activities. Chatfield began her Georgia Tech career as program and operations manager at the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain (SLS) in 2015. In 2023, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/GT-Announces-Institutionalization-Plan-for-SLS\u0022\u003ESLS transitioned into the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE)\u003C\/a\u003E housed within BBISS, with Chatfield assuming the program and portfolio manager role.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt first glance, she wasn\u2019t a typical sustainability hire at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe was a business management consultant for a law firm who had also helped a national survey data firm with their data crunching. Higher ed was \u201clike a different planet,\u201d she recalls.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChatfield realized early on that she could apply her management and operations background to any field. \u201cYou can\u2019t run any successful organization unless you have operational efficiency and program and project management.\u201d Without them, she says, \u201cThings don\u2019t work properly.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut equally important was her commitment to learning about academia and sustainability, areas that were not in her wheelhouse a decade ago. With support from Jennifer Hirsch, senior director of SCoRE (and formerly of SLS), Chatfield embraced both with gusto.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019ve learned to approach sustainability from a holistic standpoint,\u201d Chatfield explains, noting that sustainability isn\u2019t just about the environment or systems \u2014 it\u2019s primarily about the people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf you have a passion for community engagement and sustainability, there\u2019s a lot of commonality you can find with people from all different persuasions. As human beings, we mostly care about the same things.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cKris is a master at setting up and managing complex operational and financial systems, and she is passionate about sustainability, communities, and Georgia Tech. This combination, together with her decade of management experience in SLS and SCoRE, makes her perfect for her new leadership role,\u201d says BBISS Executive Director Beril Toktay.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChatfield says a key highlight of her work in sustainability has been connecting community organizations and nonprofit partners with the Institute through the SCoRE summer internship program. Georgia Tech students are partnered with community organizations throughout Atlanta. Now in its eighth year, the program allows students \u201cto learn about the social aspects of sustainability, innovation, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the context of actual work that\u2019s being done in the Atlanta area,\u201d Chatfield says. \u201cPartners benefit tremendously because the program expands their capacity by having these amazing Georgia Tech students working for them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChatfield says the internship program often serves as the first interaction partners have with Georgia Tech. \u201cIt opens the door to a much broader and deeper relationship.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn her free time, Kris enjoys her family life with five adult children, and soon she will welcome her third grandchild. \u201cBeing a grandparent is the best thing ever,\u201d she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe also enjoys playing pickleball with her husband and traveling. With one of her sons about to be stationed in Germany with the Army, she hopes to combine her passions of travel and family time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWritten by Anne Wainscott-Sargent\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"\u2018People are the Most Important Part\u2019 - The Secret Behind Kristina Chatfield\u2019s Success"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKristina Chatfield has been hired as the Director of Business Administration for the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems (BBISS), a new role that will provide administrative leadership and oversight for BBISS\u2019 growing portfolio of programs and activities. Chatfield began her Georgia Tech career as program and operations manager at the Center for Serve-Learn-Sustain (SLS) in 2015. In 2023, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/GT-Announces-Institutionalization-Plan-for-SLS\u0022\u003ESLS transitioned into the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education (SCoRE)\u003C\/a\u003E housed within BBISS, with Chatfield assuming the program and portfolio manager role.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Director of Business Administration is a new role within BBISS that will provide administrative leadership and oversight for a growing portfolio of programs and activities."}],"uid":"27338","created_gmt":"2025-07-02 20:06:11","changed_gmt":"2025-07-08 14:11:20","author":"Brent Verrill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677336":{"id":"677336","type":"image","title":"Kristina-Chatfield-Headshot.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPortrait of Kristina Chatfield\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1751486972","gmt_created":"2025-07-02 20:09:32","changed":"1751486972","gmt_changed":"2025-07-02 20:09:32","alt":"Portrait of Kristina Chatfield","file":{"fid":"261225","name":"Kristina-Chatfield-Headshot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/02\/Kristina-Chatfield-Headshot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/02\/Kristina-Chatfield-Headshot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":133701,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/02\/Kristina-Chatfield-Headshot.jpg?itok=rn3RnO1I"}}},"media_ids":["677336"],"groups":[{"id":"244191","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"188360","name":"go-bbiss"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"194566","name":"Sustainable Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrent Verrill\u003C\/a\u003E, Research Communications Program Manager\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}