Chitra Kumar

Chitra Kumar is a public policy and planning expert at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Throughout her 17-year federal career, she has held various roles creating partnerships with federal, state and local organizations to develop more equitable strategies for environmental protection, land use and infrastructure, particularly in economically distressed small towns, rural areas and urban neighborhoods. 

Currently, she is serving as the acting associate director of EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice. From March 2020 to 2021, Ms. Kumar was a senior fellow with the Aspen Institute’s Community Strategies Group and Thrive Rural, focused on bridging the fields of health, environment and economic development to improve rural well-being. From 2015 to 2019 she directed the Federal and State Division of EPA’s Office of Community Revitalization. From 2013 to 2014, she served at the White House Council on Environmental Quality as the deputy associate director for water, where she contributed to high-profile, water-related federal policies, including implementation strategies for clean water, water infrastructure finance, green infrastructure and freshwater climate change resilience.

A second-generation immigrant to the rural Midwest, Chitra is particularly interested in advancing equity, environmental sustainability and economic resilience while highlighting immigrants’ contributions to the American economy.

Chitra holds a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts from Boston University. In her free time, she serves on Potomac Riverkeeper Alliance’s Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee and is an active member of neighborhood planning initiatives in Arlington, Virginia, where she currently resides with her family. She is an avid meditator and singer, using both to uplift others.