Christina Billingsley

Christina Rajan Billingsley (she/her) has spent a lifetime as a policy nerd and equity advocate on behalf of our communities most impacted and least served by our institutions. Her professional expertise ranges from community-based organizing, internal organizational transformation, to writing and influencing social and environmental policy. Christina offers a wide breadth of knowledge and deep experience that span many sectors: community development, social research, climate resilience and sustainability, anti-racist policy and program development, civic engagement and good governance, communications and public affairs, all geared towards building an inclusive workforce and green economy for our communities. 

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She spearheaded an effort with community partners to co-write the first environmental justice policy at a port, the Duwamish Valley Community Benefits Commitment. This policy established a program that collaborates with the Port of Seattle and its near-port community members to promote civic engagement, economic prosperity in place, and a healthy environment. She built a team to implement this policy, which, since 2017 has re-directed over $5 million in community investments to this environmental-justice impacted neighborhood. Christina continues to promote its community-leadership model at other ports around the world. 

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Prior to joining the Port, Christina worked for several years in the non-profit and the social research sectors both in the United States, Great Britain, India, and Turkey. Her diverse work portfolio includes: sustainable development and climate change innovation in rural India, political ecology in youth organizing for climate action in Texas, and designing inclusive civic engagement to elevate the voices of youth and Asian American voters in Washington State. 

Christina graduated from the University of Washington with a dual Bachelors’ Degree from the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and the Department of History, with a minor in South Asian Languages and Literature. She earned her Master of Science Degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in Social Policy and Development. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Washington Conservation Action, the state’s largest environmental advocacy non-profit. She previously served for many years leading the Seattle Chapter of Environmental Professionals of Color and as an appointee to the City of Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board. 

Her career focuses on shaping the way institutions practice sustainable development, especially as it relates to addressing impacts on frontline communities experiencing environmental harms. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening with her child, and watching Star Trek.