Cari A. Harris is a multifaceted leader, dedicated to driving organizational, economic and community change. For the past five years, Cari A. Harris has led The Butterfly Effect, a consultancy providing strategic advisory and consulting services to over 100 clients nationwide with a focus on stakeholder engagement, projects/programs management, economics/finance and strategy.

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Cari is the founder of the Claude C. Thornton (CCT) Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to improving individual and community wellbeing through collective action and economics. Through the CCT Foundation, Cari launched the Greater Baltimore Climate Initiative in 2024 with aims to increase economic impact around climate and environmental solutions; to establish human-centered, cross-sector governance frameworks for resilience, sustainability and regional planning; and to foster collaboration dedicated to enhancing the Baltimore region's environmental infrastructure and programming.

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Currently, Cari sits on the Comptroller of Maryland's Climate Advisory Council, Maryland Clean Energy Center Climate Catalytic Capital (C3) Fund Investment Oversight Committee and the advisory commission on Environmental Quality in Baltimore County. Cari is a Morgan State University alum with a Bachelors and Masters in Economics, a graduate of Leadership Maryland's prestigious Emerging Leader Program, and an alumna of the Harbor Bank Emerging Developers Program's third cohort (2019–2020).