In his former position as chief operations officer at Collaboratory, Jon Romine played a pivotal role after Hurricane Ian by co-leading Lee County’s long-term recovery and resilience initiative, ResilientLee.
This countywide effort became the largest community engagement process in Lee County government’s history, bringing together residents, nonprofits, businesses, and government to co-create a shared vision for a more resilient future, grounded in the understanding that recovery is the responsibility of the whole community, not just local government.
Jon helped architect the strategy and operational framework for the initiative, co-facilitated 16 public town halls across urban and rural areas, and guided four of the eight FEMA-defined Recovery Support Function branches including: Natural Resources, Health & Social Services, Infrastructure, and Cultural Resources. His leadership ensured cross-sector alignment, community-centered decision making, and the identification of high-impact priorities and intersections across all branches.
One of its most significant outcomes was the co-development of a regional Resilience Hub Network strategy, which resulted in a successful $19.3 million EPA Community Change Grant award to implement the vision.
