Michael Rolband

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  • Director, RGGI, Inc. Board of Directors

  • Director, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

Michael Rolband founded Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc. (WSSI) in 1991, and grew his company into a multidisciplinary natural and cultural resources consulting firm with a staff of more than 200. Rolband is a P.E., PWD, PWS Emeritus and LEED AP.

During the next 30 years, Rolband’s company worked on more than 8,000 projects spanning 300,000 acres in Northern Virginia. In 2014, WSSI was acquired by The Davey Tree Expert Co. and, under Rolband’s leadership, expanded to include offices in Maryland and across Virginia. WSSI assisted land developers navigate the Clean Water Act, Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act and local environmental regulations. Rolband’s lifelong interest in stormwater management and its interaction with natural waterbodies has led to changes in Virginia environmental laws. He has testified before the General Assembly and lectured to numerous organizations on stormwater management and mitigation, wetlands and stream regulatory policy and Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act regulations. Rolband was instrumental in developing Virginia’s new wetlands laws in 2000 and served on the technical advisory committee that developed subsequent regulations. He has been appointed to a number of advisory boards and stakeholder groups. The 2021 Virginia General Assembly honored Rolband and his extensive contributions through unanimous passage of Senate Joint Resolution 371. Rolband established the nonprofit Wetland Research Initiative in 2007 to fund applied research in wetlands creation, restoration and enhancement activities. It and a companion effort – the Stream Restoration Initiative – are both managed through the Resource Protection Group Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization Rolband founded in 2012. In 2017, Rolband was named a Professor of Practice by Cornell University, where he enjoyed teaching and mentoring engineering students through August 2020, and giving back to his alma mater, where he received his BS, M. Eng, and MBA.