About Samantha
Samantha Medlock built a career at the intersection of environmental planning, public policy and government service. She earned a J.D. from Vermont Law School in 2008, completing coursework in Land Use and Environmental Law. Earlier she took a B.S. in Government from Texas Woman's University in 1997.
Her first professional roles were local and regional. In 1999 she worked as an environmental planner for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. She moved into municipal planning in 2002 as director of planning for the Town of Flower Mound, then oversaw floodplain programs for the Lower Colorado River Authority in 2003. Those early positions anchored her practical understanding of land use, permitting and floodplain management.
By 2008 Medlock had shifted into policy work. That year she served as policy counsel for the Association of State Floodplain Managers, Inc., and joined the National Committee on Levee Safety. Those roles put her in regular contact with state and federal agencies on questions of infrastructure, risk and regulatory design.
Her career next moved into the federal executive branch. In 2014 she joined the White House Council on Environmental Quality as deputy associate director. A year later she worked as a senior advisor at the Office of Management and Budget. Those assignments involved coordination across agencies on environmental priorities and budgetary implications for programs that affect land and water resources.
Medlock also spent time in the private sector. In 2017 she became senior vice president and head of North America Capital, Science & Policy at Willis Towers Watson, a role that bridged corporate risk management and public policy. She later served as senior counsel to the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis in 2019, a position that placed her inside congressional work on climate-related legislation and oversight.
In academe she has taught as an adjunct professor at The Santa Barbara and Ventura Colleges of Law, bringing practical and policy experience into the classroom. Her resume shows a pattern of moving between on-the-ground planning, association advocacy, federal policy posts and private-sector strategy.
Medlock’s background centers on environmental regulation, land use planning and floodplain issues. She combines operational experience from local government and water authorities with policy work at national levels. She currently focuses on environmental, land use and floodplain policy.
