At age 18, Oliver (“Ollie”) Kroner wanted an adventure. Following the example of his Peace Corps parents, the newly minted Walnut Hills High School graduate joined Americorps and headed to New Mexico.
Unable to find an apartment he could afford, he invested his $3,000 life savings in a 1970s single-wide trailer and spent a year working on trails and fire management in a national forest.
He didn’t know he was also blazing a career path that would lead him right back to Cincinnati – and to his dream job as director of Cincinnati’s Office of Environment & Sustainability.
“It really reshaped me,” Kroner said of his time out west, when he spent much of his free time reading. Climate was a frequent topic of choice.
“I came to realize that climate would be the biggest challenge of our lifetime, and it looked like a space in need of innovation,” he said. “I was drawn to that.”
Before his year of public service, Kroner had found himself drawn to Boston, where he’d visited his uncle. “It really felt like the intellectual center of the universe,” he said.
Although he followed through with his plans to attend Northeastern University (where he played NCAA table tennis), he switched his major from psychology to environmental studies.
“I always liked problems and problem-solving and puzzles. The climate crisis was sort of this complex tangle of technology, policy and behavior change,” he said.
A sense of community
Kroner didn’t expect to return to Cincinnati. But he found Boston’s high student population gave it a transient feel, and he missed the sense of community back home.
“When I graduated college, Cincinnati was hitting its stride,” he said. “It had a real momentum and a sense that you were invited to help shape it.”
So he moved back in 2006 and worked for a non-governmental organization focused on the science behind public health policy while earning his master’s in environmental sciences from Miami University. Meanwhile, he joined the Northside Community Council, became its president and, with some neighbors, founded a biodiesel co-op. The startup did well – “until it sort of became apparent that electric vehicles were the future,” he said.
When the job of sustainability coordinator in Cincinnati’s Office of Environment & Sustainability opened up in 2016, it felt like a perfect fit: It combined the analytical policy work of the NGO, the coalition work of the community council and the entrepreneurial aspects of the startup.
Since then, the office has grown from seven to 20 employees, with Kroner rising to director, and it has increased the breadth and depth of its work.
His work focuses on implementing the Green Cincinnati Plan. His team studies how climate will impact the city’s operations, the economy and residents’ quality of life – and what they’re going to do about it. That vision is bigger than his office, so the work involves partnering with NGOs, businesses and other branches of government.
“In all honesty, I have my dream job; this is exactly what I wanted to do,” he said. “I have nightmares that I somehow change jobs and I don’t get to do this anymore.”
Kroner sees cities as “the center of the equation” of the climate crisis: Their residents are experiencing climate impacts, they’re responsible for the majority of climate emissions, and they have an agility that states and countries lack,” he said.
“I think Cincinnati is respected and admired by other cities around the country for the climate work we’re doing here,” he said. “I think we have a lot of progress to show for a city of our size.”
Van Sullivan, interim executive director of Green Umbrella, agrees.
“We’re often talked about in the same breath as the Bostons, the Chicagos, the New Yorks, because of the creativity and the ability to swing big,” Sullivan said, adding that Kroner has been a big part of that. “His leadership, his big ideas, his ability to make connections both locally and nationally have really helped put Cincinnati on the map.”
Creating a lasting legacy
“Ollie’s the kind of leader who elevates work simply by being in the room,” added Kylie Johnson, managing director of field advocacy at Ohio Environmental Council and OEC Action Fund. “His presence and depth of knowledge has created a lasting legacy for climate resilience and equitability in our city that can be directly attributed to his leadership.”
Among the city’s successes: It has reduced the city’s carbon emissions nearly 40% since 2006, and is making progress on issues such as green infrastructure, clean energy, public transportation, tree canopy and energy poverty, Kroner said.
One of the projects Kroner’s most excited about is the conversion of a dormant landfill in Winton Hills into a 10-megawatt solar farm. Construction on the $24 million, 64-acre project will begin this spring and should be completed in 2027. According to the city, the project will produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 1,200 homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 16,000 metric tons per year. That energy will power city facilities and save the city money, Kroner said.
Kroner and his team are also working to position Cincinnati for population growth from climate migration, which he believes is in the city’s future. Away from the sea level rise and hurricanes of the coasts, Cincinnati isn’t experiencing forest fires; the Ohio River provides plenty of fresh water with “world class water utilities;” and the tree canopy will help the city adapt to rising temperatures.
“We have a lot of really important ingredients in what makes an attractive city of the future,” he said.
For Cincinnati’s climate progress, Kroner believes, to quote a photo in his office, that “the next big thing will be a lot of small things.” He sees Cincinnati’s neighborhoods, with their walkable business districts, as key.
“If we can continue to grow people-oriented neighborhoods, that is a climate solution; that is a quality of life solution that leans into the strengths we already had,” he said.
Walking the walk
Kroner is also a big believer in individual climate action. “The choices we make in what we purchase, in the food we eat, how we get to work – they all add up pretty significantly,” he said. “And one thing I know about behavior is: It’s contagious.”
He lives on a mostly wooded acre in College Hill with his wife and their three children (ages 6 through 13), all of them contributing to the family’s “homesteading project.” That includes growing some of their own food, composting, removing invasive honeysuckle and recycling. They have solar panels on the roof and get around via electric cars.
Kroner serves on the Mill Creek Alliance board and UC Center for Public Engagement With Science (PEWS) Advisory Board. Nationally, he’s on the committee for the Urban Sustainability Directors Network catalytic fund.
He also has a whole list of hobbies befitting a self-described slow thinker with fast reflexes: Soccer, skiing, chess, reading, guitar and digital composing.
“Slow” is also an apt description for the pace of government, and Kroner’s patience with and ability to find excitement in it make him well-suited to his work. So does his ability to make connections.
“He is a systems thinker; he can look at a landscape of highly complex issues, which climate work is, and see connection – not only between issues but also between champions and other people passionate about this work,” Green Umbrella’s Sullivan said. “He is a true connector; he knows how to help people feel connected to the work and get plugged in in a way that is meaningful to them.”
Sullivan experienced that firsthand when they moved back to Cincinnati in 2017 after a decade on the East Coast. A cold call to Kroner and conversation about their similar backgrounds led Sullivan to a fellowship with the city. After working with him there and as a partner at Green Umbrella, they now consider him a friend.
“He is just a very thoughtful person, a deep thinker, and his systems-level perspective that he brings always strengthens his work and the people around him,” OEC’s Johnson said. “I’ve seen him stay calm, cool and collected in really challenging situations. … I aspire to be a leader like him.”
And, importantly, Kroner’s an optimist.
“It’s very easy to be pessimistic in a climate space, but I’m not,” he said. “I think we have forever changed the world, no doubt about it. But I think we have a lot of working solutions that are impacting people’s lives today, and they’ll continue to grow.”
“I’m optimistic that we’re making real impact,” he added of his work with the city. “Every day we’re doing real-world climate action. I have hope.”
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