Meet the team
Rhiannon Kincaid, PE - Founder
Rhiannon has over two decades of experience in disaster mitigation, planning, and recovery. She has also worked in engineering design and environmental planning.
Her expertise is rooted in her senior leadership roles at FEMA, where she most recently served as the national program manager responsible for successfully implementing the Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). This role required building a national program from the ground up, demanding strategic direction, coordination with Congressional and external stakeholders, and effective translation of agency goals into actionable, large-scale plans.
Rhiannon is a specialist in program development and implementation, with a proven ability to translate complex legislative requirements into compliant, long-term infrastructure solutions. She excels at developing strategic policy, program guidance, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for new initiatives. Her experience leading highly effective, multidisciplinary teams in politically sensitive environments makes her an invaluable partner for entities seeking resilient and sustainably funded environmental solutions.
Rhiannon Kucharski
Rhiannon has over 20 years of experience in large public sector projects. Fifteen of those years were spent with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, most recently leading the civil and public works program for Alaska, Hawaii and the Pacific, a portfolio of roughly $25 million a year covering flood and coastal storm risk, navigation, ecosystem restoration, and climate resilience.
She has run programs of thirty or more concurrent projects, negotiated cost share agreements with cities, counties, states, and tribal governments, served as a congressional and legislative liaison, and delivered the first two USACE Tribal Partnership Program watershed studies in the country.
She is a trained facilitator and a fluent Spanish speaker, which matters when the engagement plan has to reach residents that standard notice misses.
As a company, we prioritize employing former federal employees and federal contractors who know how to work for the people and get large projects done quickly. We have a large number of contractual staff available for specific projects, including:
Attorneys experienced with legislative processes and policy development
Public involvement specialists
Hazard Mitigation experts with 20+ years strengthening communities before and after disasters
Emergency Management professionals with decades of experience helping people before, during, and after disasters
Environmental professionals from all over the world with experience developing climate mitigation strategies for international clients
Certifications
Forward and Upward LLC is a Small Business Association (SBA) Certified Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB). We are Virginia Department or Small Business and Supplier Diversity (SBSD) certified Small, Micro, Women Owned Business.
We are happy to join your team to fill small business requirements on your next proposal!
Our core competencies include:
Policy & Program Architecture: We create the foundational structure for new programs, from translating high-level national goals into concrete plans and drafting funding opportunity documentation, to developing national coordination strategies for consistent, successful implementation.
Climate & Environmental Resilience: Our technical background and direct experience in developing hazard mitigation programs, along with our work on initiatives promoting climate resiliency position us to create programs meet modern environmental standards and protect critical infrastructure.
Large-Scale Grant & Fund Administration: We provide strategic direction for major grants and funds, overseeing project closeout and adherence to strict financial and administrative regulations. Our experience includes supervising teams on disaster recovery and infrastructure projects totaling over $5 Billion in value.
Inter-Agency and Stakeholder Coordination: We excel at representing our clients in negotiations and working groups with national and sub-national government agencies, tribal partners, contractors, and professional groups. We ensure program goals are shared efficiently and through effective communication.
Partner With a Proven Leader
We understand the pressure of high-stakes, high-visibility climate investment. Our history of leadership, from leading new infrastructure funding programs to managing complex recovery operations across the United States, demonstrates our ability to mobilize quickly and achieve results under challenging circumstances.
Forward and Upward is ready to apply this experience to your needs, ensuring your environmental and infrastructure initiatives are not just strategically sound, but well-executed, financially defensible, and globally impactful.