Marie Campbell

Marie is principal and owner of Sapphos Environmental, Inc. She became a member of the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) while a graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the 1980s. Through her involvement with NAEP, she has participated in nearly 30 national conferences, served on the Board, including a term as Board President, and established meaningful relationships with amazing environmental professionals. Now, as a Fellow, Marie is committed to sharing stories, skills, and opportunities with other environmental professionals and, in turn, hopes to learn from them.

Marie (aka mc2) is an environmental compliance specialist with more than 40 years of experience in managing public- and private-sector projects that need strategic planning, environmental compliance documentation, and resource management. She has extensive experience with environmental compliance documentation for capital improvement projects for transportation, energy, recreation, health care, and water. In the most recent decade, Marie has been honored to support the California High-Speed Rail Project as the California High-Speed Rail Authority advances the most comprehensive terrestrial infrastructure project in the nation’s history. Marie is grateful for the opportunity to do meaningful work, in partnership with exceptional professionals, throughout her career. Marie has no intention of emigrating to Mars and believes the time invested in her work is time well spent facilitating constructive progress at local, State, and national levels. Her active participation in the NAEP has expanded her technical, project management, and leadership skills, and she strongly encourages environmental professionals, and those who aspire to the career, to join NAEP and take full advantage of the tagline … Be Connected!

Marie has been a member of NAEP and California AEP throughout her career and credits the role membership has played in her professional growth and achievements. In her early years in NAEP, she met regularly with a student cohort at UCLA, where she earned an undergraduate degree in Ecosystems: Conservation of Natural Resources. When accepted into graduate school, in the Geography Department, she focused her thesis work on post-fire rill erosion in chaparral habitat. She was awarded a teaching assistant position and ultimately hired to teach new teaching assistants in course entitled The Teach of College Geography. This early phase of Marie’s career provided an opportunity to verify that she was on the right path and build the skills needed to serve as an environmental professional.Her participation in NAEP introduced her to other aspiring and accomplished environmental professionals with whom she could exchange ideas and information.

After two years, she was hired on P-appointment as an environmental analyst at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). During her five-year tenure with the Corp, she progressed from analyst to Manager of the Environmental Resources Branch. Continuing to build skills and teach others, this phase of Marie’s career crystallized the importance of human relationships in fostering positive change, as well as the need to build trust and connections with environmental specialist coworkers along with other engineering, planning, and economic specialists. This period in Marie’s career demonstrated the importance of leadership based on enabling others, respect, empathy, and the need to work with a team to develop a shared vision. Her continued participation in NAEP created a broader understanding of the importance that each group of environmental professionals play in the process, including teachers, subject matter experts, regulatory agency oversight personnel, and decision-makers and the importance of engaging with each party respectfully.

She left the Corps to join the private sector in 1987 as an associate leading a team of environmental professionals in conducting technical studies and preparing environmental documents under the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act.  One of the most meaningful efforts she worked on during this time was the establishment of a conservation area to preserve a great blue heron rookery and land proposed for development by the Irvine Company that involved mediation and negotiation with the property owner, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, subject matter experts, and a municipal water district.  She also experienced firsthand the impact of a company that does not build systems or processes to allow successful implementation of the vision. At this time in her career, she was participating in support roles in NAEP and California AEP, serving as a trainer, and supporting AEP Los Angeles Chapter activities.

After five years, she left to create Sapphos Environmental, Inc., an environmental consulting firm that specializes in projects that have a high risk for litigation due to public controversy. Sapphos Environmental, Inc. has been fortunate to have amazing environmental professionals who serve on the team and do outstanding work. During this period, Marie served and continues to serve in leadership positions in the NAEP and California AEP, including serving as NAEP president from 2017 to 2019, and being inducted as a Fellow in 2025. Marie encourages you to embrace membership in NAEP and one of the many affiliated Chapters so that your professional life is all that it can be!

Marie discusses environmental consulting, leadership, diversity, and mentorship in podcast appearances. Key appearances include “Women-Owned Environmental Consulting” on Environmental Professionals Radio (May 2021) and “The Importance of Mentorship” on the California Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP) podcast (July 2021).