Christina Omran, FCCM, PWS, doesn’t shy away from a challenge — she seeks it out and actively seeks opportunities to help others. With a technical background in environmental science and a commitment to service, she has built a reputation defined by adaptability and impact, earning recognition as one of Tallahassee’s 25 Women You Need to Know.
Omran relocated from St. Johns County to Tallahassee to attend Florida State University — working full time while juggling two jobs and an internship with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. She was selected for Dr. Jim Mayo’s Social Science Scholar program, introducing her to public policy, shifting her path from the lab to public outreach.
Christina Omran is one of the 25 Women You Need to Know for 2026.
She also supported the Deepsea to Coast Connectivity program, part of the Gulf of Mexico [Gulf of America] Research Initiative, working in a public relations role alongside multiple universities studying and remediating the impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Two years later while working for Ecology and Environment, Inc. on behalf of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, she returned to school and earned a master’s degree in aquatic environmental science, specializing in wetlands and flood protection, along with a certificate in Urban and Regional Planning.
Over her career, she’s served the department as both a state employee and private consultant, for the Divisions of Waste Management, Water Resource Management, and Environmental Assessment and Restoration, including successfully working under the leadership of three secretaries.
In early 2020, as economic uncertainty and unemployment surged nationwide, Christina pivoted to workforce development and began her role with the Florida Department of Commerce as Florida’s Rapid Response program coordinator.
A look at Tallahassee’s 25 Women, 5 Young Women honorees for 2026
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The 25 Women You Need to Know and 5 Young Women to Watch class of 2026
Under the leadership of former Secretary Dane Eagle and Division Director Adrienne Johnston, she helped lead efforts to connect displaced workers with new employment and training opportunities, playing a key role in developing workforce and employee re-training policies and systems that improved program delivery and accountability across all workforce development boards.
“I’m really proud of that work,” she says. “Our policies and trainings allowed the State to respond quickly and effectively during a crisis.”
She emphasized that her success was driven by teamwork, crediting the Bureau of Workforce Statistics and Economic Research for the data that informed her recommendations.
She believes policymaking should be grounded in strong data, a principle she also applied as the former Executive Director of the Florida Commission on the Status of Women. She cited role models including Senator Kathleen Passidomo, Commissioner Lori Day, and Chairman Rodney Barreto.
In 2024, she was honored with the National Emerging Environmental Professional Award for her work on environmental policy, including advocacy and contributions to the Clean Waterways Act. “Doing good science is a service to the people of Florida,” she says, “every hour spent was worth it to keep Florida’s water clean for the next generation.”
Outside of community service and her career, she enjoys time with family and kayaking on local waterways, including Lake Talquin, the Wacissa River, Guana River, and Wakulla Springs. “I’ve flipped my kayak in the rougher waters of the Atlantic Ocean,” she laughed. “I plan to master those waves.”
When asked to give her younger self advice, she said “I wouldn’t.” Because “being a jack-of-all-trades, curious and open to new people and places and things has been so beneficial that I’m not sure I would send her down any other path.”
Christina Omran believes it’s possible to balance competing priorities, like economic development and land conservation, because strategic leaders find a way to make both work.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 25 Women for ’26: Christina Omran combines science, public service