      
 Conflict and Natural Resources Specialist, USAID Ms. Mary Ackley is a Conflict and Natural Resources Specialist (Foreign Service) within USAID’s Bureau for Democracy and Humanitarian Assistance in the Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation (DCHA/CMM). Ms. Ackley supports USAID’s overseas Missions to effectively deliver development assistance in conflict-affected or fragile contexts, with a focus on climate change, water resources, and food security programming. Ms. Ackley previously served as Environment Officer at USAID/Sri Lanka and Maldives, where she managed the Mission’s global climate change adaptation portfolio in Maldives and was responsible for Mission-wide environmental compliance. Ms. Ackley came to USAID from the private sector, where her experience included program planning, design, and evaluation of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, green building, environmental remediation and compliance. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji and later directed the award-winning documentary film Rock of Gold about the extractive industries, climate change, and conflict in Fiji. Ms. Ackley holds a master’s degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of Vermont and a bachelor’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan.  CCRD Chief of Party; Engility Corporation
Over the last 23 years, Dr. Glen Anderson has worked in 41 countries in the areas of climate adaptation, benefit-cost analysis, environmental and economic policy, water resources management, and environmental finance. In addition to his project management duties as COP for CCRD, he is leading adaptation work in Kazakhstan, training on adaptation, and is serving as editor and contributing author of a primer on the economics of weather, climate, and hydrological services, a joint effort of the WMO, The World Bank, and the CSP (with financial support from USAID through CCRD). He received his B.A. from the University of Washington in Economics and holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
 Environment Officer, USAID Mr. Rolf R. Anderson is an Environment Officer (Foreign Service) at USAID, with 30 years of experience in international development, business, and consulting. He is currently the Director of the USAID Global Climate Change Office in E3. He has been a Foreign Service Officer since 2000, and has managed energy, environment, and economic growth programs in the Philippines, Armenia, and in the West African Regional Program (Bamako). Mr. Anderson has a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the University of Washington.  Senior Research Scientist and the Head of the Regional and Sectoral research program, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)
Dr. Walter E. Baethgen is a Senior Research Scientist and the Head of the Regional and Sectoral research program in the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Earth Institute, Columbia University. Before joining the IRI, Dr. Baethgen was a Senior Scientist in the Research and Development Division of IFDC (International Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development Center) where he worked mainly in Information and Decision Support Systems for the Agricultural Sector (1987-2003). Dr. Baethgen has acted as a consultant for the IDB, the United, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Science, as well as governments and the private sector of several countries throughout Latin America. He was a lead author in IPCC’s Second, Third, and Fourth Assessment Reports and review editor for IPCC’s special issue on Technology Transfer. He has served as a member of scientific advisory committees of several international organizations including the CGIAR’s Science Council, IAI, IGBP, CIIFEN, and WMO. Dr. Baethgen obtained his Ph.D and M.S. degrees in Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Uruguay.  Senior Director, MASS Design Group
Ms. Sierra Bainbridge is the Senior Director at MASS Design Group, a nonprofit architecture firm that leverages design and construction to improve livelihoods and service delivery in low-resource communities around the world. She directs the ongoing design and implementation of MASS’s planning and architectural projects, and is currently overseeing work on a number of academic and medical facilities. MASS was founded in 2010 around the design of the award-winning Butaro Hospital and campus in Burere District, Rwanda. The group’s portfolio also includes the Diarrheal Disease Treatment Center and the MDR-TB Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, designed for earthquake resistance and infection control, and such policy projects as the Liberian Ministry of Health’s National Design Standards and Guidelines. MASS has been named finalist for the TED Prize, Aga Khan Award, and Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Before joining MASS, Ms. Bainbridge worked for four years at James Corner Field Operations, primarily in design and oversight of implementation of Section 1 for the New York City High Line. She has taught graduate-level studios at various universities, and from 2010 to 2012 served as Head of the Architecture Department at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Rwanda, where she was instrumental in inspiring the current curriculum.
 Foreign Service Environment Officer, USAID Ms. Monica Bansal is a Foreign Service Environment Officer, currently in E3’s Energy Division. Prior to this position, she stood up and managed the Climate Change Office for USAID/Dominican Republic, where she led the design of the new five-year climate change strategy and project design for the country, which focused on a broad range of adaptation issues, including climate-informed urban planning, micro-insurance for farmers, and coral reef restoration in tourism-dependent regions, among many others. She has a background in urban planning and global climate change (specifically in urban transportation, air quality and GHG emissions, green buildings, and land use planning) with professional experience in local government, NGOs, and academia. Ms. Bansal holds an M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a B.A. in Environmental Thought and Practice from the University of Virginia.
 Global Climate Change Coordinator, USAID
Dr. Kit Batten was appointed as the USAID Global Climate Change Coordinator in January 2011, where she coordinates all climate change activities across all bureaus in the Agency. Previously, Dr. Batten was Senior Science and Policy Fellow and Program Director at the Heinz Center’s Institute for Science Communication and Policy Development. In this role, she taught scientists from academia, government, and NGOs how to communicate about the results of their research with policy makers and the media. Dr. Batten also served as the Science Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the Interior where she focused her efforts on the communication of climate change science, adaptation strategies for cultural and natural resources, and mitigation strategies. Dr. Batten was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress where she directed the energy and climate change policy team. She also served in the offices of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) as Legislative Assistant and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellow. As a postdoctoral associate, Dr. Batten worked for the National Ecological Observatory Network at the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Dr. Batten received a B.A. in chemistry from Oberlin College and a M.S. and Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis.
 Meteorologist, Jamaica Meteorological Service Mr. Glenroy Brown is a Meteorologist with the Jamaica Meteorological Service climate branch and is in charge of its seasonal climate outlook products and programs. Mr. Brown has over twenty years of experience in the weather forecasting office. He currently overseas and manages all climate-smart tools at the climate branch. In 1998, Mr. Brown received his formal training from the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology in Barbados. He currently lectures at the Caribbean Maritime Institute and is also involved in climate change activities both locally and regionally.
 Professor, University of Arizona
Mr. James Buizer is Professor of Climate Adaptation in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and Director of the Climate Adaptation and International Development Program in the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on mechanisms to incorporate scientifically based findings of projected impacts of climate variability and change into development decisions. Mr. Buizer is Co-Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the 5-year (2013-2018) NOAA and USAID funded project: Integrating Climate Information and Decision Processes for Regional Climate Resilience. From 2003-2011 he served as Senior Policy Advisor to the President at Arizona State University, where he led the design and establishment of the Global Institute of Sustainability, and its degree-granting School. Prior to ASU, Mr. Buizer was Director of the Climate and Societal Interactions Division at NOAA in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for designing and leading interdisciplinary research and applications programs positioned at the climate and societal interface. These include the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program, the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), among others. Mr. Buizer’s degrees are in Oceanography and Marine Policy from the University of Washington.  Director, Climate Science and Applications Program (CSAP), the National Center for Atmospheric Research Dr. Lawrence Buja is the Director of the Climate Science and Applications Program (CSAP) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. CSAP addresses societal vulnerability, climate impacts, and adaptation to climate change through the use of scenarios of projected climate change, development of tools and methods for analyzing current and future vulnerability, and integrated analyses of climate impacts and adaptation at local, regional, and global scales. His focus areas are governance of inter-linked natural and managed-resource systems; the role of urban areas in driving emissions of climate change; weather, climate, and human health; integrated vulnerability and adaptation frameworks; GIS-based science data and knowledge systems; and regional climate science for adaptation. Previously, Dr. Buja was the Scientific Project Manager for simulations of Earth's past, present, and future climates with NCAR's Community Climate System Model, which makes up the joint U.S. NSF/DOE submission to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr. Buja is a contributing author to both the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report (AR3) and the breakthrough IPCC AR4 in 2007. He also works closely with The World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, and other international agencies to apply NCAR’s climate and social science expertise and help guide sustainable development strategies throughout the developing world.
 Director of Science and Exploration, The Mountain Institute
Dr. Alton C. Byers works as Director of Science and Exploration at The Mountain Institute (TMI) and as Co-Manager of the High Mountains Adaptation Partnership (HiMAP). He is a mountain geographer, conservationist, and mountaineer specializing in applied research, high-altitude ecosystems, climate change, and integrated conservation and development programs. He received his doctorate from the University of Colorado in 1987, focusing on landscape change, soil erosion, and vegetation dynamics in the Sagarmatha National Park, Khumbu, Nepal. He joined The Mountain Institute in 1990 as Environmental Advisor, and has since worked as Co-manager of the Makalu-Barun National Park (Nepal Programs), founder and Director of Andean Programs, Director of Appalachian Programs, and, Director of Science and Exploration. His recent awards include the American Alpine Club’s David Brower Conservation Award; the Association of American Geographer’s Distinguished Career Award; the Mountain Steward Award from The Nature Conservancy; and the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal. Dr. Byers has published widely on a range of scientific topics, and is an author and editor of Mountain Geography: Human and Physical Dimensions, published in September 2013, by the University of California Press at Berkeley.
 Director, The Urban Institute – Center on International Development and Governance Mr. Charles Cadwell is a lawyer with 30 years of experience in economic reform, deregulation, research oversight, and nonprofit leadership in the United States and in developing countries. Mr. Cadwell joined the Urban Institute in May 2007, where he coordinates the research and technical assistance efforts of staff and partners on projects around the globe. His own work targets governance reform, aid effectiveness, and integrating research and policy reform. Current projects include support for think-tank capacity-building in Indonesia, collaboration with colleagues supporting new municipal structures in Kosovo, developing new multi-country data on the structure and operation of the local public sector, service delivery, and addressing barriers to implementation of poverty-reducing reforms. Mr. Cadwell is a graduate of Yale College and the National Law Center at The George Washington University. He has worked in the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, the Office of Advocacy at the U.S. Small Business Administration, in private law practice, and, in the pre-Internet era, in the export information business. From 1990 to 2006, Mr. Cadwell was Director of the IRIS Center in the Department of Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park.
 Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Director, Humanitarian Response and Development Laboratory, University of South Carolina Dr. Edward R. Carr is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina, where he directs the Humanitarian Response and Development Laboratory (HURDL). From September 2010 to August 2012, he was an AAAS fellow serving at the United States Agency for International Development, first as the climate change coordinator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) and later as a climate change science advisor on the Climate Change Team in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and the Environment (E3). He then served as a consultant to the World Bank on issues of adaptation and development. For more than 15 years, he has worked in rural sub-Saharan Africa on issues of globalization, development and environmental change, living in and working with various rural communities. He is the author of more than 30 publications on issues of development, adaptation to climate change, and the changing global environment. Dr. Carr has served as a lead author of two global environmental assessments – the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and UNEP’s Fourth Global Environment Outlook – and was the review editor for Chapter 9 – Rural Areas, of Working Group II of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Dr. Carr holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Kentucky, a Ph.D. and MA in Anthropology from Syracuse University, and a BA with High Distinction from the University of Virginia.
 Senior Climate Change Integration Specialist, USAID Ms. Becky Chacko is the Senior Climate Change Integration Specialist at USAID. Ms. Chacko has been spearheading USAID’s efforts to integrate climate change considerations across agency programming since 2013. Previously, she worked as the Senior Director for Climate Policy at Conservation International, where she led a global team to leverage CI’s field experience and scientific expertise to inform international, regional and national climate and development policies. Ms. Chacko also formerly worked as an International Relations Specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She represented NOAA and the U.S. government in international policy fora and bilateral meetings on issues including disaster management, climate change, and oceans, and helped establish a new partnership to share remote sensing resources in the Western Hemisphere. Ms. Chacko was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon and holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School and a B.A. from the University of Iowa.  Foreign Affairs Officer, U.S. Department of State As a Foreign Affairs Officer at the Office of Global Change in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, Ms. Christina Chan leads the State Department’s efforts on adaptation. She is the U.S. Adaptation Negotiator for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She currently co-chairs the UNFCCC’s Adaptation Committee. Ms. Chan also manages several U.S. adaptation programs, including the U.S. contribution to the UN Least Developed Country Fund and Special Climate Change Fund. Before joining the State Department, Christina worked at CARE USA, where she served in various capacities, including as a Project Manager for a community-based disaster risk-management program in Nepal and as a Senior Policy Analyst on climate change for CARE’s advocacy team in the United States. Christina holds a bachelor’s degree in human biology with a concentration in international development from Stanford University and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning with a concentration in international development from Cornell University. She is the recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
 Climate Change Specialist, USAID
Mr. Jonathan Cook is a Climate Change Specialist with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, D.C. He provides technical support on adaptation to USAID staff and partners across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and supports the integration of climate change considerations into USAID activities. Before joining USAID in 2012, Mr. Cook spent seven years at the World Wildlife Fund, including stints with the Macroeconomics Program Office, Greater Mekong Program (based in Vientiane, Lao PDR), and the Adaptation Program for which he served as Deputy Director. He is the co-author of several books, articles, and publications, including Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning for Mangrove Systems (WWF, 2012). Mr. Cook holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
 Senior Climate Adaptation Specialist, Engility Corporation Mr. Michael E. Cote is a Senior Climate Adaptation Specialist with Engility's International Development Services Group. He specializes in integrating adaptation options across sectors in developing country contexts, and has a special interest in eminent domain and compulsory purchase as adaptation options for coastal cities. Under USAID's Climate Change Resilient Development (CCRD) project, Mr. Cote is the Coordinator of the High Mountains Adaptation Partnership program in Nepal and Peru; Technical Lead for an urban planning technology project called CIMPACT-DST in Vietnam; and Director of Communications for the overall CCRD project. Mr. Cote has published over 25 technical reports and journal articles on the laws and policies of climate adaptation, sustainable land-use planning, and institutional capacity building. He is currently an editor for The International Journal of Climate Change, member of USAID/GCC’s National Adaptation Plan working group, and was an Expert Reviewer on the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Working Group II. He also serves as Engility’s focal point to the UNFCCC Nairobi Work Programme on Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation. Mr. Cote holds a Master of Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School, and a Master of Urban Planning from University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  Knowledge Management Lead, USAID Dr. Amy Daniels is Knowledge Management Lead for Global Climate Change at the U.S. Agency for International Development. She is leading the development of Climatelinks, a global knowledge portal that will synthesize and curate information, as well as facilitate knowledge-sharing among practitioners. Climatelinks aims to inform and support continuous improvements in the design and delivery of climate-smart programming. Dr. Daniels leverages a decade of experience in the developing country context--from Bolivia to the Philippines - working in land use change modeling, community forestry, integrated watershed management, and the design and evaluation of payments for ecosystem services. Dr. Daniels spent over four years with U.S. Forest Service Research as National Program Leader for Landscape Science. She co-authored the USFS Roadmap for Responding to Climate Change, led an agency-wide scoping dialogue, published guidance on the appropriate use of climate simulations, and then worked to integrate climate change projections into spatially explicit models that support decision-making. She led a nine-agency working group to standardize selection criteria for downscaled climate projections across a wide variety of adaptation planning needs. Dr. Daniels earned a B.A. in Biology from Wesleyan College and a M.S. & Ph.D. from University of Florida, funded by NASA, NSF & Fulbright Fellowships.
 Director of Population, Environmental Security and Resilience, Wilson Center Mr. Roger-Mark De Souza leads the Wilson Center’s programs on climate change resilience, reproductive and maternal health, environmental security, and livelihoods, including the Global Sustainability and Resilience Program, Environmental Change and Security Program, and Maternal Health Initiative. Before joining the Center in 2013, Mr. De Souza served as Vice President of research and Director of the climate program at Population Action International, where he provided strategic guidance, technical oversight, and management of programs on population, gender, climate change, environment, and reproductive health. From 2007 to 2010, as the Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations at the Sierra Club, he led a multi-million dollar foundation and corporate fundraising program. Prior to working at the Sierra Club, he directed the Population, Health, and Environment Program at the Population Reference Bureau for 10 years, where he designed and implemented research, communications, and capacity-building projects in the United States, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Mr. De Souza holds graduate degrees in international relations and development policy from George Washington University and the University of the West Indies.
 Forest Engineer, Independent Consultant Ms. Maria Sofia Dunin-Borkowski works on the local coordination of the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Service Program (CRIS) with the personal from the Municipality of Piura in Peru. She previously worked on mapping and the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in coordination with local governments and institutions, including district municipalities and the Regional Governments of Piura, Cajamarca, and Arequipa in Peru. Ms. Dunin-Borkowski worked at the University of Piura until 2009 and currently collaborates with some master's courses at the same university. Her main skills are related to project management, land development planning, and development of collaborative community planning processes. Ms. Dunin-Borkowski has worked as an Independent Consultant for U.S., German, and Spanish Cooperation, among others. Her vocational training is in forestry and she has a diploma in remote sensing and GIS by DSE. Her main skills are the systematization of information, quickly identifying key problems and alternative solutions, the exposition of ideas and producing and specialized documents, collaboration and teamwork, and the flexibility and ability to solve unforeseen situations.
 Senior Climate Change Specialist, USAID Ms. Jenny Frankel-Reed is a Senior Climate Change Specialist with USAID’s Climate Change Office in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3), where she provides technical support to programs in 20 countries and regions across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Ms. Frankel-Reed has worked on the vulnerability and adaptation dimensions of climate change for more than 12 years, including vulnerability assessment, adaptation project design, climate services, and international climate financing. In addition to providing technical field support, she coordinates the USAID and NASA SERVIR partnership to help more than 30 developing countries take advantage of satellite data for natural resources management, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation to climate change. Before joining USAID in 2010, she served as Technical Advisor for a German International Cooperation (GIZ) project based in India, was an Adaptation Advisor with the Environment and Energy Group of the United Nations Development Program, worked as a Climate Change Consultant to the Global Environment Facility, and was an Analyst at the World Resources Institute. Ms. Frankel-Reed holds a Masters from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Bachelors from Willamette University.
 Climate Change Specialist, USAID Mr. John Furlow is the USAID climate change team’s leader on impacts and adaptation in developing countries. He led the development of the USAID’s Climate-Resilient Development Framework, he manages global programs that provide adaptation assistance to countries worldwide, and he travels regularly to work on the ground with governments, stakeholders and USAID Missions on efforts ranging from climate vulnerability assessment to project design and planning. Mr. Furlow is currently on a detail to the State Department where he is working on establishing the National Adaptation Planning Global Network.  Director, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) Dr. Lisa Goddard is the Director of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), a senior research scientist at the IRI and an adjunct associate professor within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Columbia University. Dr. Goddard’s research is aimed at improving the quality and content of climate predictions. She has extensive experience in forecasting methodology and has published papers on El Niño, seasonal climate forecasting and verification, and probabilistic climate change projections. Much of Dr. Goddard’s research focuses on diagnosing and extracting meaningful information from climate models and available observations. She has developed and oversees a national post-doctoral program, the Post-docs Applying Climate Expertise Program (PACE), which explicitly links recent climate PhDs with decision-making institutions. In addition, Dr. Goddard also sits on several national and international science advisory panels, and is the Co-chair of International CLIVAR under the World Climate Research Programme. Dr. Goddard received her Ph.D. in atmospheric and oceanic sciences from Princeton University and her B.A. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley.  Director, Instituto Privado de Investigación sobre Cambio Climático (ICC), Guatemala Dr. Alex Guerra Noriega has been the Director of the Instituto Privado de Investigación sobre Cambio Climático since 2010. Besides this position, he has lectured at Del Valle University since 2012. Previously, he was an Associate Researcher in climate change and disasters at the Environmental Studies Centre, Del Valle University, Guatemala. He worked at Defensores de la Naturaleza Foundation from 2004 to 2005 and then again in 2010, particularly in the field of water resources. Dr. Guerra Noriega also worked as a Consultant for the United Nations Development Programme in Guatemala, writing the Climate Change and Human Development Report in collaboration with another climate change expert. He has published work on climate-related disaster risk, water resource management, and in recent years has focused on climate adaptation. He was the Lead Coordinator of the 1st Climate Change Conference in Guatemala in 2014. Dr. Guerra Noriega holds a PhD in Geography and the Environment from Oxford University; his doctoral dissertation focused on Climate-related Disaster Risk in Mountain areas. He also holds an M.S. in Water Science, Policy, and Management from the same university. His first degree was completed at Del Valle University in Guatemala in the field of forestry.
 Ph.D. candidate, University of Colorado Boulder Ms. Ulyana N. Horodyskyj is a Ph.D. candidate in geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Before entering the graduate program at CU, she completed her B.S. in Earth Sciences at Rice University and a Master’s of Science in planetary geology at Brown University. Since 2011, Ulyana has been traveling to the Himalaya, collecting data on the growth and deepening of supraglacial lakes, as well as wind-borne pollution effects from black carbon and dust on high-altitude snowpacks. From September 2013 to June 2014, she lived abroad in Nepal, as a U.S. Fulbright scholar. During her 10-month fellowship, Ms. Horodyskyj logged nearly 1,000 miles in the Khumbu, Gokyo, NarPhu, and Annapurna valleys in eastern and central Nepal. In addition to giving lectures to the public, she has guided student expeditions for National Geographic and taught glaciology in the North Cascades for a “Girls on Ice” science and mountaineering program. Ms. Horodyskyj will be defending her Ph.D. in May 2015 and then plans to continue her field research with an expedition to the Zanskar Himalaya in late August 2015.
 Capacity Building Coordinator, Milieukontakt Macedonia Dr. Aleksandar “Alek” Karaev, an economist, specializes in project management and training in the field of Climate Change and Economic Development. In the last three years, he has been engaged by Milieukontakt Macedonia as a capacity-building coordinator of the USAID supported project Municipal Climate Change Strategies (MCCS) in Macedonia. He is responsible for ensuring effective functioning of the capacity-building component of the project, especially coordination, planning, and execution of the Green Agenda training programs. From 2000-2007, Dr. Karaev worked as a Project Coordinator for the Private Sector Promotion and Regional Economic Development of the Eastern Macedonia (REDEM) projects. Since 2007, he has served as coordinator for the Regional Economic Development program (RED) which the German organization for international cooperation (GIZ) implemented on behalf of the German Ministry for Cooperation and Macedonian Government. In addition to possessing practical experience in project management, he has developed consultancy and training skills in the areas of strategic planning, management, and leadership working in Macedonia and internationally. His international experience has involved engagements in projects in Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, and Kirgizstan.  White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Dr. Fabien Laurier serves as Director of the National Climate Assessment as well as lead for the Climate Data Initiative and for Ocean Sciences at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Laurier also served as Advisor for Climate Change Adaptation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality where he participated in the development and initial implementation of the President Climate Action Plan. Prior to this assignment with the Executive Office of the President, Dr. Laurier was a senior staff member at the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), where he served in various capacities, including as Acting Director (2009-2011), Deputy Director (2011-2013), and lead for the 2nd (2009) National Climate Assessment (2006-2009). Before joining the USGCRP, Dr. Laurier was a research scientist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. His research included the impacts of “brown cloud” on ocean chemistry and the status and trends of mercury contamination in the World’s oceans. Fabien Laurier received his Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography and his Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences from La Sorbonne Denis Diderot University (Paris, France).  Research Scientist, University of Arizona Mr. Gregory J. Leonard is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Department of Hydrology & Water Resources at the University of Arizona and a contributing scientist to the multinational Global Land Ice Measurements from Space project (GLIMS). His research applies satellite image analysis, field geologic suryeys, and geophysical surveys to investigate the changing state of alpine glaciers, glacier lakes, and related hazards; he has explored glacier terrains on several continents. Mr. Leonard holds a B.S. in Geosciences and an M.S. in Geographical Information Systems Technology from the University of Arizona, and his extensive international field geologic, project management, and planetary sciences experience has served academia, industry, and government for 25 years. Prior to joining GLIMS, Mr. Leonard conducted mineral exploration projects in the remote jungles of Indonesia, across Outer Mongolia, and in North America. His planetary research includes image-based Mars geologic mapping, and Mars geologic and astronaut analog studies. He has also conducted systematic telescopic surveys for asteroids and is discoverer of 10 minor planets. He lives in Tucson, Arizona, and is an avid rock and high altitude mountain climber.
 Deputy Director General, Viet Nam Institute for Urban-Rural Planning, Ministry of Construction Dr. Luu Duc-Cuong has 20 years of experience with urban planning. He has managed more than 40 environmental assessment and 35 urban planning projects in Vietnam. He has been a Consultant for EC, ADB, WB, GTZ, CIDA, DANIDA, and NDF. He is also involved in academic activities and policy making. He is one of the main authors of the first technical guidelines for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for urban planning in Vietnam. He is the team leader of a number of research studies on the impacts of climate change on urban structure, undertaken for the Government of Vietnam. Dr. Luu is one of the main authors drafting "Integration of Climate Change Adaptation into Urban Planning in Vietnam through the use of Strategic Environmental Assessment" and "Climate Change Considerations in Process of Conducting Urban Plans in Vietnam." He has published more than 50 articles on sustainable urban planning, environmental assessment, solid waste management, and climate change–related issues. Dr. Luu is also teaches and supervises students at several universities. He earned a Bachelor’s of Architecture-Urban Planning at the National University of Engineering, Master of Environmental Engineering at the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning at Hanoi Architectural University.
 Manager, ICF International Ms. Charlotte Mack, a Manager at ICF, has more than six years of experience working at the nexus of international development and climate change. Her work, which examines impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation across multiple sectors, is often interdisciplinary, intersecting an assortment of adjacent fields including economics, education, communication, monitoring, and evaluation. One of her main areas of proficiency is awareness-raising and capacity-building, including the development of complementary guidance, trainings, tools, and processes. Ms. Mack has conducted international field research and has extensive experience organizing communities, fostering climate-oriented thinking at the local level, and empowering action. At ICF International, Ms. Mack applies her background in climate change, community development, and policy to provide technical expertise and management support to adaptation projects.  Research Associate, Urban Institute Dr. Ammar A. Malik is a Research Associate with the Center for International Development and Governance at the Urban Institute in Washington D.C. His research is focused on the causes and consequences of global urbanization, including the spatial structures of cities, the political economy of public service delivery, and the relationship between economic growth and human mobility within cities. Dr. Malik has used agent-based and spatial-econometric modeling to examine various theoretical and policy issues related to rapid urbanization in developing countries. His research has been published in several academic journals, including Science and Public Policy, Global Policy, South Asia Economic Review and the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation. He has also worked on projects for the World Bank, the OECD, UNESCO, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority. Dr. Malik holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University and M.A. degrees from the National University of Singapore and Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) Paris.
 Senior Associate, Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc. Ms. Andrea Martin develops and employs customized tools and techniques to support better decision-making. With a strong background in climate science, economics, and public policy, Ms. Martin understands and incorporates environmental, social, and economic systems and values into her work. Through targeted information-gathering, synthesis, and distillation, she develops policies and tailors analyses and communications to meet unique audience needs. Currently, she is the task manager for a climate adaptation options assessment for the regional transit agency Sound Transit, lead manager and developer for a climate impacts decision-support tool to inform climate-resilient urban planning in Vietnam, and technical lead for the Seattle Public Utilities water conservation technical assistance program. Her past projects include the development of a climate action plan for the City of Shoreline, Washington; an energy conservation and resilience strategy for the City of Edmonds, Washington; and an LID Training Plan for the Washington Department of Ecology. Before joining Cascadia, Ms. Martin worked in a biogeochemistry laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, where she examined the adaptability of coastal wetlands to future climate conditions. Ms. Martin holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Policy from Duke University and a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina.  Director – Vulnerability & Adaptation, World Resources Institute Ms. Heather McGray directs the World Resources Institute’s (WRI’s) Vulnerability & Adaptation Initiative. Her research and project work has emphasized national-level adaptation planning in developing countries, design of international adaptation finance programs, monitoring & evaluation, and options for the United Nations climate negotiations. She is currently leading the development of an urban resilience strategy within the newly established WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Ms. McGray’s major publications include Ready or Not: Assessing National Institutional Capacity for Adaptation (2012), Making Adaptation Count: Concepts and Options for Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Change Adaptation (2011), and Weathering the Storm: Options for Framing Adaptation and Development (2007). She leads a nine-member Initiative team based in Washington, DC and Bangalore, India. Ms. McGray’s previous work, in WRI’s Governance Center, focused on the role of transparency, participation, and access to justice in addressing environmental problems, including research and civil society training in China’s Yunnan Province. Her prior professional experience includes research on environmental management in China; research and negotiations on ISO 14000 environmental standards; coordination of an urban education and development network; and management of educational exchange programs for the Yale-China Association. Ms. McGray speaks Mandarin, and holds a Master’s of Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Oberlin College.  Climate Change Specialist, USAID Mr. André Mershon is a Climate Change Specialist in USAID's Global Climate Change Office, where he focuses on adaptation, gender, and training. He is the Contracting Officer Representative for USAID's Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessment (ATLAS) project. Prior to joining USAID, Mr. Mershon worked as an International Development and Climate Change Consultant for clients including Land O’Lakes International Development, Oxfam America, and the United Nations Development Programme, where he managed UNDP’s Community-Based Adaptation Programme. He earned a Master of Environmental Management degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a specialization in climate change science and policy.  Global Climate Change Specialist, USAID Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Nicodemus is a Global Climate Change Specialist at USAID in Washington, D.C. Dr. Nicodemus works on the monitoring and evaluation of climate change projects and assists missions with integrating climate change adaptation and mitigation in their strategic planning. Dr. Nicodemus was previously an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow at USAID in the same office. Before becoming a fellow, she worked for Technology Exchange Lab, a non-profit in Cambridge, MA that provides a platform for the global community to share innovative technologies and approaches that address problems of poverty. She received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011. In her research she built and used ultrafast laser technology to study the structure and dynamics of water. She received a B.S. in Chemistry from Purdue University where she performed undergraduate research in gas-phase chemical physics studying the formyl radical, a precursor to photochemical smog. Dr. Nicodemus interned in astrophysics at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where she identified strong gravitational lens candidates.  Senior Specialist, Engility Corporation Ms. Joyce-Lynn Njinga is a Climate Change Adaptation and Development Specialist. Over the past seven years, Ms. Njinga has worked in the fields of environment, international development, and education in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. She has conducted technical analysis, research, and assessments on climate change impacts and vulnerability, adaptation planning and policy, and climate services. Ms. Njinga has also managed, facilitated, and developed resources for climate change adaptation-related trainings and workshops. In addition, she has project management, grants management, and communications experience. Ms. Njinga holds a master’s degree in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London, a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from American University, and speaks French and Spanish as second languages.
 Deputy Chief of Party and Pilot Project component coordinator on the USAID Municipal Climate Change Strategies Project implemented by Milieukontakt Macedonia Mr. Vladimir Ognjanovski currently works as a Deputy Chief of Party and a Pilot Project Component Coordinator on the USAID Municipal Climate Change Strategies Project, implemented by Milieukontakt Macedonia. He has been working in the field of civil society since 2000, when he established the Milieukontakt office in Macedonia. He is passionate about the environment and all aspects of sustainable living, with climate change being his focus in the past five years. He brought his previous experience in the fields of communication, public relations, and marketing into the field of environmental campaigning; he previously worked as a host at a local radio station for more than 10 years. He received a B.S. in economics from St. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia, and an M.S. in communication from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. He currently resides in Skopje, Macedonia with his wife and three children.  Research Associate, The Humanitarian Response and Development Laboratory, University of South Carolina Dr. Sheila Navalia Onzere is a Research Associate with the Humanitarian Response and Development Laboratory (HURDL) at the University of South Carolina. Her research and work focuses on innovative ways to understand and conceptualize the impact of gender on vulnerability to climate change and variability in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Onzere’s dissertation research focused on institutional change within food systems in eastern and southern Africa. She received a fellowship from the Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program to carry out fieldwork for the dissertation research. She is also a Future Earth Fellow. Dr. Onzere holds a Ph.D. from Iowa State University with a focus on social change and food systems.
 The Mountain Institute Mr. Cesar Portocarrero is an expert on disaster risk management and integrated water resources management. He recently worked with The Mountain Institute, in Nepal, to support the Imja Lake risk-reduction project under a contract with Adapt Asia Pacific from Bangkok, Thailand. From 1969 to 1972, he worked on civil engineer activities in Cusco that focused on building bridges, schools, roads, and paving. In May 1972, after the May 1970 earthquake that destroyed the Ancash region of Peru, he moved to Huaraz to work on the reconstruction activities. He worked in the Peruvian Glaciology Office until 1996, directing many projects oriented to reduce the risk from the dangerous glacial lakes in the Cordillera Blanca. Mr. Portocarrero worked on the paleoclimate research project of Dr. Lonnie G. Thompson of the Byrd Polar Research Center of Ohio State University. There, he studied glaciology and geomorphology through the Juneau Icefield research program. He also studies the practical applications of short-term climate predictions to water resources management at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Cusco National University in Peru.  Principal, ICF International Ms. Joanne R. Potter is a Principal with the Climate Change and Sustainability group of ICF International. She manages USAID’s Climate Resilient Infrastructure Services (CRIS) program, part of the CCRD project. CRIS works with rapidly growing cities to build their capacity to assess climate vulnerabilities and implement adaptation strategies. She supported USAID in developing its first Federal Adaptation Plan under EO 13514. Ms. Potter has supported the World Bank to develop guidance to address climate impacts on road projects; the Brazilian National Association of Industries to assess implications of climate change on infrastructure; and the U.S. Department of Defense on policy issues related to climate risks on coastal military installations. She was a lead author of the Gulf Coast Study (Phase I), conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, that assessed climate risks to transportation networks. She has given talks on climate change in Bangladesh and Brazil as part of the U.S. State Department’s International Information Program. Ms. Potter has also led major studies addressing greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources. She has a Master’s in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 CCRD Deputy Chief of Party, ICF International Dr. Peter Schultz works with ICF International, where he is CCRD Deputy Chief of Party. Dr. Schultz has more than two decades of experience in climate and global change research, management, decision support, and communication. At ICF, he is analyzing the impacts of climate change on a broad array of sectors, and helping clients prepare for the threats and opportunities presented by climate change, both internationally and domestically. The areas addressed in his ongoing work include transportation, health, electricity generation, mining, park and military facilities, water supply, and global economics. His previous research has been in the fields of climate and carbon cycle modeling, the economics of climate change, and the remote sensing of vegetation. He played a leadership role in the interagency program responsible for integrating federal climate science. His expertise in informal education and communication stems from his work on climate change exhibitions and other communication modalities. He has led or contributed to the framing and development of dozens of global change assessments at the National Research Council, U.S. Global Change Research Program, and ICF.
 Executive Director, Milieukontakt Macedonia
Mr. Igor Slavkoski currently works as Executive Director of Milieukontakt Macedonia, and Chief of Party of the USAID Municipal climate change strategies project. He has extensive international experience in project management. He has been working as Development Advisor, Regional Project Director, and Country Representative for Macedonia at Milieukontakt International. Previously, Mr. Slavokski worked as NGO Programs Manager at the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe and project coordinator at the Lake Ohrid Conservation Project, which received funding from GEF and the World Bank. As a consultant, Mr. Slavkoski has provided numerous training workshops in project management and team building in the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Turkey, South Africa, and most of the Balkan Countries. His educational background is in management with a B.S. in Economics and an M.S. in Business Management from the FON University in Skopje, Macedonia.
 Principal, Stratus Consulting Inc. Mr. Joel B. Smith has been analyzing climate change impacts and adaptation issues for more than 25 years. He has been a coordinating lead author or lead author on the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Mr. Smith was a member of the U.S. National Climate Change Assessment Federal Advisory Committee and the National Academy of Sciences “Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change.” He has provided technical advice, guidance, and training on assessing climate change impacts and adaptation to people around the world and to international organizations, the U.S. government, states, municipalities, nonprofits, and the private sector. Mr. Smith worked for the U.S. EPA from 1984 to 1992, where he was the Deputy Director of the Climate Change Division. He joined Hagler-Bailly in 1992 and Stratus Consulting in 1998. He has published more than 60 articles and chapters on climate change impacts and adaptation in peer-reviewed journals and books and has edited a number of books on climate change. Mr. Smith received a B.A. from Williams College in 1979, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 1982.
 Division Chief, USAID Ms. Kathryn Stratos has been with U.S. Agency for International Development for 23 years. She has managed agriculture, democracy and governance, and health projects, and completed a tour with USAID’s Central Asia mission. She has worked as a Program Analyst, Press, Budget and Program Officer. Since 2012, she has served as the Division Chief of the Planning, Evaluation and Learning division of USAID's Office of Global Climate Change. The division supports implementation of the Agency’s Climate Change and Development Strategy through its work on the Agency Global Climate Change Initiative budget, communications, performance monitoring system, evaluations and knowledge management The division also supports implementation of the Agency’s Climate Change and Development strategy’s Integration objective, coordination with Treasury on multilateral assistance, and develops training for the Agency’s climate change and development community.  Associate Director for Research and Innovation, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre Dr. Pablo Suarez is Associate Director for Research and Innovation at the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre; he is a Visiting Fellow at Boston University, as well as an honorary Senior Lecturer at the University College London. He has consulted for the UN Development Programme, the World Food Programme, the World Bank, Oxfam America, and approximately twenty other international humanitarian and development organizations working in more than 50 countries. His current work addresses institutional integration across disciplines and geographic scales, and the use of innovative tools for climate risk management, including the design and facilitation of participatory games for learning and managing complex dynamic systems. Dr. Suaez holds a water engineering degree, a Master’s in planning, and a Ph.D. in geography.  Senior staff associate, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) Ms. Catherine Vaughan manages the Climate Services Partnership, an informal interdisciplinary network working to improve the use of climate information for societal decision-making around the world. In this capacity, she facilitates virtual and in-person collaboration to improve the practice and performance of climate services: leading a range of communication efforts; supporting working groups on ethics, evaluation, and research priorities; and organizing the last four International Conferences on Climate Services. Ms. Vaughan also conducts research on factors that determine the relative success of climate services, particularly in Latin America. She is completing doctoral studies in climate service evaluation at the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of Leeds. She previously served as the International Research Institute for Climate and Society’s Regional Program Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean and as one of the Editors of the third Climate & Society Publication: A Better Climate for Disaster Risk Management. She previously worked with the Global Roundtable on Climate Change, the Permanent Mission of Dominica to the United Nations, the Austin Chronicle, and the New York State Department of Health, and served with the US Peace Corps in rural Zambia. Ms. Vaughan has masters’ degrees in International Relations (Yale) and Climate & Society (Columbia); and an undergraduate degree was from Swarthmore College.
 Managing Analyst, Stratus Consulting Inc. Dr. Jason Vogel has worked extensively on climate change adaptation issues and has experience in policy analysis, climate change impact and adaptation assessment, project and program evaluation, decision analysis, risk assessment, translating climate science for decision-making audiences, and qualitative and quantitative methods of information elicitation. He has used these skills for municipalities and water utilities by conducting science-based analyses, translating climate change science, evaluating and conducting vulnerability assessments, and providing strategy and policy support. Dr. Vogel works to bring climate resilience to bear on development planning. His work has included producing guidance, developing vulnerability assessments, providing policy support, and supporting capacity-building to assist international financing institutions and development banks. He has also worked with institutions such as the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility, and the Green Climate Fund to provide high-level advice and support for their climate adaptation efforts.. He was trained as an atmospheric scientist and chemist before turning his attention to public policy. Dr. Vogel holds a Ph.D. in environmental studies and an M.S. in astrophysical, planetary, and atmospheric sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder, as well as a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in humanities from the University of Texas at Austin.
 Senior Research Scientist, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) Dr. Stephen Zebiak is the Head of the Climate Services Partnership, and a Senior Research Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). The Climate Services Partnership is an informal international platform to advance knowledge, tools, and capacities in the delivery of science-based climate services to inform practical decision and policy making. Previously, Dr. Zebiak was Director-General of the IRI, leading an inter-disciplinary team of more than 40 scientists specializing in climate prediction, agriculture, health, water, economics and development policy. Dr. Zebiak has worked in the area of ocean-atmosphere interaction and climate variability since completing his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984. He and Mark Cane authored the first dynamical model used to predict El Niño successfully. He has published extensively in journals such as Science, Nature, and the International Journal of Climatology, and has served as an advisor to a range of U.S. and international climate science research programs. Dr. Zebiak is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. |
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