Dr. Lisa Micheli is the President and CEO of the Pepperwood Foundation. She started her career at the US Environmental Protection Agency and then completed her graduate studies at UC Berkeley as a NASA Earth Systems Research Fellow in 2000. She now focuses her research on relationships between climate, wildfire, watershed health, and biodiversity and has published numerous peer-reviewed studies on river restoration, climate adaptation, and community-based approaches to biodiversity conservation. Dr. Micheli specializes in facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations focused on using relevant research to craft collective solutions to today’s most pressing landscape conservation challenges. She serves as the co-chair of Pepperwood’s Terrestrial Biodiversity Climate Change Collaborative (TBC3), a National Science Foundation funded Bay Area climate adaptation research initiative, with Dr. David Ackerly, Dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources. She also chairs the Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve team of the international Large Landscape Conservation Peer Network facilitated by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. She has been recognized as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, a Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation Environmental Leader, a Bay Nature Institute Local Hero for Environmental Education, and a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the American Geophysical Union and the Society for Conservation Biology. Dr. Micheli serves as a director of the Rebuild North Bay Foundation and as a science advisor to the Sempervirens Fund, the Chile-California Conservation Network, the Bay Area Open Space Council, and the Water Research Foundation. For more information about Pepperwood, visit www.pepperwoodpreserve.org

Daniel Gorham leads a team at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety dedicated to better understanding the wildfire hazard and how we can make communities more resilient. Through innovative tests at the IBHS Research Center and post-fire field observations, Daniel and IBHS are in pursuit of finding better ways to build, prepare and help communities reduce their risks. He holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park and is a registered professional engineer in the state of California. The research conducted at IBHS provides science-based information for improving building codes and standards. Daniel is a member of several standard development technical committees including ASTM and NFPA. In addition, his background as a firefighter/EMT helps guide IBHS research on what is important for communities experiencing fire risks.

Dan Richter is the Managing Director at Avimor.

Roy Wright joined IBHS in 2018 with more than 20 years of experience in insurance, risk management, mitigation, and resilience planning. Convinced that the continuing cycle of human suffering that strikes families and communities in the wake of severe weather can be broken, Roy leads a team of scientists and risk communicators who deliver strategies to build safer and stronger homes and businesses. IBHS’ real-world impact enables the insurance industry and affected property owners to prevent avoidable losses. Roy joined IBHS from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) where he served as the Chief Executive of the National Flood Insurance Program, led the agency’s Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration, and directed the resilience programs addressing earthquake, fire, flood, and wind risks. In these roles, he guided several programs that promote a risk-conscious culture, enable faster disaster recovery, and address long-term vulnerabilities to life, property, and well-being in communities across the United States. Prior to joining FEMA in 2007, Roy worked in public and private sector roles with Coray Gurnitz Strategy Consulting and the U.S. Department of the Interior. A native of California, Roy earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Public Administration from The George Washington University.