Planning for Catastrophic Climate Risk

Prapthi is a Product Manager at Schmidt Futures, interested in creating instrumental, tech-driven solutions to support communities most affected by climate change. Her experiences include developing machine learning models and geospatial tools for climate resilience, designing gen AI products for community benefits, and building a blockchain ledger to optimize food supply chains. Prapthi has held roles at Tesla, Nava Labs, UC Berkeley’s Data Science and Environment Institute, and Baaz. She is deeply committed to building sustainable systems that protect vulnerable populations facing climate risks. She holds dual degrees in Computer Science (B.S.c) and Business Administration (H.BA) with honours from Western University. Her work reflects a strong dedication to blending innovation with empathy to create a safer, more resilient future for all.

Alexander (Zander) Nassikas recently served in the Biden Administration as a Senior Advisor to Secretary John Kerry in the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate in the Department of State. He led the team’s work in the Arctic and in Small Island Developing States as well as policy development for several areas of frontier climate technology. Before the State Department, Zander worked as a program officer in the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Team, covering India and China’s energy sectors. From 2014-2018, Zander was a research scientist in Woods Hole, Massachusetts at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, where he worked with Nobel Prize-winning scientist Richard Houghton. Together they developed a computer model that quantified global emissions from land use and land cover change and the role of forests in addressing climate change. He has a BA in Neuroscience from Wesleyan University and a Master’s in Global Affairs from Yale University.

Laurie Laybourn is executive director of the Strategic Climate Risks Initiative (SCRI), a think-do tank that develops capabilities for securing a better world even as complex environmental-driven risks escalate. An award-winning researcher, Laurie is also an associate fellow at Chatham House, a visiting fellow at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, and an associate fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Laurie is also an advisor to the UK Climate Change Committee and adelphi think tank, and sits on the boards of the New Economics Foundation and the Economic Change Unit, an organisation he founded. Previously, he led the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and has worked at the LSE, Oxford University, and the UK Parliament. Laurie regularly writes for a range of publications and appears on TV and radio.