Resilience Rising’s Advisory Board is comprised of thought leaders and experts from around the world whose experience spans across sectors and different levels of government, business, academia and civil society. The Advisory Board provides mission-based leadership, influences the strategic direction of the organisation, and scales the impact of our work.
Dr. Ruth Boumphrey
Chief Executive, Lloyd’s Register Foundation
Ruth Boumphrey is the Chief Executive of Lloyd’s Register Foundation, an independent global charity with a mission to enhance the safety of life and property and advance public education. The Foundation is a major global supporter of science and engineering-related research, skills and education, public outreach, and accelerating technology to application. It identifies the biggest global safety challenges building knowledge and capability to make the world a safer place. The Foundation is the owner of Lloyd’s Register Group Limited.
Ruth has a background in research, development and regulation primarily in the Space and Environmental sectors. She is a trustee of the National Oceanography Centre and a Non-executive Director of Cefas – the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences – a UK Government appointment.
She was previously Chair of the Welding Institute and on the Council at Lancaster University, one of the UK’s top ten universities.
Lieutenant General (Retd) Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE
Chair, Royal NAAFI Board
General Richard Nugee was commissioned into the British Army in 1986. He completed operational tours of Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Cyprus and Afghanistan. He also specialised in personnel (HR) roles culminating in Chief of Defence People (equivalent to Global HR Director for Defence). He spent his final year writing a Review of Defence's approach to Climate Change and Sustainability, and is now the Non Executive Director for Climate Change and Net Zero for Defence.
He is Chair of the Royal NAAFI Board, Director of his own Strategic Advisory Company, Chair and a Non Exec for a number of Start up companies involved in sustainability, a strategic advisor to a number of consultancies, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and is Patron, Chair and Trustee of a number of organisations.
Abhilash Panda
Head of Infrastructure Resilience & De-risking investment, UNDRR
Abhilash Panda leads UNDRR’s effort in the areas of financing risk prevention, de-risking investment, and resilience of
infrastructure. He has more than 17 years of experience in international development, humanitarian response, investment portfolios and sustainable development.
Abhilash joined the United Nations in 2003 and has served in various capacities, managing large scale multi-country teams and global initiatives to build economic and social resilience. He also led United Nation’s largest global initiative to build resilience of more than 3000 cities.
Abhilash holds a Master’s in Business Administration and Bachelors in Electronics Engineering.
Raj Pannu
Founder and CEO, Emergence Creative
Raj Pannu is the founder and CEO of Emergence Creative, a creative communications agency in New York City dedicated to social impact. He has, throughout his career, worked across sectors with diverse clients including the ACLU, Sutter Health, and the Rockefeller Foundation. In his previous role as Director of Global Health at McCann Health, Raj facilitated collaboration between McCann, multinational companies, and not-for-profits, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, and UNICEF. A former member of the UN Essential Medicines Working Group, Raj has been an invited speaker to numerous institutions, including the Kennedy School of Public Policy at Harvard University, The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the Imperial College School of Business, and the Qatar Foundation. He holds an MS of Immunology and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Alberta.
Dr. Julie Pullen
Adjunct Research Scientist, Columbia Climate School Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
An oceanographer, meteorologist, climate tech professional, and former ocean engineering professor, Julie Pullen's expertise spans climate, weather and hydroscience with a particular focus on coupled high-resolution coastal prediction for flooding, heatwaves and other perils. Her air-sea interaction research has contributed to the understanding and development of resilience and sustainability in coastal environments, and the enhancement of Earth System Models on weather, subseasonal-to-seasonal, and climate timescales. She works at the intersection of climate resilience and climate solutions that enhance the life-support system of our planet.
Dr. Pullen is on the Executive Committee (by election) of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Pullen was a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee that reviewed the most recent Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) and the NAS committees on Earth System Prediction (2014-2016) and Sustaining Ocean Observations (2020). She was a chapter co-author of the 2015 New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC2) report.
Prof. Debra Roberts
Head of Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives, eThekwini Municipality
Professor Debra Roberts heads the Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives function in eThekwini Municipality (Durban, South Africa). In 2015 Prof. Roberts was elected as Co-Chair of Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the sixth assessment cycle (2015-2023). She is an Honorary Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the School of Life Sciences and has been an advisor to the Global Commission on Adaptation, United Cities and Local Governments and the United Nations Secretary General’s 2019 Climate Summit. In 2019 she was included in a list of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy and in 2022 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Twente for her local and international climate change work.
Mauricio Rodas
Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania; Former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador
Mauricio Rodas is the former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador (2014-2019). Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, where he lectures and coordinates the “Cities Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Financing Initiative”; Senior Fellow at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council, leading the “City Champions for Heat Action” initiative; and Co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Commission on
BiodiverCities by 2030. Rodas is also a member of the United Nations’ Committee of Experts on Public Administration; Distinguished Fellow on Global Cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; and member of the Advisory Committee of the Global Parliament of Mayors.
He is a partner of Meridio Consulting, an urban policy and city diplomacy consultancy firm, working with clients from around the world. Rodas was a City Diplomacy and Climate Change Advisor for the 2020 Urban 20 Riyadh’s Chairmanship. In 2019, he was named one of the 100 Worlds’ Most Influential People on Climate Action by Apolitical; he also received the University of Pennsylvania’s World Urban Leadership Award. He is a former Young Global Leader and member of the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization of the World Economic Forum.
During his Mayoral term in Quito, Rodas hosted the UN’s Conference on Urban Sustainable
Development – Habitat III (2016) and had an active leadership role in the main city networks: two terms as world Co-President of UCLG, Vice-chair of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and member of the global boards of ICLEI and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.
In 2011, Rodas founded SUMA, a national political party, and in 2013 he ran for President of Ecuador.
In 2007, he founded and served as the Executive Director of Ethos Public Policy Lab, a think tank based in Mexico. Mauricio Rodas is a JD from Universidad Católica de Quito and holds two master’s degrees in Government Administration and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania (Fulbright Scholar).
Dame Jo da Silva DBE RDI
Global Director, Sustainable Development, Arup
Dame Jo da Silva has earned global recognition as an engineer who has applied her knowledge and design expertise to improve safety, promote inclusivity, and enhance resilience of communities, cities, and infrastructure globally.
Jo is currently Global Director, Sustainable Development at Arup leading business transformation in response to the climate, biodiversity and equity crises. She is also an Arup Fellow and an Officer to the Group Board.
Jo has led the planning, design and implementation of buildings, infrastructure, and urban regeneration projects globally, and worked extensively in crisis and disaster contexts for non-governmental, UN agencies and multi-laterals. She founded Arup International Development to direct Arup’s expertise and creativity to improving human development outcomes in the global south.
She has an honorary doctorate in humanitarian engineering from Coventry University and was awarded the Gold Medal by the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2017, and last year was recognised as a Royal Designer for Industry for sustainable design. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to engineering and sustainable international development.