Val Charlton lives in Cape Town, South Africa and deems it a privilege to have been able to work with communities and conservation organisations for a large part of her career. Community based fire management is her area of specialty, working with people that live in fire-prone landscapes across the globe, promoting Integrated Fire Management practice to address landscape fire risks and hazards. This includes 20 + years of Wildland Urban Interface/Intermix facilitation in both urban and remote rural communities, collaborating with private landowners, traditional leaders, the insurance sector, government and conservation agencies in multi-stakeholder social ecology/economic projects in various countries. As a practitioner, her work has encompassed initiating and co-creating green, youth and female-focused employment programmes and opportunities that are also of benefit to the wider community, thus improving the likelihood of sustained community-driven hazard reduction and resilience action.

Karina is the Head of Public Sector at AXA Climate, working with development banks, governments, municipalities, development finance institutions, impact funds and non-governmental organisations to advise and support in adaptation, current and future climate risk management and financing tools. She plays a leading role for AXA in the Insurance Development Forum which brings together the insurance industry, the UNDP and World Bank on climate risk. Karina previously worked at the African Union organisation, African Risk Capacity, the first African sovereign natural catastrophe risk pool. Karina holds a BSc. in Pure Mathematics and Finance from the University of Cape Town and a Master’s degree in Geopolitics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Dr Musiwalo Moses Khangale is employed by Santam as a Manager: Stakeholder Programmes. He oversees Santam ‘s flagship programme known as Partnership for Risk and Resilience (P4RR). The P4RR aims to build societal resilience through collaboration and partnerships with all spheres of government, state-owned entities, research and academic institutions, community-based organisations, and private sector agencies. Prior to this, he occupied several senior positions within the South African government’s Disaster Management system. This includes Director: Fire Services (Head of Fire Services) within the South African National Disaster Management from June 2011 until January 2022, Head of Veldfires / wildland fires Oversight responsible for the administration and oversight of the National Veld and Forest Fire Act, (Act No. 101 of 1998) within the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2009-2011, Head of Disaster Management Centre for the JM Marks Local Municipality, North West Province from 2007 – 2009, Disaster Management Officer in the City of Tshwane, 2005-2007 and Emergency Services Official in the City of Tshwane, 2001-2005. As Director: Fire Services, within the National Disaster Management Centre, he was entrusted with the responsibility to coordinate national implementation of Fire Brigade Services Act in the country and contributing to the regional and global disaster risk reduction agenda. His qualifications include, National Diploma in Public Management, Tshwane University of Technology, 1998, Diploma in Disaster Management, University of South Africa, 2003, BTECH in Public Management, University of South Africa, 2006, master’s degree in Disaster Management, University of the Free State, 2008, PhD in Development and Management (specialising in disaster risk studies), North-West University, 2017 & Master of Philosophy (Leadership in Emerging Economies), University of Johannesburg, 2022.

Antoine Bavandi is global Head of the Public Sector, Parametric & Climate Resilience Solutions practice at Gallagher Re. The practice helps manage the financial impact of climate and disaster risks on governments, (re)insurers, banks and businesses worldwide. Its focus is on promoting financial preparedness, de-risking strategies, and leveraging established and innovative risk management tools, including through bespoke parametric products. The practice provides comprehensive climate resilience and adaptation solutions, working alongside advanced and emerging economies to accelerate the shift towards a more sustainable development. Antoine previously worked with the Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance team at The World Bank, where he advised ministries of finance and central banks on designing and implementing disaster risk financing and insurance solutions through analytical work and policy dialogue. A catastrophe risk modeling and management expert, Antoine has also worked at Lloyd’s of London, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and the European Space Agency. He holds degrees from École Centrale, Imperial College and Stanford University.