Gordy Sachs has been with the U.S. Forest Service Fire & Aviation Management for 16 years and currently serves as Chief for All Hazard and International Fire Support. Gordy also serves as Chair of the International Liaison Committee and is a member of several other national and international committees. ‍Previously, Gordy worked 10 years at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s U.S. Fire Administration, most recently as National Response Program Manager. He has 27 years of structural fire service experience, including over ten years as a chief fire officer in both career and volunteer fire departments. He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program and has a master’s degree in Public Administration, a bachelor of science degree in Education, and three associate in applied science degrees in fire science disciplines. He is also a published author (four books, several reference book chapters, and numerous articles) focusing on emergency response safety, management and leadership.

Associate Professor Owen Price is the director of the Centre for Environmental Risk Management of Bushfire at the University of Wollongong in south-eastern Australia. The Centre was established in 2006 to bring independent research to the question of the best mix of strategies to minimise harm to people and the environment in wildfires. Owen’s research has focussed on analysing empirical evidence of how and why different interventions work, including prescribed burning, preparedness house defence and aerial suppression. He uses a variety of field and remotely sensed data, statistical and spatial analyses and simulation. He has published about 130 journal papers and 40 reports.

Paulo Fernandes, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, CITAB - Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, Department of Forest Sciences and Landscape Architecture; ForestWISE Colab, Portugal Paulo Fernandes is an associate professor at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), and executive board member of ForestWISE – Collaborative Laboratory for Integrated Forest and Fire Management, Portugal. He is a Forest Engineering graduate with a PhD in Forest Sciences (2003). His research interests are focused on how fuel/vegetation and weather interact to determine fire behaviour and effects at experimental fire, landscape and fire regime scales, and the corresponding implications for integrated fire management. Such work has often been carried out in the frame of prescribed burning for hazard reduction. Paulo has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and co-authored the recent UNEP report ‘Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires’. He served in the board of directors of the International Association of Wildland Fire, supervisory board of the Pau Costa Foundation for Fire Ecology and Management, and national parliament-nominated inquiry and monitoring initiatives in the aftermath of catastrophic fires. Paulo has been invited for keynote lectures and advanced training and scientific evaluation activities in a number of European countries, Argentina, the United States and Australia, and frequently cooperates with various stakeholders, including government agencies.

José Manuel Duarte da Costa is currently President of the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection, appointed by the Prime Minister. In addition to a Master's Degree in Military Sciences from the Military Academy, he holds an MBA from the Portuguese Catholic University and a Post-Graduation in International Relations and Political Science from the Lusíada University. His curriculum includes several military courses and internships, having served throughout his career in various units, establishments, and bodies of the Army, namely: Command of the Airborne Troops of the Independent Airborne Brigade of the Commandos Regiment; Assistant to the President of the Republic; Professor of Strategy and Chief of the Strategy Office of the Institute of Higher Military Studies; Chief of Staff of the Rapid Reaction Brigade; Advisor for defense external relations in the Office of the Minister of National Defense; Commander of the Paratrooper Troops School; Commander of the Students Corps and the Military Academy Barracks in Amadora; Chief of Staff of the Land Forces Command and National Commander of Emergency and Civil Protection of the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection. International assignments includes: Intel Section Chief at EUROFOR in Florence/Italy; Commander of the Operational Mentor Liasion Team 01/10 National Detachment Force of the Kabul Capital Division in ISAF, in the Afghanistan Theater of Operations; Intel Analysis Section Chief in Operation Concordia at EUFOR in the FYROM/Macedonia Theater of Operations, and Technical Advisor and Strategy Professor under the Framework Program for Luso-Angolan Technical-Military Cooperation in the Republic of Angola. During his service he was honored with several national and foreign orders, decorations and medals He has several published articles related to strategy and leadership and continuously participates in conference cycles on these matters.

Humberto Delgado Rosa is the Director for Biodiversity, DG Environment, European Commission. Previously he was Director for Mainstreaming Adaptation and Low Carbon Technology in DG Climate Action. He is experienced in European and international environmental policy, particularly in biodiversity and climate change issues. He served as Secretary of State for the Environment of the Portuguese Government from March 2005 to June 2011. Between 1995 and 2002 he was an advisor for environmental matters to the Prime-Minister of Portugal. He holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology. H. Delgado Rosa was born in Lisbon in 1960.