ARISE Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2023

Zoritsa Urosevic is currently the Executive Director of UNWTO since October 2021. She joined UNWTO in 2006 as Executive Secretary of the Business Council. Since 2010, she has led work on positioning tourism in the development cooperation and trade agendas, while strengthening UNWTO’s institutional framework, leading the inclusion of UNWTO in
the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list, as recipient organization for Official Development Assistance (ODA). The UN Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want” acknowledged for the first time the importance of tourism, and the explicit inclusion of tourism in the Universal 2030 Agenda.
From 2015, Zoritsa Urosevic was the UNWTO Special Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and Director of the Institutional Relations and Partnerships Department – providing policy advice for external relations, strategic partnerships and innovative financing to the Secretariat, including integration of the 2030 Agenda and the UN Reform in UNWTO’s strategic work and delivery. 

Noriko Ohnuma: Born in 1982. After graduating a master-course of Sociology at Hitotsubashi University, worked for a private risk consulting firm, providing disaster risk management, crisis management, and business continuity consulting services for local governments, medical and welfare facilities, etc., as well as related research projects for public agencies. After participating a JICA volunteer project in Costa Rica and a domestic NPO, joined Japan Conservation Engineers&Co.,Ltd., currently has engaged in supporting disaster-risk reduction projects in some local communities and related research projects for the national and local government agencies and research institutes.

Silvestre Z. Barrameda Jr., is the Executive Director of the National Resilience Council (Philippines) – a science and technology-based public-private partnership organization that supports resilience by bridging the role of the private businesses, corporate foundations and the academe as an enabling mechanism for local communities to develop their resiliency strategies. Being responsible for the overall success of NRC’s vision and mission, he provides leadership to support the Council’s strategic direction in partnership with these stakeholders to foster opportunities and partnerships for resilient and inclusive communities in the Philippines. 

Sarah Houghton is a Programme Officer at the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. She coordinates UNDRR’s engagement in the G20 Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction and in Financial Tracking of Early Warning System investments. She has more than a decade of experience working at UNDRR, UNEP and UNCTAD. Prior to working for the United Nations, she worked in both the private and non-profit sectors in Bolivia, China, Japan and the United States.

Claudia Diaz Yanez, Directora de Desarrollo institucional y
Comunicaciones de Fundahrse en Honduras del 2018 hasta la fecha, Ing. Industrial, Master en Direccion de Proyectos, con especialidad en Gestion y recuperación de Residuos en programa con la Republica de Taiwán, Con Formación de auditora líder en sistemas de gestión de La calidad ISO 9001, Gestion Ambiental ISO 14001, con amplio conocimiento en Ética y Gobierno Corporativo, especialista en gestión y prevención de riesgos. Fue subdirectora del Centro Nacional de Producción más limpia de Honduras por 9 años, tiempo durante el cual ejecuto más de 100 proyectos vinculados altema de gestión ambiental, producción más limpia y cadena de valor sostenible. Ha sido consultora social y ambiental de Naciones Unidas y del Banco Interamericano de
Desarrollo.

Fernando Perez de Britto has extensive experience in ESG+R, analytics, artificial intelligence and decision support solutions for private organizations, where he has a master's degree in the area. Since 2002, founder and CEO of Investment 4 Impact / AI Systems Research (AISR), an impact, innovation and high technology hub focused mainly on strategic planning, decision processes based on data analysis, simulation and analysis of scenarios, risk management and compliance, innovation management. He is responsible for AISR's socioenvironmental initiative "Making Smart Cities".Member of the Global Board of the UNDRR ARISE since 2017 and current Vice-Chair, and Co-Chair Emeritus of the UNDRR Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism (SEM). Received the UN. Sasakawa Award in 2019.

Vice Admiral Alexander Patino Pama is a retired Vice Admiral of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and served as the 32nd Flag Officer-in-Command, Philippine Navy (Navy Chief) prior to his retirement from the Navy in December 2012.
He is currently the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of ARISE-Philippines, a private sector alliance for DRR in support to the UNDRR advocacy for the attainment of the Goals of the Sendai Framework for Action and a Consultant to the National Resilience Council and Member of the Board of the Oscar M. Lopez Center.
He is also the Chairman of the Board of COCOGEN Insurance and a member of the Board of Directors of COCOLIFE Insurance Company. Formerly, he was the Executive Director, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and concurrently the Administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, Department of National Defense where among his mandates was to integrate, supervise, coordinate, and harmonize government and multi-sectoral efforts in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management System and Resilience.

A Mexican national, Elisa is an Architect with a specialty in Sustainable Architectural Design from the Tec de Monterrey (México), Master of Science in Infrastructure Planning by the University of Stuttgart (Germany), has completed the Disaster Risk Reduction and Local Sustainable Development program at the ITCILO (Italy) and recently concluded the International SPHERE Program with CADENA A.C. (Mexico), a one-year training for Humanitarian Assistance. Elisa has collaborated with different international organizations in Mexico, Spain, and Germany, performing positions as a consultant, research assistant, academic coordinator, and professor. She has also participated in multiple social projects for Mexico. She specializes in disaster resilience, urban development, climate change, and their relationship with poverty eradication. Elisa has participated in different national networks related to sustainable development, being a partner of Tierra Prima, a social entrepreneurship group to reduce environmental impact. She was an Observer of the United Nations Youth Assembly in 2017 with the Mexican Delegation. Currently, she serves as National Director of the ARISE MX Network and General Director of the National Support Center for Epidemiological Contingencies. and Disasters A.C. (CENACED A.C.)

Adriana Solano is Executive President of Colombian Safety Council (Consejo Colombiano de Seguridad).  She is Business Administrator with an Executive MBA from INALDE Business School, specialized in Insurance and Social Security. Her strengths include leadership and management skills, as well as experience in leading company mergers and overseeing insurance sector companies. She is skilled in designing and executing strategic plans that comply with management indicators. With her excellent leadership skills, she can guide teams to achieve desired outcomes and maximize their performance. From the Colombian Safey Council, she has led the Red ARISE in Colombia for about 6 years. In the organization she has contributed to transforming the companies and organizations into a resilient, safer, healthier work environment.

Tom Mitchell is the Executive Director of IIED, steering the overall direction and leadership of IIED’s staff, work programmes and partnerships. He leads on public communications, strategy development and implementation.  He engages in public debate in key international events. He has a passion for finding innovative ways to unlock climate justice and is the author of the climate action strategy – Transformation, in Time. Until September 2022 he was the Chief Strategy Officer of Climate-KIC and Director of Climate-KIC International Foundation. He is a former co-ordinating lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and UN Special Representative senior advisor for Disaster Risk Reduction. 

Camila Tapias is a dedicated community leader with a focus on fostering public-private partnerships, developing national and international strategies to enhance local disaster risk reduction capabilities, and prioritizing data-driven approaches to achieve equitable outcomes in disaster preparedness. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration with a specialization in Crisis and Emergency Management. Currently, at SPIN Global, Camila leads the Business and Industry and International practice areas. Ms. Tapias is an experienced course designer and instructor with expertise in delivering Department of Homeland Security (DHS) course materials. She has taught courses such as FEMA's Whole Community Inclusive Economic Recovery and Logistics and Supply Chain Resilience in Disasters. Her work extends to assessing community resilience, supporting emergency management plan development, creating bilingual training and exercises in English and Spanish, and conducting targeted outreach. Camila has also designed Cybersecurity preparedness exercises and COVID-19 return-to-work programs for both public and private sector organizations on the PlanetReady.com platform.

Chloe Demrovsky is a globally-recognized, award-winning expert in risk and resilience and serves as the youngest and first female President and CEO of Disaster Recovery Institute International. She is a senior Forbes contributor, has been interviewed on all the major TV news networks, and has served as a source for The Associated Press, BBC, USA Today, The Financial Times, ABC News, and others. She has presented at 150+ events across five continents and briefed government bodies including the US Congress, the European Commission, and was a member of the Business and Industry Delegation for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. She is a professor at NYU and the first Executive in Residence in the Global Affairs Master’s Program Global Economy Concentration, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Crain’s New York 2023 Notable Leader in Sustainability, a US-Japan Foundation Scott M. Johnson Fellow, a French-American Foundation 2019-22 Young Leader, a British-American Project Fellow, and a Board Director for DRI Foundation, Bard College at Simon's Rock Board (Vice-Chair), the French-American Foundation, Plastic Omnium, and formerly for United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) ARISE. She speaks four languages, has traveled to 50+ countries and lives in New York with her husband and son.

Patrick Hardy is founder and CEO of Hytropy Disaster ManagementTM, the largest full-service SME disaster management company in the US, working with over a quarter-million small businesses, and is currently the ARISE-US SME Board Representative. A Certified Emergency Manager®, Certified Risk Manager®, Master Business Continuity Professional®, and a FEMA Master of Exercise® he has extensive experience working in the public, private and non-profit sectors in disaster management from micro-businesses to Fortune 500 companies including Google, Merck, Parsons Corporations, and many others. During the BP Oil Spill in 2010, he designed and oversaw the emergency response program for thousands of
employees in three states for Unified Area Command. He is recognized as the foremost expert in small business disaster preparedness in over a dozen
industries, having invented plans now considered best practice in that industry. In the summer of 2012, he became the youngest person and the first business owner ever selected as the National Private Sector Representative to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Jose DiBella: A researcher and practitioner focusing on disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation. Dr DiBella is currently the Manager of Research and Partnerships of the Waterloo Climate Institute, and an adjunct professor at the Department of Geography of the University of Waterloo. Dr DiBella works directly with businesses, communities, and decision makers such as parliamentarians in developing local strategies, tools, and learning activities to assist users of research in strengthening disaster resilience. His recent projects include a multi-year research mapping business practices and models that contribute to disaster risk reduction and sustainability in Sweden, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and in the Central America region. He designed a living lab for business and community partnership to better understand risk and implement an early warning system across a supply chain in the US and Mexico, and recently launched a series of team based urban experiments on disaster risk reduction in Canada, Guatemala, and Mexico. Dr DiBella has done extensive field research and worked with the UNDRR, ARISE networks using participatory methodologies for capacity building.

Christy Luciano, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Sustainability at Grupo Universal. Christy Luciano is a highly experienced professional in Corporate Communications and Sustainability with an outstanding track record of over 20 years in managing intangibles (reputation, brand, and Corporate Social Responsibility), as well as Change Management and Cultural Transformations in organizations. She has extensive experience in the financial industry in the Dominican Republic, specifically in the insurance, investment funds, fiduciary businesses, social security, and insurtech sectors. In her current role as Vice President of Corporate Communications and Sustainability at Grupo Universal, a Dominican corporation with 10 subsidiaries that offers insurance, financial, and service solutions, she leads the Reputation and Sustainability strategy and works closely with business leaders to strengthen intangible asset management, comprehensive risk management, and strategic engagement and influence with key stakeholders.

Jesús Valdez specializes in design, procurement and construction of various types of projects. His project management experience includes preconstruction and constructability, construction logistics and construction sequence plans, architectonic and structural design coordination, budgets, schedules, scope and cost control, risk analysis and safety plans for construction sites. Jesús has been a trainer and implementor of the PMI methodology at two construction companies. His specialized experience helps Miyamoto bring dynamic solutions to clients and communities.

Since March 2018, he directs the operations of the Miyamoto International Mexico office, through which he has developed executive and structural projects for; Reconstruction Buildings, Commercial Facilities, Leisure Parks, Air Terminals, Mixed-use buildings of medium height and Food Industry.  In addition to complementary services of geotechnical engineering, architecture, electromechanical design.

Nicolás Ordoñez Ortega: Nicolás es ingeniero administrativo, magíster en estudios humanísticos, y director ejecutivo de la Corporación Antioquia Presente, entidad que durante 40 años ha restablecido las condiciones de las comunidades y sectores de desarrollo afectados por emergencias y desastres (terremoto del eje Cafetero, erupción del volcán Nevado del Ruíz, Huracán en San Andrés y Providencia, Terremoto de Haití, entre otros) generando resiliencia y aportando en el desarrollo sostenible de los territorios. 

Nicolás, es apasionado por el desarrollo de comunidades con enfoque regenerativo y consciente, y busca generar intervenciones integrales que valoren y respeten el medio ambiente, el ser humano y los medios de vida. Tiene experiencia como gerente social en entidades sin ánimo de lucro y organizaciones públicas. Además, cuenta con una amplia trayectoria en la implementación de modelos de desarrollo sostenible y trabajo en gestión del riesgo de desastres.