Dr. Golnaraghi is the Director of Extreme Events and Climate Risks at The Geneva Association, the leading international think tank on insurance, economics and risk management, whose members are 90 CEOs of the world’s insurance and reinsurance companies. With over 20 years in international executive and senior advisory positions in industry, government and the United Nations, Maryam is working at the forefront of developing proactive strategies, policies and innovative solutions related to developing: (i) economic resilience to disaster and climate risks with focus on critical infrastructure; and, (ii) sound pathways for transitioning to low carbon economy with focus on technological innovations and investment strategies.
From 2014 to 2015, Maryam served as a senior advisor to Environment Canada as well as a number of international development organizations. From 2004 to 2014, she was the Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction Program at the World Meteorological Organization (UN). In this capacity, she headed up and led an international program that leveraged strategic multi-stakeholder partnerships and latest technological advancements to implement disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures in over 40 countries around the world (i.e., risk modeling, early warning systems, critical infrastructure resilience and risk transfer). From 1997 to 2004, as the CEO and President of Climate Risk Solutions, Inc., she provided innovative climate risk assessment and risk management solutions to the US government and companies in energy, agriculture and insurance sectors. She also worked at the forefront of developing state-of-the-art risk modeling tools, weather derivatives and weather-indexed insurance products.
Dr. Golnaraghi serves in a number of international, national, industry and academic advisory boards. She has authored numerous internationally referenced reports and a book (Springer-Verlag 2012). Maryam is deeply committed to her philanthropic work with focus on nutrition, education and enhanced quality of life for children and youth. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, an MS in Applied Physics and a PhD in Physical Oceanography from Harvard University, after which she held a two-year senior research position at the Harvard Business School.