People Moves: Prof Ranger Switches Oxford for LSE, Clifford Launches Adaptation Venture Fund, and More

👋 Hi there,

Welcome to the second edition of the Climate Proof People Moves column! Here, we’ll track the latest job changes, promotions, and opportunities in climate adaptation finance, tech, and policy. Got a move or opportunity to list? Then reply to this email or fill in the form below (submissions can be anonymous).

Top Moves

Professor Nicola Ranger has switched the University of Oxford for the London School of Economics and Political Science, taking on a new role as Professor in Practice, Natural Capital, Risk and Finance and Executive Director of the Earth Capital Nexus Initiative. She leaves her role at the University of Oxford after four years but will maintain her position as Director, Resilient Planet Finance Lab.

Sabrina Bachrach has been appointed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as Technical Consultant for Innovative Financing for National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). Bachrach is an adaptation and resilience finance specialist who formerly worked as Senior Advisor, Global Policy and Finance at the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center and as Adaptation and Resilience Finance Lead with the UN High-Level Climate Champions. She is based in Germany.

Claire Habron has begun her tenure as CEO of the Howden Foundation, the charitable arm of insurance business Howden. The Foundation’s mission is to equip those most exposed to the impacts of climate change — especially extreme heat and drought — with the tools to prepare, adapt, and recover. Previously, Habron served as Chief Investment Officer at the BHP Foundation, the charity set up by the mining giant BHP. Habron is based in London.

Ingrid Holmes has been appointed Deputy CEO at the UK’s Green Finance Institute in London. She has been part of the team since 2021, and previously worked as Director in the Responsible Investment Team at Federated Hermes.

Darren Clifford has launched Adapt [Us], a venture capital fund backing climate adaptation ventures from pre-seed to Series A. Previously, Clifford worked at McKinsey & Company, most recently as an Associate Partner. He is based in Toronto.

New Roles & Promotions

• Kate Thwaites MP has been appointed Australia’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Australia is maneuvering to host a forthcoming UN COP summit.

• Heidi Sumser has been hired by the World Resources Institute as Senior Investment Manager, Restoration Finance. In this role, she leads the design, capitalization, and rollout of land restoration financing mechanisms under the Global Restoration Initiative. Prior to this appointment, she served as an Agriculture Finance Advisor at USAID. She is based in Washington, DC.

• Kai-Christian Nerger has been appointed Head of Green Economy Banking for Europe in the Global Corporate Banking Solutions division of JP Morgan. Nerger will spearhead efforts to support green economy clients across Europe, and work closely with JP Morgan counterparts in North America. Nerger is a 10-year veteran at JP Morgan, and is based in Germany.

• Pascal Weel has joined the Americas operation of Dutch bank ING as Director of Financial Risk Management, with responsibilities including climate risk. Weel previously served at the Federal Reserve as a Manager on the Financial Stability Climate Committee, taking the lead on a variety of climate risk management initiatives. His role is based in New York.

• David Maurstad, a former senior executive for the US National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), has launched Maurstad Advisory, LLC, which will provide strategic advisory, executive management consulting, crisis communication, political landscape analysis, resilience planning, and more to a diverse set of sectors. Maurstad served at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for more than eight years, and most recently held the position of Assistant Administrator.

• Stephen Bennett has been appointed Senior Director of Climate and Catastrophe Science at Mercury Insurance, where he will build and lead a team to help the company and its policyholders better prepare for — and become more resilient to — severe climate-driven weather events. Bennett is based in North Carolina.

Departures

• Amy Beck has exited the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where she served for two years as Corporate Expert, Sustainable Finance, and spearheaded the agency’s work on climate-related financial risk. She is based in Washington, DC.

• Philip Tapsall has left XDI (Cross Dependency Initiative), an Australia-based provider of physical climate risk data and analysis. Tapsall had been with the company since 2022, and most recently served as Head of Corporate and Finance Sector Engagement. He is based in the Sydney area.

• Sarah Conway has departed WTW, where she served a nearly three-year stint as Director within the Disaster Risk Finance (DRF) team and as a member of the DRF leadership team. In this role, she led the Ecosystem Resilience practice, focusing on the design of pre-arranged, trigger-based financing, including parametric insurance solutions, to enhance the resilience of natural assets including coral reefs and mangroves. She is based in France.

Open Opportunities

📍 New York City is hiring a Senior Climate Finance Officer for the Office of the Comptroller, with responsibility over how the five New York City pension systems and Bureau of Asset Management address the risks and opportunities of climate change in their investment portfolios. Applications close August 10. Apply here 

📍 Climate X is hiring in London for a Contract Climate Scientist (Storms), Flood Scientist, Model Risk Manager, and a Loss Modelling Specialist. The climate risk analytics firm is also looking for a number of commercial and tech professionals in London and New York. Apply here

📍 Mitiga Solutions is looking for a Vulnerability and Risk Modeler to develop and implement advanced catastrophe risk models for the physical risk data provider. The role is based in Spain. Apply here

📍 AECOM is hiring a Graduate Climate Adaptation and Resilience Planner for its San Francisco office, focusing on climate adaptation and resilience planning for local government and other public agencies. Apply here

📍 Gallagher Re is searching for a Global Lead — Flood Peril to join its Property Research Team. The role involves carrying out flood catastrophe model research and evaluation and flood risk quantification, among other things. Gallagher Re is accepting applicants from multiple US cities plus Toronto, Canada. Apply here

📍 Zulu Ecosystems is hiring a Senior Geospatial Data Scientist in London to help develop data-driven and science-based insights on the state of nature and nature-based climate risk solutions. Apply here

📍 Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering, a seed-stage ocean robotics startup, is collecting general interest applications for future roles in San Francisco. The company is building autonomous systems for seagrass restoration and maritime resilience. It is backed by investors Lowercarbon, Superorganism, and ReGen Ventures. Share your interest

📍 Probable Futures, a non-profit climate literacy initiative, is hiring a Digital Media Specialist to support content creation and production across video, social, and email, blog post, and website copy. The role is remote, with a preference for those located in the Northeast US. Apply here

📍The University of Toronto is hiring an Associate Professor/Professor in Sustainable Systems, System Resilience, and Climate Change Adaptation for its Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering. Applicants should be research leaders in the technical, equity, and policy issues of decarbonization of energy and transportation systems, and infrastructure design for climate change adaptation. Applications close June 30. Apply here

📍 ClimateXChange (CXC), Scotland’s center of expertise on climate change, is offering a 7-8 month post-doctoral research opportunity to support the Scottish Government in developing an evidence base for the costs of ensuring a climate resilient Scotland. Applicants must be supported by a UK academic institution. Applications close July 7. Apply here

Know a move we missed? Submit your update or open role for next month’s column HERE

Thanks for reading!

Louie Woodall
Editor