Maarten van Aalst, Director
Maarten coordinates the Climate Centre's support to climate risk management across the Red Cross/Red Crescent, analysis and documentation of experience, and links with scientific and policy communities on climate change, disaster risk management and development planning. He has worked on adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction since 1999, including at the World Bank, African Development Bank, Interamerican Development Bank, OECD and UNDP. He is Coordinating Lead Author of the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on managing extremes, Lead Author of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, and holds an adjunct appointment as Research Scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University. Maarten obtained his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Utrecht University.
Email: vanaalst@climatecentre.org

Madeleen Helmer, Director Policies and Communication
Concerns about the impacts of climate change on vulnerable people brought Madeleen to the Netherlands Red Cross where she established the Climate Centre in 2002. She  mainly focuses on advocacy on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction within the UNFCCC and other international forums. Her special project in 2011 - and maybe longer - is to support a civil society network in the Sahel to curb land degradation and endorse local based food security initiatives.  
Email: helmer@climatecentre.org

Pablo Suarez, Associate director of programmes
Pablo got involved with the Climate Centre as a technical advisor. His work as researcher and consultant focuses on the integration of climate information into decision making for reducing vulnerability, both at community level and through national and global policies. Pablo is associate director of programmes and based in Boston, USA. He is responsible for technical advice to National Societies in Latin America and Africa. Pablo is also in charge of the coordination of audiovisual work as well as projects in North, East, West and Central Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
Email: suarez@climatecentre.org

Rebecca McNaught, Senior program officer
Bec joined the Climate Centre in March 2008 after working across the Pacific for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies since 2005 in the fields of disaster risk reduction and climate change. She studied Environmental Science at Deakin University in Australia and is passionate about her involvement with Red Cross, volunteers and community based action. She is now located in Melbourne, Australia. Bec coordinates the Climate Centre's climate change activities in Asia and the Pacific.
Email: mcnaught@climatecentre.org

Fleur Monasso, Senior program officer
Fleur joined the Climate Centre in 2006 as a project officer. She is responsible for overall coordination of all Climate Centre programmes. She provides technical support to Central Asia, Caucasus, the Middle East and Northern Africa. She studied international relations at the University of Amsterdam and was already committed to the Climate Centre from 2004 onwards as a volunteer, giving presentation to branches of the Netherlands Red Cross.  
Email: monasso@climatecentre.org

Knud Falk, Technical advisor
Since 1 March 2010, Knud has been assisting the Climate Centre in its support to the Movement on climate-related program development and resource mobilization. He is an expert in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation and Ecological monitoring, surveys and assessments.
Email: falk@climatecentre.org
Skypename: knudfalk2 / Mobile: +46 70 621 5479

Gilma Mantilla, Climate and public health specialist
Gilma is based at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University, New York where she works on tools and protocols for creation, integration and dissemination of knowledge and information related with climate and public health. She spends about half her time with the Climate Centre, providing advice on the use of climate information in Red Cross Red Crescent health programming, guidance, tools and policies, and running the program “health risk management in a changing climate”, which is being implemented in four countries on two continents. Gilma is a medical doctor with an MA in Climate & Society from Columbia University, Health and Management from Pontifical Javeriana University, Colombia and specialized in Epidemiology at Rosario University, Colombia.
Email: mantilla@climatecentre.org or mantilla@iri.columbia.edu

Julie Arrighi, Program officer
Julie is a regional program officer for East Africa, based in Kampala, Uganda. Her expertise lies in climate risk management, with an emphasis on early warning/early action mechanisms and natural resources management. She also spends half of her time supporting American Red Cross programs in Africa. Julie has an MA in Climate & Society from Columbia University and a Dual Bachelors of Science in Hydrogeology and Geology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Email: arrighi@climatecentre.org or juliearrighi@gmail.com

Arame Tall, Regional technical advisor
Arame, the Climate Centre's technical adviser for West and Central Africa, is pursuing a PhD at Johns Hopkins University. She specializes in climate risk management, including raising awareness and building capacity among Red Cross National Societies and volunteers on the ground on the new scientific tools available to facilitate disaster management and climate change adaptation decision-making, including linkages to the scientific community. Arame holds an MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and has held various fellowships in research centers across the globe, including the CGIAR 2011 Gender research award, a summer fellowship at IIASA (Laxenburg, Austria) researching African countries' progress towards the achievement of HFA goals for Disaster Reduction, and a 2009/2010 Africa Climate Change Fellowship Programme (ACCFP) Policy Fellowship at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), in Dakar, Senegal.
Email: ATall@climatecentre.org or arametall@gmail.com

Erin Coughlan, Technical advisor
Erin joined the Climate Centre late 2011. She supports Climate Centre programs to build awareness and capacity for climate risk management, and coordinates an internship program through Columbia University bringing graduate students in climate fields to IFRC offices around the world. She also is the Climate Centre liaison at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), working with the Help Desk team to provide rapid responses to climate-related questions from the IFRC. She studied environment, international development, and climate science at McGill and Columbia Universities.
Email: coughlan@climatecentre.org or coughlan@iri.columbia.edu

Carina Bachofen, Technical advisor
Carina joined the Climate Centre in December 2011. She supports the Partners for Resilience program in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Carina specializes in capacity building and training in the areas of vulnerability and adaptation. In addition to working for the Climate Centre, Carina is Global Coordinator for the Ecosystems and Livelihoods Adaptation Network (ELAN), a partnership between the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and CARE International. Carina holds a Masters degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Email: Bachofen@climatecentre.org or Carina.BACHOFEN@iucn.org

Desiree Davidse, Office manager
Desiree joined our team in August 2009 and is responsible for the overall Climate Centre's office management and the organisation of meetings, providing administrative and IT-related support to team, consultants and interns. She has worked at a number of international, educational and research companies and institutes and has extensive general and editorial office management experience. Desiree studied English Language and Culture at Leiden University.
Email: davidse@climatecentre.org