2025 Climate Business & Investment Conference

Alexis Abramson is the dean of the Columbia Climate School and a professor of climate. She is a climate thought leader and an expert in sustainable energy technology, with extensive experience in academic administration. Professor Abramson’s research has focused broadly on thermal transport, from designing nanostructured materials to addressing building energy efficiency. Before coming to her role at Columbia in January 2025, Professor Abramson served as the dean of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. 

Vindi joined CD&R in 2010 after a 33-year career at Unilever, where he served as executive board member and president of Global Foods, Home & Personal Care businesses. He was also responsible for Unilever’s sustainability agenda. Previously, Banga served as president of Home & Personal Care Asia and as chairman and managing director of Unilever’s operating company in India, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Banga chairs CD&R’s Sustainability Council and played the lead operating role on the firm’s investments in Diversey and Mauser Group.

Kieran Bhatia joined Guy Carpenter’s North America peril advisory team in September 2021. As the head of climate and sustainability for North America, Bhatia develops climate change products, supports climate regulatory responses, and delivers advisory services to (re)insurance companies. Prior to joining Guy Carpenter, Bhatia held the role of climate science program lead at bp in London, England.

Advised on: Climate Knowledge Initiative's Sustainable Proteins

Jessica Fanzo, PhD, is a professor of climate and the director of the Food for Humanity Action Collaborative at Columbia University’s Climate School in New York City. She held positions at Johns Hopkins University, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, the UN World Food Programme, Bioversity International, the Earth Institute, and the Millennium Development Goal Centre at the World Agroforestry Center in Kenya.

Vincent Gauthier is a senior manager for climate-smart agriculture at the Environmental Defense Fund and a thought leader on agriculture finance solutions that help farmers and ranchers adapt to a changing climate. Gauthier collaborates directly with farmers, ranchers, and agriculture lenders to identify and address financial challenges to climate solutions in the agriculture sector. He has advanced actionable financial data on climate-smart agriculture practices and is bringing climate risk assessment and management to the agriculture finance sector.

Hart is the global head of analytics and collaborations within climate risk advisory at Aon, based in Southfield, MI. Hart works on development and deployment of analytics capabilities to help Aon’s clients understand and appropriately manage their climate risk. This includes development of data and tools in-house as well as engagement with academic research institutions and private companies via partnerships worldwide.

Radley Horton is a professor at Columbia University’s Climate School. His research focuses on climate extremes, tail risks, climate impacts, and adaptation. Horton was a convening lead author for the Third National Climate Assessment. He currently is the principal investigator for the NOAA-Climate Adaptation Partnerships-funded Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast. He is also the Columbia University lead for the NSF Funded Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) and the Department of Interior-funded Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center.

Emmanuel Lagarrigue joined KKR in 2022 and is the global co-head of the firm’s climate strategy within the Infrastructure business. In this role, he leads KKR's global investments in climate, showcasing his expertise and commitment to sustainable growth. Lagarrigue has considerable experience in sustainability, the energy transition, and the transformation of large businesses. Before joining KKR, he was a founding partner of BeyondNetZero, a General Atlantic fund focusing on growth equity opportunities in decarbonization technologies.

Costis Maglaras is the 16th Dean of Columbia Business School, and the David and Lyn Silfen Professor of Business at Columbia University. Costis received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College, London, in 1990, and his MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1991 and 1998, respectively. He joined Columbia Business School in 1998, when he joined the Decision, Risk and Operations Division.

Dr. Skylar Olsen is the chief economist at Zillow. A PhD housing economist with more than ten years of experience figuring out how, why, and what’s next, and a passion for helping people make better economic decisions. Olsen has testified before Congress about fair housing issues and regularly shares her housing-market expertise on stage, in print, and on local and national television and radio stations. She also teaches Real Estate Evolution and Disruption at the University of Washington.

Xavier Rolet ‘84 is a member of the Columbia Business School Board, a Harvard University Senior Fellow, and a board member of the Yale University Center for Business and the Environment. His career includes serving as CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group, CEO of CQS Management, chairman of Phosagro PJSC, and board member at Seplat Energy Plc. 

Jonathan F.P. Rose’s business, public policy, teaching, research, writing, and not-for-profit work focuses on creating more environmentally, socially, and economically resilient cities.

Professor Parinitha (Pari) Sastry is an assistant professor of finance at Columbia Business School. Her research focuses on climate change, financial intermediation, and real-estate markets. She received her B.A. from Columbia University and her finance Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has worked previously at the Department of Treasury, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, Brookings Institution, and New York Fed.

Bruce Usher is a Professor of Professional Practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler '86 and Mark T. Gallogly '86 Faculty Director of the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change at Columbia Business School. The Tamer Institute educates on the use business knowledge, entrepreneurial skills, and management tools to address social and environmental challenges. Professor Usher teaches courses on climate change, finance and business, and is a recipient of the Singhvi Prize for Scholarship in the Classroom, the Lear Award, and the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh is the Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, which he joined in July 2018 after 15 years at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He earned his PhD in Economics (2003), MSc in Financial Mathematics (2001), and MA in Economics (2001) from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Ghent, Belgium (1998).

Kieran Bhatia joined Guy Carpenter’s North America peril advisory team in September 2021. As the head of climate and sustainability for North America, Bhatia develops climate change products, supports climate regulatory responses, and delivers advisory services to (re)insurance companies. Prior to joining Guy Carpenter, Bhatia held the role of climate science program lead at bp in London, England.

* It's pronounced like "juggernaut" without the "jug."

Gernot Wagner is a climate economist at Columbia Business School. His research, teaching, and writing focus on climate risks and climate policy.

Gregory's research focuses on the use of observations from multiple satellites (Aqua AIRS, GPM, TRMM) and NASA/DOE field campaigns to improve our understanding of convection and the environment in which it is developing. Knowledge gained is used to improve GISS-ModelE Earth system model (ESM) parameterizations. He maintains a close connection with the satellite observational product development community, currently serving as the NASA co-chair for Obs4MIPs, and maintaining the widely-used Multisensor Advanced Climatology of Liquid Water Path (MAC-LWP) record for improved clou

Hayley is currently the Climate Science Advisor at the Mayor's Office of Climate & Environmental Justice in New York City. In this role, she oversees the Office's academic partnerships -- including the New York City Panel on Climate Change, FloodNet, and the Vulnerability, Impacts, and Adaptation Study – and helps integrate the latest climate science into City policy. Hayley recently received her PhD in politics from the University of Virginia, where she wrote her dissertation on the role of city governments and community organizations in advancing climate mitigation policy.

Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou is an environmental engineer and epidemiologist. She holds a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) from the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Doctor of Science (ScD) in Environmental Health from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, where she also conducted her post-doctoral fellowship. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.