Climate change and extreme weather events pose serious risks globally to communities and businesses, and have shed light on asset and infrastructure vulnerabilities. According to FM Global research, climate-related losses at commercial properties with the highest climate risk are 30 times more likely to occur and 180 times more severe than at properties with the lowest risk. This panel will discuss the crucial role the insurance sector can play in understanding climate risk – and the importance of planning and building for resilience. We will share innovative approaches to insurance models, examples of how communities and businesses can address vulnerabilities, and discuss incentives for taking action.
Charlie Sidoti - Executive Director, InnSure
Charlie Sidoti is the Executive Director of InnSure, an industry-funded not-for-profit with a mission to foster innovation in insurance. Charlie Sidoti's 35+ years in insurance includes senior leadership roles with P&C insurance carriers, 10-years leading insurance-adjacent analytics-focused startups and founder and chief executive of InnSure, an impact focused non-profit, since 2019. Charlie is driven to reimagine how the insurance sector can better help society solve the most difficult climate risk challenges via better insurance products and services.
Carmelina Borsellino - Vice President, Chief Engineer, FM Global
Carmelina Borsellino is vice president, chief engineer at FM Global and is based in the company’s Johnston, Rhode Island, corporate headquarters. Borsellino is responsible for establishing and managing the strategic technical direction and development of engineering expertise and resources, ensuring that it is focused on the most critical hazards, including emerging trends, which can impact the resilience of clients. Borsellino joined FM Global in 1986 as a loss prevention engineer, working with Fortune 1000-size clients across many industries to help them better understand their property risk and make their facilities more resilient to loss. She then went on to accept additional engineering roles, each with increasing responsibility, before her most recent role as vice president, manager cyber hazards, where she leveraged the company’s expertise in scientific research and loss prevention engineering to develop products and services to help clients assess cyber risk. She holds a bachelor’s degree in building engineering from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Stacy Swann - Founding Partner, Former CEO, Climate Finance Advisors, BLLC
Stacy Swann (CEO and Founding Partner) has more than two decades of experience in finance, fund management and development, including with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where she was Head of IFC’s Blended Finance Unit and was responsible for managing and investing more than $750 million in donor funding for climate-smart investments. While at IFC, she also supported World Bank Group efforts to work with policy makers and other financial institutions on issues related to blended finance, climate finance, climate-smart fiscal policies and incorporating practical policy and investment approaches to managing climate risk. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she worked for Enron International in India and Singapore, for Project Oxygen, and for Startec Global Communications Corporation.
In addition to running Climate Finance Advisors, Ms. Swann is currently Vice-Chairperson of the Board and Chair of the Investment Committee for the Montgomery County Green Bank, the United States’ first county-level green bank. She is also an Independent Director of the Board of Neighborhood Sun, a community solar company with operations in Maryland, New Jersey and New York, and she sits on the Board of the Women’s Council on Energy and Environment (WCEE). She also helped establish the Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment (GARI) working group which has convened over 150 private investors and other stakeholders to discuss practical approaches to adaptation and resilience investment.
Stacy holds an MBA in Finance and Development Economics from American University, a Master’s Degree from Harvard University and a BA from City University of New York – Hunter College. Stacy is also conversant in Arabic.
