2024 Speakers

Genny Biggs

Program Director, Wildfire Resilience Initiative & Special Projects
Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation

  • As program director for wildfire and special projects, Genny leads the Wildfire Resilience Initiative and the foundation’s special opportunity grantmaking, to advance outcomes across the foundation's programs.

    Genny has more than 25 years of experience in the philanthropic and non-profit sectors. She joined the Moore Foundation in 2001. From 2005-2008, she earned master’s degrees in environmental management and international relations from Yale University, with a concentration on integrated conservation and development. Genny returned to Moore in 2008, having served during the intervening years as a summer associate in the David & Lucile Packard Foundation’s Conservation and Science Program and as a research fellow for the Environmental Grantmakers Association. Previously, Genny worked for National Geographic Magazine. She earned her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University, with honors.

Zac Bookman

Co-Founder & CEO
OpenGov

  • Zachary Bookman is the Co-founder and CEO of OpenGov, the GovTech cloud software leader. With a mission to power more effective and accountable government, OpenGov serves more than 1900 cities, counties, state agencies, school districts, and special districts across the United States.

    Before co-founding OpenGov, Zac served as Advisor to U.S. Army General H.R. McMaster on the Anti‑Corruption Task Force at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. He previously practiced trial litigation at Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco, and served as law clerk to the Honorable Sandra S. Ikuta on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

    Zac studied transparency and corruption in Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow. He holds a JD from Yale Law School, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, and graduated valedictorian from the University of Maryland. Zac serves on the board of Mt. Tamalpais College and the Board of Overseers at the Hoover Institution, and he is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Bill Clerico

Founder & Managing Partner
Convective Capital

  • Splitting time between San Francisco and Mendocino County, Bill loves both the forests of Northern California and the energy and pace of Silicon Valley. He is passionate about technology’s potential to create new tools for firefighters, policy makers, utilities, insurance companies, landowners and other stakeholders in order to restore a healthy relationship with fire.

    Prior to starting Convective Capital, Bill was Co-founder & CEO of WePay, a fintech company which was acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase in 2017. Bill is an active angel investor in over 50 seed-stage companies and was previously a Part-Time Partner at Y Combinator.

    When he isn’t talking to founders, you’ll find him skiing, working on his timber ranch in Boonville CA, or volunteering with the Anderson Valley Fire Department. Bill lives in San Francisco and Boonville with his wife Katey, son Sully, and Rhodesian Ridgeback Penny.

Dan Cotter

Executive Director, Office of Science & Engineering
US Department of Homeland Security

  • Dan Cotter serves as Executive Director, Office of Science and Engineering in the Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this role, he leads the advancement of science and technology to support the homeland security mission, including overseeing technology centers, requirements generation, standards, systems engineering, test and evaluation, and support to DHS research and acquisition programs. In 2018, Dan received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. Dan holds an M.B.A. from Texas A&M University, a M.S. in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences from George Mason University, and a B.S in Hydrology from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Tim Doggett

SVP, Director of Atmospheric Perils
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance

  • Tim has more than twenty years of experience in natural catastrophe risk assessment and is currently responsible for leading risk management assessment projects for perils related to hurricanes, convective storms, and wildfires. He leads a team that develops models and tools for integrating catastrophe analytics into the insurance underwriting workflow, performs catastrophe risk evaluations (including evaluating climate change impacts), and provides real-time risk assessment of impacts from ongoing natural disasters.

Brian Fennessy

Fire Chief
Orange County Fire Authority

  • As the Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), Brian Fennessy leads more than 1,800 firefighters and non-sworn personnel who collectively serve 2 million residents across 23 cities and unincorporated counties.

     

    Chief Fennessy began his career in 1978 with the USFS and BLM working as a hotshot crewmember and ultimately crew superintendent.

     

    In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and ultimately became Chief of the Department in 2015.  In 2018, he was appointed Fire Chief of the OCFA.

     

    Chief Fennessy currently serves as Chair of the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors; represents California as a member of the Western Fire Chiefs Association Wildland Fire Policy Committee; represents the nine West Division FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces; and President of the California Fire Chiefs Association.  In 2022, Chief Fennessy was recognized as CalChiefs Fire Chief of the Year and in 2023, the International Association of Fire Chief’s Career Fire Chief of the Year.

Meryl Harrell

Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources & Environment
USDA

  • Meryl Harrell is the Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where she works closely with the USDA Forest Service. Harrell previously served in NRE for eight years during the Obama-Biden Administration, including serving as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary.

    Prior to returning to USDA, Harrell served as the Executive Director of the Southern

    Appalachian Wilderness Stewards (SAWS) and founded a consulting practice advising non-profit organizations, foundations, and government agencies working to conserve and manage public lands, address wildfire risk, build social and economic opportunity through outdoor recreation, and increase equitable access to careers in conservation. Harrell previously worked on public lands issues at The Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C.

    Harrell received her J.D. from the Yale Law School and her undergraduate degree in geoscience and environmental studies from Princeton University. She can often be found hiking on trails in our national forests with her family.

Elaine Hungenberg

Senior Vice President of Partnerships & Impact
XPRIZE

  • Elaine Hungenberg is the Senior Vice President of Partnerships & Impact at XPRIZE, where she leads transformative initiatives to address humanity's greatest challenges. She is on the leadership team of the $11M, four-year global competition to end destructive wildfires, leveraging innovative partnerships to drive real-world solutions.  Known for her strategic vision and expertise in impact evaluation, Elaine cultivates ecosystems of diverse stakeholders—from corporate partners to government and community leaders—to drive systemic change through cutting-edge solutions. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President at Operation HOPE, where she led the HOPE Research and Impact Institute, focusing on solutions for financial equity. With over 15 years of experience in strategy, impact evaluation, and go-to-market strategies, Elaine’s career is rooted in creating positive change.

Jennee Kuang

Senior Program Officer
Resources Legacy Fund

  • Jennee Kuang is a Senior Program Officer at RLF and co-leads the organization’s wildfire resilience program. The program focuses on public policy and funding solutions to accelerate wildfire resilience in the Western U.S. Before coming to RLF, Jennee was an Environment Program Fellow at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation where she developed the foundation’s wildfire resilience grantmaking strategy. Earlier in her career, Jennee served as special assistant to the Chief Innovation Officer of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She holds a BS in Natural Resources from Cornell University and a Master of Public Policy from UC Berkeley.

Pascal Karsenti

Director of Research & Technology
Nephila

  • Pascal is Director of Research and Technology for Nephila, an investment manager focused on insurance-linked strategies and sustainable climate solutions. He conducts original catastrophe research and develops proprietary analytics and modeling to enhance Nephila’s underwriting and risk management. Pascal also evaluates insurtech opportunities, contributes to portfolio construction, and leads key initiatives on climate change and sustainability. Pascal joined Nephila in 2011 from catastrophe modeling firm Verisk Extreme Event Solutions, where he led risk assessment for catastrophe bond issuances.

Jeff Marsolais

Associate Deputy Chief for Fire – State, Private, & Tribal Forestry
US Forest Service

  • Jeff serves as the Associate Deputy Chief of State, Private, and Tribal Forestry and oversees Fire and Aviation for the forest Service. With more than 28 years of career experience in the Forest Service, Jeff has a wealth of experience in forestry, fire, recreation, and public services. Prior to his move to this position in the Washington Office, he served for 2 years as Forest Supervisor of the Eldorado National Forest and

    prior to that was the Forest Supervisor in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Recent Acting assignments have included National Director for Recreation, Heritage, and Volunteer Resources and Deputy Regional Forester in the Pacific Southwest Region. Marsolais has worked for the Forest Service since the early 1990s and has served on 7 different National Forests in California and Nevada in positions ranging from Deputy Forest Supervisor to Fire Fighter 1 on an Engine. Prior to his work with the Forest Service, he spent time with the Bureau of Land Management and with CalFire in Northern California. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources and Recreation Planning and a Master of Science in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University.

John Mills

CEO
Watch Duty

  • John has changed the way we live with fire through his 501c3 non-profit organization Watch Duty. John spent many years in Silicon Valley focusing on underserved markets that had been overlooked by technologists. In 2012 he founded Zenput as CTO, focused on retail food services operations which was acquired in 2022. After living in San Francisco for 16 years, he moved off-the-grid to Sonoma County in 2020 where he was faced with the terrifying reality of life in the wildlands without the information needed to make informed decisions.  Having developed software for over 30 years beginning at age 8, John found himself with a life or death problem he had to solve not only for himself, but for his community. He spent more than a year understanding the problems and then together, with his team, created Watch Duty in just 80 days. Today Watch Duty has a team of over 150 active and retired wildland firefighters, dispatchers, first responders, and reporters supporting millions of citizens and first responders who rely on the Watch Duty App across the American West to stay safe.

Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell

Administrator
US Fire Administration

  • Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell was appointed by President Joseph Biden as the U.S. Fire Administrator in 2021. Prior to her appointment, Lori served nearly 3 years as the President and CEO of the International Public Safety Data Institute (IPSDI), which she founded after retiring from a 26-year tenure as a senior executive in the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). She began her fire service career in 1987 as a fire department paramedic in the City of Memphis Fire Department, Memphis Tennessee. Lori is a Doctor of Public Health and data scientist, whose work has changed fire and EMS deployment throughout the world. As the principal investigator and senior project manager, she oversaw the development of landmark reports and other tools to improve residential and high-rise fire ground operations, community risk assessment, fire and EMS resource deployment, and “Big Data Analytics”. Her work continues to influence executive decision-making across the fire service.

Jay Ribakove

Principal
Convective Capital

  • Jay joined the Convective Capital team as a Principal in 2024. He’s focused on partnering with founders who are relentless about achieving their goals and protecting our environment from natural disasters.

    Prior to Convective, Jay was an investor at Munich Re Ventures, backing companies reducing risk in climate and the built environment. He is also a girl dad, recovering software engineer, and aspiring ski instructor.

Sumeet Singh

Executive Vice President, Operations & COO
PG&E

  • Sumeet Singh is Executive Vice President, Operations and Chief Operating Officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E).

    He is responsible for the utility’s operations that includes Electric Operations, Gas Operations, Nuclear Generation, Power Generation, Enterprise Health & Safety, Vegetation Management, and Wildfire, Emergency & Operations.

    Singh previously served as Executive Vice President, Chief Risk Officer and Chief Safety Officer, overseeing the company's integrated workforce health and safety strategy, its safety culture, and management of both operational risks such as wildfires, nuclear, dams, natural gas, natural disasters and non-operational risks such as cybersecurity, pandemic and others.

    Singh has held a number of other leadership roles within PG&E, including as Vice President, Asset Management and Community Wildfire Safety Program; Vice President of Portfolio Management & Engineering in PG&E's Gas Operations, and Vice President, Asset & Risk Management in PG&E's Gas Operations. Joining PG&E in 2000 as an engineer, Singh worked in various natural gas distribution and transmission engineering roles, as well as in the Finance and Energy Procurement functions.

    Singh has also served as the Gas Safety and Integrity Officer at Picarro Inc., leading a global organization focused on the growth of an innovative technology based on hardware-enabled analytics informing asset management solutions to drive a safer and cleaner natural gas system by improving the overall risk spend efficiency.

Joe Tyler

Director, Fire Chief
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)

  • Chief Tyler began his career with CAL FIRE in 1990 as a Fire Fighter in the Shasta Trinity Unit. Since then, he has worked in the Riverside Unit, Amador El Dorado Unit, and Statewide Training Program in various operational classifications in Schedule A and Schedule B, including fire stations, training bureaus and programs, camps, safety programs, and as an Administrative Officer and Staff Chief. Prior to his appointment to Deputy Director, Chief Tyler served as the Assistant Deputy Director of Fire Protection with oversight of Law Enforcement/Civil Cost Recovery, Fire Protection Operations, Aviation Management, Tactical Air Operations, and Mobile Equipment. In addition to those programs referenced just prior, he now also oversees Training, Safety, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Local/State/Federal Programs, and Hand Crew Programs.

    Chief Tyler serves as the Department representative on the California Wildland Coordinating Group, National Association of State Forester’s Wildland Fire Committee, Western States Fire Managers and has served on several Statewide committees and cadres, most recently leading a work group in the acquisition of a new fleet of helicopters and C-130 air tankers. He is qualified as an Agency Administrator, Incident Commander – Type 1, Safety Officer, and an Operations Section Chief. He was a member of CAL FIRE Incident Management Teams from 2005 through 2014, last holding the position of Deputy Incident Commander on CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 3 until his promotion to Staff Chief.

Michael Wara

Director of Policy, Sustainability Accelerator
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

  • Michael Wara is Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment as well as Senior Director of Policy at the Sustainability Accelerator in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Wara runs a multidisciplinary team of lawyers, data scientists, economists and public health experts focused on three topical areas: environmental justice, the energy transition, and wildfire. He conducts partner engaged research with a wide array of stakeholders aimed at developing solutions to climate and energy challenges. His team also develops and provides neutral analysis to support sound policy making across the domains in which they work. Wara has served in a variety of roles for the state of California including as a Wildfire Commissioner, as a member of the California Catastrophe Response Council, and as an advisor to the California Senate, Public Utilities Commission, and the Office of Electric Infrastructure Safety. Wara has a JD from Stanford Law School and a PhD in Ocean Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Nancy Watkins

Principal & Consulting Actuary
Milliman

  • Nancy Watkins is a principal in Milliman's San Francisco office. Widely known as a thought leader in property insurance availability and affordability, Nancy serves insurers, regulators, community/government entities, tech vendors and NGOs seeking expertise and innovation in addressing catastrophic risk. 

    Nancy leads the global Milliman Climate Resilience Initiative, designated 2024 Climate Consultancy of the Year by InsuranceERM.  She served on the CAL FIRE Risk Modeling Advisory Workgroup, currently serves on the Private Market Insights Advisory group for nonprofit Insurance For Good, and was recently appointed by the U.S. Treasury Financial Stability Oversight Council as a member of its Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee. 

David Winnacker

Fire Chief
Moraga-Orinda Fire District (MOFD)

  • Dave Winnacker has been in the fire service for 21 years and has served as chief of the Moraga-Orinda Fire District since 2017. He is the California Director of the Western Fire Chiefs Association and heads the California Fire Chiefs Association WUI Task Force. He served on the Wildfire Mitigation Modeling Workgroup and is a member of the Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee. Before joining the fire service, he served in the Marine Corps as an active-duty infantry officer and has remained in the reserves, serving as the Commanding Officer 4th Force Reconnaissance Company from 2014–16, Deputy Commander 23d Marine Regiment from 2019 to 2022, and Chief of Staff Marine Innovation Unit from 2022-2024. At Stanford University he is a Hoover Institution Veteran Fellow working on market-based incentive structures at the intersection of wildfire and insurance. In the private sector, he is a co-founder of XyloPlan Risk, a risk visualization and mitigation prioritization provider.