The Resilience Dividend: Proving Climate Adaptation Pays, by American Family Ventures
Update: This event is now hosted by American Family Ventures.
After eight years of focusing investments in socially impactful startups, The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact and their portfolio are now part of American Family Ventures. We are excited to announce The Institute team is joining American Family Ventures, adding their expertise and experience to a vibrant, motivated group of investors.
Climate risk isn't waiting for capital to catch up. As climate risks rise, so does the need for adaptive solutions. Join us during New York Climate Week for an afternoon of ideas, insight, and action.
Floods, fires, and heat are already reshaping where we build, what we insure, and what gets funded, but resilience and adaptation still lag far behind mitigation when it comes to investment dollars. This New York Climate Week, American Family Ventures is convening the investors, funders, scientists, and founders working to close that gap.
Join us for an afternoon built to get specific. We're bringing three rarely-combined perspectives to one stage: the science of what actually reduces loss, the public and philanthropic capital that funds what venture alone can't, and the founder's-eye view of building a resilience company from the ground up.
Lindsay Brugger, Director of Public Policy, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS)
Bennett Hilley, Climate Lending and Investing, Community Preservation Corporation
Alisa Valderrama, CEO and Co-Founder, FutureProof Technologies
Moderated by American Family Ventures.
Format: After a 30-minute panel, you'll break into small groups, led by one of our panelists, to dig into the specifics of their world. Pick the group that matches the question you're most wrestling with:
The Science of Investible Resilience — with Lindsay Brugger
Capital Beyond Venture — with Bennett Hilley
Building (and Selling) Resilience — with Alisa Valderrama
Investing in Resilience - with American Family Ventures
We'll reconvene for quick report-outs from each room, then head into a reception to keep the conversation going.
RSVP and let us know which breakout group you'd like to join.
Space is limited.
Lindsay Brugger:
Lindsay has worked for over a decade at the intersection of resilience, adaptation, and the built environment. She currently serves as Director of Public Policy at the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) where she works with public and private sector partners to translate technical research and data into policy insights that strengthen homes, businesses, and communities.
Lindsay began her career as a practicing architect; extending her services to Architecture for Humanity DC where she co-founded and directed the Resilience by Design Program. Prior to joining IBHS, Lindsay was the Director of Resilience Knowledge and Engagement at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) where she managed AIA’s Disaster Assistance and Resilience and Adaptation Programs, and, most recently, the Vice President of Resilience at the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where she led ULI’s global Urban Resilience program. An avid partner in advancing resilience action throughout the building industry, Lindsay has worked with stakeholders from across the real estate value chain and often serves as a subject matter expert on climate adaptation and the built environment.
Bennett Hilley:
Bennett Hilley is Senior Director of Strategy and Credit at The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), a nonprofit multifamily lender focused on affordable and workforce housing. In her role, Bennett focusses on how improvements to utility efficiency and resilience in multifamily housing can support long-term asset value and cash flow.
Bennett has more than 15 years of experience across housing finance and federal policy. Before joining CPC, she held several senior roles at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, including as Deputy Director of the Office of Recapitalization and as Senior Advisor for Multifamily Housing. In those roles, she worked on the preservation and recapitalization of multifamily housing, supporting policy and operational efforts related to how properties are repositioned, financed, and preserved over time.
Most recently at HUD, Bennett led the launch of the $1 billion Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP), a national initiative supporting improvements to the physical condition, utility performance, and resilience of HUD-assisted properties. She oversaw program design and implementation and led a national outreach effort engaging owners, lenders, and public partners across a wide range of markets.
Alisa Valderrama:
Alisa Valderrama is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of FutureProof Technologies, a property insurance startup that uses AI to identify resilient properties and motivate investment in resilience. Alisa has spent her career focused on the intersection of capital markets, risk, and infrastructure. Prior to FutureProof, she was Director of Water Infrastructure Finance at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). At the NRDC, she initiated and led the organization's work with cities and commercial property owners focused on innovative water infrastructure, with an emphasis on urban flood risk and stormwater management.
Alisa holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, a J.D. from USC, and an LL.M. from the London School of Economics.