Jon Padgham joined in September 2008 as the Director of START’s Risk, Vulnerability, and Adaptation program. Prior to joining START, Jon worked at the World Bank and the US Agency for International Development on climate change adaptation initiatives. At the World Bank, he developed a study detailing where Bank investments are needed to build adaptive capacity in the agriculture sector. At USAID he managed adaption projects and helped to develop a guidance manual on climate change adaptation for that agency’s field operations. Jon received a PhD in soil science from Cornell University.

Mary Thompson-Hall joined START in 2015 as a program specialist working primarily on the Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) project, part of the broader Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA). She holds a Bachelor of Arts in environmental studies from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in geography from the University of South Carolina where her research focused on intersections of conservation and development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, Mary worked with World Bank and African Development Bank experts on participatory adaptation fieldwork for the Zambian Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), and also co-authored a USAID commissioned report on gender and climate change adaptation. Most recently, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Basque Center for Climate Change (BC3) in Bilbao, Spain on topics relating to agricultural biodiversity and climate change adaptation.

Mariama joined START in June 2018 as Program Specialist leading a project on energy transformations for strengthening capacities for addressing complex sustainability challenges in West Africa. She previously worked for the Directorate of Green Financings and Partnerships in the Senegalese Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. Prior to that, she worked as post-doctoral researcher at the Institut des Sciences de l’Environnement, Université Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD), Senegal, where she coordinated the activities of the research unit. She was also an activity leader in the project One Health Central and Eastern Africa (OHCEA) Senegal for which she supervised the training of local communities in surveillance, diagnosis, and biosafety and biosecurity. She holds a PhD in Climate Change and Biodiversity from WASCAL Graduate Research Program of Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Prior to joining START, Clay was the Director of the Neighbor-to-Neighbor program at A Wider Circle, a non-profit program chiefly responsible for redistributing furniture donations to families experiencing poverty. He holds a BA in Public Policy from The College of William & Mary.

Hassan Virji has been involved with START since its inception in 1992, and served as START’s Executive Director from 2008 to 2016.

Prior to joining START, in his role as Executive Secretary of the US Inter-agency Subcommittee on Global Change Research he contributed to set up the US Global Change Research Program during early 1990s. Before then, he was Deputy Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, and Associate Director of the Climate Dynamics Program of the US National Science Foundation.
Hassan is a member of the Governing Boards of the International Centers of excellence located at CSIR/South Africa and the Academia Sinica/Taipei, UK-based Education, Learning, and Research for Humanitarian Assistance, the Civilian Research and Development Foundation of USA and the Manila Observatory located at Ateneo de Manila University. He is a permanent member of the National Research Council of the US National Academies.
He serves on the editorial boards of “Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability”, “Advances in Climate Change Research”, and “Climate, Disasters, and Development”.
Hassan is a graduate of the Universities of Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Wisconsin in Madison.

Roland Fuchs led START’s work and activities until 2008. Prior to joining START he served as Professor of Geography. Roland Fuchs has held various positions within academia and international organizations. Prior to joining START he served as Professor of Geography and Department Chair at the University of Hawaii and later Vice-Rector of the United Nations University in Japan. He has also served as President of the International Geographical Union (IGU) and Secretary-General of the Pacific Science Association (PSA). During his career he has been associated with a number of institutions, including Moscow State University, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, National Taiwan University, Clark University, Ohio State University, and the East-West Center. His research has focused on urbanization and global change.