Founder and Deep Expertise
Dr. Jerry Skees has spent four decades at the forefront of disaster risk financing — founding GlobalAgRisk to build the evidence base for index-based insurance, and co-founding Global Parametrics, whose Natural Disaster Fund, backed by the UK and German governments and HannoverRe, delivers parametric risk protection across the globe.
He established GCDRP to advance the next frontier: mainstreaming early action into how public and private stakeholders finance and manage disaster risk before crises strike. To do so, GCDRP draws on a diverse network of professionals spanning climate science, financial modeling, inclusive finance, legal and regulatory frameworks, and public policy.
“Getting cash in quickly saves lives and money.”
GCDRP operates at the intersection of research, advisory work, and field application — engaging multilateral institutions, humanitarian organizations, financial inclusion networks, reinsurers, and insurtech platforms to strengthen climate risk management and community resilience worldwide.
GCDRP today
Our approach advances five priorities:
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Enhancing ex-ante financing within a systems framework for disaster risk management
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Improving financial market efficiency and capacity to manage natural disaster risk
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Advising market participants on forward-looking disaster risk management decisions
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Advancing extreme-event forecasting for more timely anticipatory action
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Informing policy leaders on national and global disaster risk management priorities
— Dr. Jerry Skees, Founder and President, GCDRP
A History of Breakthroughs
1985 - 2002 ◦ foundations
1985
crop insurance
New rate-making procedure for U.S. Crop Insurance
1991
group risk plans
Led development of the first U.S. index insurance program
1994
sign up dates
Changed sign-up dates for U.S. Crop Insurance
1995
reinsurance agreement
Widely-used model for the Standard Reinsurance Agreement
1997
index insurance
Introduced the World Bank to index insurance for smallholder farmers
2001
livestock program
Designed Mongolia/World Bank's globally acclaimed IBLIP
2002
ethiopia/arc
Analysis and advisory breakthroughs - forerunner for the African Risk Capacity Group
2008 - 2017 ◦ Global INNOVATIONS
2008
Business interruption product
Designed of of Southeast Asia's first parametric business interruption products for coffee farmers in Dak Lak, Vietnam
2009
flooding product
Designed a parametric risk transfer product for early-season Mekong Delta flooding, triggering payments before losses escapate
2011
world's first forecast product
Designed the world's first forecast-based insurance product, approved by the Peruvian regulator, enabling pre-event payments
2011
first enso contract
Designed the world's first insurance contract using seas-surface temperature as a trigger for El Niño-linked payments in Peru
2012
enabling environment - Global
Contributed to legal and regulatory frameworks for index insurance at Base, IAIS, and UN levels, establishing standards still used today
2015-16
protecting microfinance institutions
Foundational work with VisionFund International leading to ongoing MFI protection through the Natural Disaster Fund
2016-17
Drought Facility /ARC Replica
Led early efforts with the UK-based Start Network on a drought facility that became a precursor to ARC Replica
Current ◦ Active Initiatives
Global Parametrics' Impact
Providing risk protection across 70 countries and 31 million beneficiaries covering six perils — reaching scale across emerging and frontier markets.
Financing for Shock-Driven Food Security
Led the FAO Chief Economist's Task Force to design a $100M anticipatory financing facility for emerging food crises, endorsed by the G7 and backed by MunichRe.
Scaling Financial Protection
Coming soon
Extending Protection to MSME's
Coming soon
Our Team
Jerry Skees
Ntongi McFadyen
Carlos Lima
Founder and Director
Founding Board Member and Senior VP
Associate Professor at the University of Brasilia
A pioneering agricultural economist and public policy advisor, he mobilizes blended finance and parametric solutions, grounded in geophysical hazard and climate science, to address market failures with new institutional architecture for resilient development systems.
A champion of inclusive finance and designer of innovative business models for economic and social resilience, she bridges policy, market intelligence, and actionable partnerships to position disaster risk finance solutions for scale and reach to underserved communities.
An expert in advanced hydrological modeling and data analysis, he applies machine learning and climate science to flood, drought, and extreme event forecasting. Carlos trained under Upmanu Lall at Columbia University.
Collaborators
Janot Mendler de Suarez
Upmanu Lall
Tim Neilander
IFRC Climate Centre, WOrld Bank
Arizona State University
GP3
A climate and environmental policy advisor and facilitator of multi-stakeholder consultative processes, she provokes new thinking across conflict zone climate risk screenings, health risk forecasting, anticipatory action, and social protection.
Founding Director of the Water Institute at Arizona State University and one of Reuters' top 1,000 climate scientists globally, recognized for groundbreaking research in hydrology, climate dynamics, and water scarcity solutions.
A co-founder of the GP3 Institute, Tim brings leadership in designing and financing public-private cooperation initiatives across global health and disaster risk management, and serves as legal and regulatory advisor to sovereign risk pools in the Caribbean, Pacific, and Africa.