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RAF and RAF-I are creating an endowment fund and intend to work synergistically on programs along four main axes: Publications, Education, Research, Action.
A network of leading universities, public-interest entities, insurance-related organizations, grassroots action groups and product/service providers, is being assembled to collaboratively execute various segments of the program. RAF-I will focus on international dimensions.
The organizations’ objectives include communicating the mission’s concepts, issues and programs in a language that can be easily understood by common people and made useful at personal, business and community levels.
It also includes acting as a public-interest watchdog with regards to building policies, codes and practices, highlighting both commendable (‘Hall of Fame’) and not-commendable (‘Hall of Shame’) actions.
Aris holds the position of Distinguished Expert in Resilience at Florida International University’s Extreme Events Institute (FIU-EEI), serves on the Board of the United Nations Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (UN-ARISE), and was founding chair (2011) of the UN International Strategy on Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR) Private Sector Advisory Group. He represented the private sector at the 3rd UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and played an active role in developing the ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-30’. He advocated the cause of resilience and disaster risk reduction in the built environment before four UN Global Platform Conferences and at Rio+20.
Aris has 35 years of experience in the construction, materials and energy industries. Until 2019 he chaired the board of ST Equipment & Technology (STET), a worldwide provider of industrial waste reclamation and water conservation equipment and technology solutions. In 2014 he retired from Titan America, a US building materials company, after serving as CEO for 20 years.
Margareta played an instrumental role in the development and adoption of the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: 2015-2030, signed in March 2015 by 187 countries. This milestone agreement is referenced in the COP21 Paris Agreement, which contained the strongest ever call for climate adaptation.
Her prior contributions include serving as Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2004-2008), UN Special Coordinator for the Assistance to the Tsunami-Affected Communities (2004-2005), Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Relief, Recovery and Rehabilitation, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (2003-2004) and Under-Secretary-General for Disaster Response and Operations and Deputy Director Operations, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (1995-2000).
