Homeownership, Finance, and Insurance in a Changing Climate
Rapidly increasing insurance costs across the country underscore the impact of a changing climate beyond the physical threats to life and property. These multi-layered challenges require coordination across diverse actors in the housing sector. This panel will bring together various stakeholders to discuss building climate resilience in homes and rethink how financial institutions and insurance companies can support home resiliency, particularly the most vulnerable homeowners.
The City Reporter
Samantha Maldonado is a senior reporter at the digital, nonprofit news outlet The City Reporter, where she covers housing, climate and politics in New York City. Her reporting has also appeared in Politico, The New York Times, The Guardian, the AP, and CNN. She teaches at CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and has held fellowships with the Urban Design Forum and the Stern School of Business at NYU.
Vice President
Dewberry
Mat helps organizations at the local, state, and national level understand built environment vulnerabilities to natural hazards, assess risks, and develop/implement strategies to reduce those risks. Locally, he supported NYC with the development and testing of the Climate Resilience Design Guidelines, led climate risk assessments for the Port Authority of NY and NJ. He has also served as Principal Investigator for a number of National Academy of Sciences areas of inquiry and works regularly with a range of Federal agencies to advance the nation’s understanding of natural hazard risk including FEMA, USACE, NOAA, and USGS.
Chief Operating Officer
Strongward
Reese May serves as Chief Operating Officer at Strongward, leading national efforts to build resilience in the nation’s most at-risk communities. A two-time combat U.S. Marine veteran, Reese brings more than 14 years of experience in disaster resilience, community recovery, and systems change.
Since joining Strongward in 2011, Reese has helped shape the organization’s strategy, innovation, and government advisory work, driving policy and partnerships that strengthen local capacity before and after disasters. His leadership is grounded in his conviction: If we care about survivors after disasters, we must invest in resilience before they occur.
A FEMA Vanguard Executive and a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Task Force on Reforming Disaster Response and Recovery, Reese has testified before Congress on equitable recovery practices and regularly advises government leaders on reducing risk, building resilience, and improving recovery systems nationwide.
A native of Mississippi, husband, and father, Reese draws on his lived experience growing up in the storm-prone Gulf South—remaining deeply committed to turning hard-earned lessons into lasting solutions for communities across the country.
President & CEO
Community Development Long Island
Gwen O’Shea is the President and CEO of CDCLI. She joined the organization in March 2017 after serving on its Board of Directors since 2013. She oversees the organization’s annual budget of $85 million, assets of $30 million, and a workforce of more than 85 employees. She is instrumental to its growth and expansion, and advocates for policies and programs that advance the corporation’s mission and vision.
Prior to her appointment at CDCLI, Ms. O’Shea served as the President/CEO of the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island (HWCLI).
Ms. O’Shea has served as an adjunct professor at LIU Post in the Health Care and Public Administration and Social Work graduate departments. She is an Advisory Board Member of the Energeia Partnership at Molloy College and a Board Member of the Long Island Federally Qualified Health Clinics. Ms. O’Shea is a graduate of the Energeia Partnership at Molloy College, as well as a graduate of the Columbia Institute for Nonprofit Management programs. She received her MS from The New School’s Robert J. Milano Graduate School for Nonprofit Management and Urban Policy, and a BS in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
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