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Seth Schultz named Global Executive Director of Arup’s Resilience Shift partnership

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Ria Patel Ria Patel UKIMEA Press Office,London
8 January 2020

Seth Schultz will accelerate a global shift to more resilient critical infrastructure – water, energy, transport and communications – in the face of climate change, population growth and resource scarcity

The Resilience Shift, a partnership between Arup and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, is delighted to announce the appointment of a new Global Executive Director, Seth Schultz who takes up the leadership of the global infrastructure resilience initiative on 2 January 2020.

At the end of its third year the Resilience Shift has built a robust knowledge base and a broad community of interest, working in partnership with public and private organisations, to improve the resilience of critical infrastructure for a safer world. Working with many grantees and partners, it has published numerous research materials and guidance on resilience practice in target areas of interest such as urban water resilience.

With the appointment of Seth Schultz, the Resilience Shift enters its next stage with a leadership focused on scaling up its impact globally, so that all those working with infrastructure systems around the globe, will know how they can embed resilience into practice at the different stages of an infrastructure’s lifecycle.

Seth’s career began working in the environmental space, driven by the need to create change in urban sustainability. He has worked with leading and innovative organisations in this space including the Louis Berger Group, the US Green Building Council, the Clinton Foundation, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, the Global Covenant of Mayors, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Seth Schultz Seth Schultz
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I am incredibly excited about joining the Resilience Shift team. We live in an increasingly interconnected world that is being pushed to its limit due to climate change, urbanization and population growth. It is more important than ever to prepare for the future by embedding resilience into the building blocks of our society. I look forward to accelerating the discussion about the transformation of our infrastructure, building large-scale commitment among stakeholders to adapt and incorporate sustainability and resilience into our infrastructure and further seeing ways to collaborate on solutions and next steps. ” Seth Schultz Global Executive Director

The built environment plays a fundamental role in creating a sustainable future, involving many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Buildings and infrastructure are essential in enabling communities to survive and thrive by providing essential services, protection from the environment and enabling the flow of goods, services and knowledge that is essential to economic activity.

As part of Arup’s alignment with the UN SDGs, the Resilience Shift is leading thinking and practice for critical infrastructure resilience. Its work on urban water resilience, for example, supporting the development of the City Water Resilience Approach, has enabled cities to better understand how water impacts their success and would threaten their future, allowing them to see the actions they need to take to create future resilience.

The resilience of our critical infrastructure systems - water, energy, transport and communications - matters in a world where climate change, population growth and resource scarcity are having an increasingly profound effect on the services they provide, making them more vulnerable to shocks and stresses. When these systems fail, the results can be catastrophic. There is an urgent need for a global shift in industry practice that can address these concerns across the whole infrastructure lifecycle.

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Seth brings to the Resilience Shift a long track record of building consensus and initiating change in the field of sustainable development. We are very happy to bring him on board to lead the next stage of the Resilience Shift in its aim to accelerate an urgent shift towards better, more resilient infrastructure and help create a safer world ”

Jo Da Silva Arup Jo da Silva Director

Ruth Boumphrey, Director of Research, Lloyd's Register Foundation, said: "People all around the world depend on engineered systems – often ‘hidden’ from public view - to deliver food, water, electricity and transport that helps keep us all well and safe. These increasingly fragile systems can fail when subject to shocks and stresses with massive consequences. Seth Schultz will lead the Resilience Shift in developing a global coalition of people who care about public safety, to shine a spotlight on these fragile infrastructures, making sure the right investments are made to keep our essential services going through times of crisis.”

About the Resilience Shift

The Resilience Shift exists to inspire and empower a global community to make the world safer through resilient infrastructure. More people than ever depend on the critical infrastructure systems that provide essential energy, water, transport and communications services, and underpin food, healthcare and education. If any of these systems fail, consequences can be catastrophic for public safety and wellbeing, the environment and the economy. There is an urgent need for changes in industry practice that can address these concerns across the whole infrastructure lifecycle.

The Resilience Shift is contributing to a worldwide community of interest equipped with a body of knowledge and tools needed to drive a global shift towards more resilient critical infrastructure. Supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Arup, the Resilience Shift provides knowledge and tools for those responsible for planning, financing, designing, delivering, operating and maintaining critical infrastructure systems, including water, energy, transport and communications. Our aim is to ensure infrastructure systems are able to withstand, adapt to, and recover quickly from anticipated or unexpected shocks and stresses - now and in the future.