Rebecca Scheurer is a seasoned humanitarian and climate resilience leader with over two decades of experience advancing disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, and nature-based solutions across over one hundred countries, with boots on the ground experience in more than fifty. Her work spans strategic leadership in global crises—from the Southeast Asia tsunami and Pakistan earthquake to Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy—through to pioneering applied science and community-driven adaptation initiatives that improve lives and livelihoods in the face of climate change.

She currently serves as Global Lead for Disaster Preparedness at the American Red Cross. In this role, she provides strategic and technical support to global and regional teams, mobilizing resources and fostering partnerships to strengthen early warning systems and disaster preparedness for climate-vulnerable populations.

She has previously served as Director of Humanitarian Initiatives at the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center and helped establish the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance, a global coalition focused on bringing life-saving solutions and policy innovation to the forefront of climate resilience. Scheurer has also served as Humanitarian Director at The Nature Conservancy, where she spear-headed a “Nature Protects People” strategy. She was the Founding Director of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Global Disaster Preparedness Center and held senior roles with USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, including as Regional Advisor for South Asia based in Kathmandu, Nepal, managing major response and recovery operations across the region.

Rebecca holds a Master’s in International Development from George Washington University and a BA in International Business and French from the University of St. Thomas, with additional study at the Université de Fribourg in Switzerland.