Simon is the founding director and Principal Planner of Traverse Environmental. With over 20 years’ of experience in the environmental planning sector, Simon has worked extensively with local governmen environmental projects including leading the successful Hawkes Bay Coastal Strategy DAPP process and implementation

Shari (Ngāti Maru, Te Rarawa) is a coastal scientist with national and international experience in coastal climate change impacts and hazards, climate change adaptation, coastal processes, and te ao Māori. Shari has 10+ years of experience undertaking research in Australia, UK, and New Zealand-based universities.

Ben Hague is a climate scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia), having obtained a PhD from Monash University (Australia). Ben does research on climate change, with current work focusing on coastal inundation.

Ricardo da Cruz e Sousa is a landscape architect with a PhD in Urbanism, specializing in environmental planning, nature-based solutions, and climate adaptation. He currently serves as the Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at PEERS, bringing extensive experience in coordinating interdisciplinary teams and promoting partnerships among public and private stakeholders.

Elisa Zavadil is the Manager Regional Coastal Adaptation and Planning in the Victorian Government (Australia) and is a member of the PEERS Oceania Steering Group. Elisa helped develop recent guidelines (Victoria's Resilient Coast - Adapting for 2100+) that provide the direction for land managers to develop strategic planning to address coastal hazard risk.