The 7.6 earthquake that shook Turkey in 1999 was a turning point in my life. I finished my engineering studies and switched right away to disaster risk management and lately climate change adaptation. My 20+ years of experience is a combination of operations, project management and capacity building. Operations include field work and training on search and rescue, information management and coordination, early warning, evacuation, impact assessment, risk assessment & scenario, simulations, and socio-economic recovery. Project management includes business development and fundraising, team building and day-to-day management. Capacity building includes strategy and policy support for ex-ante and ex-post activities, capacity and need assessment, training, and coaching. I have worked over 8 years with the World Bank Group (IDA, IBRD, IFC), 7 years with UNDP, and several years with the private sector, NGOs, and universities. I am an active member of the UN Disaster Assessment (UNDAC) and UN/WB/EU Post disaster need assessment (PDNA) teams. Since 2015, I teach at the University of Rome on disaster risk management and manage/teach at the Venice International University a post graduate course on critical infrastructure resilience. Since 2004, I have also been working as an international consultant on short- and long-term assignments in the following countries: Haiti (8 years), Jamaica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Niger, Burkina Faso, Turkey, Italy and the United States of America.