Maxx Dilley is the director in charge of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) climate programme and deputy director of the WMO Services Department, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Prior to joining WMO he was a policy and partnerships advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and led the UNDP Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery Team. More previously he was a Research Scientist in the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University in New York, where he directed the Africa program and co-directed climate impacts research. Before that he worked for two years at the World Bank Disaster Management Facility and for seven years at the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance in Washington, DC.

Dr. Dilley has a Doctorate and Master of Science degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware, all in Geography. His primary areas of expertise are in climate and disaster risk management. He has designed, managed and contributed to disaster and risk management programs in Africa, Latin America and Asia and has authored numerous papers on disaster reduction and climate-related topics.