About the practitioner

A discerning,
global citizen.

Jason Sandman is a Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction practitioner — an award-winning Architect of the Future (Waldzell Institute Collection) whose work moves across municipal, national, and international scales. The practice is grounded in behavioral systems, organizational intelligence, and the emotional fluency that holds difficult coalitions together.

Portrait of Jason Sandman
Fig. 03 — Portrait, Jason Sandman

Disposition & Theory of Change

Truly effective Disaster Risk Reduction requires stronger integration of drought resilience, ecosystem management, inclusive governance, science-based decision-making, and innovative financing in order to execute and implement sustainable practices within any local context.

Empathy, humility, and collaborative advantage are not soft skills here — they are the architecture of every successful intervention. The work is to translate complex climate science into policy frameworks people will actually use, to build cross-sector coalitions that hold under pressure, and to design culturally responsive resilience interventions for diverse populations.

We are all resource dependent. This is both a technical practice and a deeply interpersonal professional practice. We promise to apply an active listening session where we inquire and ask questions to better understand your resource needs and provide a betterment for your community, constituency, stakeholder group, and young people. Our Founder, Jason Sandman, a father himself, takes this responsibility seriously.

Currently a Next Generation Leadership Fellow with the International Sustainable Development Centre, conducting applied research on Early Warning for All (EW4All) implementation in Malawi — integrating indigenous knowledge systems with satellite-based forecasting to address critical governance and actionability gaps.

Trajectory

A practice built
in long arcs.

  1. 2026 →

    DRR Researcher & Next Generation Leadership Fellow

    International Sustainable Development Centre

    EW4All Malawi roadmap; IWIP methodology.

  2. 2025 →

    Associate Climate Consultant

    Sustainability Solutions Group (SSG)

    Independent advisory for international adaptation programs.

  3. 2025 →

    Network Expert

    GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group)

    C-suite advisory on federal grants & climate strategy.

  4. 2024

    Project Manager · RainCheck

    City of Philadelphia Water Department

    City-wide residential green stormwater program.

  5. 2023–24

    DEIA Grant Reviewer

    U.S. Department of Energy (BIL)

    Justice40, Community Benefit Plan evaluation.

  6. 2018–22

    Co-Founder, Climate Dads

    Global advocacy platform

    First male-caregiver-driven climate community.

Education & credentials

Life-long learning as strategic imperative.

Master of Science · Sustainable Architecture

Philadelphia University · 2012

Bachelor of Arts · Anthropology & Philosophy

SUNY Buffalo State College · 2007

Selected certifications

  • Biodiversity Finance — UNDP / BIOFIN / GEF (2025)
  • Disaster Risk Reduction & Resilience Strategies — UNITAR (2025)
  • Risk-Informed Governance for DRR — UN System Staff College (2025)
  • Disaster Displacement — NRC / PDD / UNDRR (2025)
  • Nature-Based Solutions for Disaster & Climate Resilience — PEDRR (2025)
  • Climate Adaptation, NAPs, Human Mobility — United Nations (2003–ongoing)
  • GHG Protocol Mitigation Goal Standard — WRI (2022)
  • TCFD — Climate Disclosure Standards Board (2022)
  • Macroeconomics of Climate Change — IMF (2022)
  • Climate Reality Leadership Corps (2020)