Ron Dembo

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Dr. Ron Dembo, 2021

Dr. Ron S. Dembo is an expert in risk management and entrepreneur.

Academia[]

Dembo holds a PhD Operations Research, University of Waterloo (1975); an MSc Chemical Engineering, Technion (1972); and a BSc Chemical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand (1969).

From 1976-86, Dembo was a professor at Yale University, where he was cross appointed between the Department of Computer Science and the School of Management. During that period, he was also a visiting professor at MIT. He has published many peer – reviewed technical papers on finance and mathematical optimization, and holds a number of patents in computational finance, climate change and software engineering.[1]

Entrepreneurship[]

As the Founder and CEO of Algorithmics Incorporated, Dembo grew it organically from a start-up to the world’s largest enterprise risk-management software company, with offices in fifteen countries, over 70% of the world’s top 100 banks as clients, and consistent recognition as one of Canada’s 50 best-managed companies.[2] Algorithmics was sold to Fitch in 2005[3] and later to IBM in 2012.[4] It has since been acquired by SS&C.[5]

In 2005, Dr. Dembo founded Zerofootprint Software, a Toronto-based, cleantech software and services company that provided innovative solutions for offsets and carbon reduction to over 250 large firms. Zerofootprint measured environmental impact and made it visible and therefore manageable for corporations, governments, institutions and individuals.[6] Among the company’s clients were the City of Toronto[7] and Air Canada.[8]

Also in 2005, Dembo founded the Zerofootprint Foundation; a charitable organization[9] that uses shared technology to reduce ecological footprints and uphold values pertaining to sustainable development, risk management, research, and advocacy. Foundation initiatives are undertaken in partnership with government (Federal, Provincial and Municipal), educators (universities, elementary and middle schools) and other not-for-profit organizations. Zerofootprint came in first place and won Gold in the Climate Change category at the Canadian Environment Awards in 2008.[10] In 2009, Dembo also established the ZEROprize, a one million dollar prize for a design to retrofit a concrete building built between 1945 and 1990.[11]

Dr. Dembo’s latest venture, Riskthinking.AI is a Toronto-based firm tackling one of the biggest hurdles facing companies today- measuring climate-related financial risk. Riskthinking.AI develops standards, regulator-ready data, and analytics to enable forward-looking, climate risk management stress-testing software. Its implementations are based on the latest science and algorithms that automate consistent, scenario-generation.[12] At the time of publication (2021), Riskthinking.AI is a strategic partner of the UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021: COP26.[13]

In 2021, Dr. Dembo cofounded Climate Risk Labs,[14] a not-for-profit, research-focused organization at the nexus of climate science, technology, energy transition and financial risk. By brokering public-private partnerships and research initiatives, Climate Risk Labs convene experts around the world and supplies them with climate data, tools and financial support to better understand the future impacts of climate change toward devising real-world solutions, such as accelerating the development of practical clean energy solutions. Currently, there are Climate Risk Labs at the University of Wyoming (US), The Fields Institute of Mathematics, The Vector institute and The University of Toronto, RiskLab.

Awards[]

In May 2007, Dembo was made a lifetime Fields Institute Fellow.[15] This fellowship is awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Fields Institute, its programs, and to the Canadian mathematical community.[16] Dembo's alma mater, the University of Waterloo, honoured Dembo with a Distinguished  Alumni Achievement Medal for Professional Achievement in business and climate change, 2007.[17]

In 2009, Dr. Dembo was appointed to the Steering Committee of the World Urban Campaign, coordinated by UN-Habitat.[18] In 2008, he received a Green Toronto Award from the City of Toronto for his work with Zerofootprint,[19] as well as receiving a Certificate of Recognition, Champion of Green from the Government of Ontario.[20]

Books[]

Dembo is the author of three books: Seeing Tomorrow: Rewriting the Rules of Risk, co-authored with Andrew Freeman, published in April 1998; Upside Downside: Simple Rules of Risk Management for the Smart Investor, co-authored with Daniel Stoffman, published in March 2006; and Everything You Wanted to Know About Offsetting But Were Afraid to Ask, co-authored with Clive Davidson and released in May 2007. His latest book, Risk Thinking, will be published in 2021.

References[]

  1. ^ "Ron S. Dembo Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  2. ^ "Algorithmics - Invest in Canada". 2012-03-20. Archived from the original on 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  3. ^ September 2, CB Staff; 2009 (2009-09-03). "Profit 100: Dr. Ron Dembo, founder of Zerofootprint - Canadian Business". Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News. Retrieved 2021-03-01.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Hubler, David (September 1, 2011). "IBM brings another analytics company under Big Blue umbrella". Washington Technology. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  5. ^ FinSMEs (2019-09-26). "SS&C to Acquire Algorithmics from IBM". FinSMEs. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  6. ^ Lohr, Steve (2007-05-15). "World mayors get software to track carbon imprint (Published 2007)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  7. ^ "Toronto Mayor Makes Zero Footprint Pledge at C40 Summit | Greenbiz". www.greenbiz.com. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  8. ^ "Air Canada helps business achieve green targets by expanding carbon offset program to corporate clients". News Release Archive. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  9. ^ "The Zerofootprint Foundation · 392 Markham Street, Toronto, ON M6G 2K9". opengovca.com. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  10. ^ "Canadian Environment Awards Announces Winners for 2008". thegreenpages.ca. 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  11. ^ "The Zero Prize". www.thezeroprize.com. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  12. ^ "Home". RiskThinking.AI. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  13. ^ "Download Event Brochure". Sustainable Innovation Forum | COP26. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  14. ^ "About – Climate Risk Labs". Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  15. ^ "Fields Institute Fellows". Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. 2014-09-30. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  16. ^ "Ron Dembo". boundless.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  17. ^ "Recipients of the Alumni Achievement Medal". Engineering. 2012-07-26. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  18. ^ Pressgroup Holdings Europe S.A. (March 25, 2010). "Leading global companies join the World Urban Campaign" (PDF). World Urban Forum Daily News. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  19. ^ "City of Toronto, Zerofootprint launch website to fight climate change". wx.toronto.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  20. ^ "Dr. Ron Dembo". Biome Renewables. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
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