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Hamid Samandari

Senior PartnerNova York

Cofounder and senior leader of the global Risk & Resilience Practice and Chair of the firm’s Knowledge Council, who leads our research on the economics of climate change and broader sustainability topics.

Hamid Samandari is a senior partner in our New York office, the cofounder and former head of the firm’s Risk & Resilience Practice in the Americas, and the chair of the firm’s Knowledge Council. The Council prioritizes and develops the major, next-generation, cross-cutting knowledge and capability areas the firm believes will be core to the performance and health of our clients. Hamid is also a member of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) council, which advises on MGI research for global economic, business, and technology trends.

Hamid joined the firm in 1997 and has served several leading financial institutions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia on a broad range of topics such as risk management, sustainability, strategy, operations, and technology. His areas of expertise include climate risk, environmental, social, and governance (ESG), operational risk and compliance, risk organization and governance, risk culture, and regulatory remediation.

Hamid’s recent work includes supporting a major US bank on climate risk, another major US bank on climate-related opportunities, and serving three US institutions on regulatory remediation programs. Hamid’s most recent research has focused on the key requirements for, and the economics of, the net-zero transition.

Published work

Paving the way to resilience: Strengthening public sector adaptation planning and execution,” McKinsey & Company, November 2023

The role of public–private–philanthropic partnerships in driving climate and nature transitions, McKinsey & Company, November 2023

A sector progress tracker for the net-zero transition,” McKinsey & Company, November 2023

Ten key requirements for a systemic approach to climate adaptation,” McKinsey & Company, November 2023

Five key action areas to put Europe’s energy transition on a more orderly path,” McKinsey & Company, August 2023

Performance through people: Transforming human capital into competitive advantage, McKinsey Global Institute, February 2023

Toward a more orderly US energy transition: Six key action areas,” McKinsey & Company, January 2023

The energy transition: A region-by-region agenda for near-term action,” McKinsey & Company, December 2022

Nature in the balance: What companies can do to restore natural capital,” McKinsey & Company, December 2022

Global flows: The ties that bind in an interconnected world,” McKinsey Global Institute, November 2022

How climate action can help deliver EU energy security,” McKinsey & Company, August 2022

How to make ESG real,” McKinsey & Company, August 2022

Does ESG really matter—and why?,” McKinsey & Company, August 2022

Human capital at work: The value of experience” McKinsey & Company, June 2022

The net-zero transition in the wake of the war in Ukraine: A detour, a derailment, or a different path?,” McKinsey Quarterly, May 2022

Climate change: What we will need to spend, and what we will need to change, to reach net zero,” Fortune, March 2022

The net-zero transition: What it would cost, what it could bring,” McKinsey & Company, January 2022

Solving the net-zero equation: Nine requirements for a more orderly transition,” McKinsey & Company, October 2021

Climate change and P&C insurance: The threat and opportunity,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020

Will infrastructure bend or break under climate stress?,” McKinsey Global Institute, August 2020

Could climate become the weak link in your supply chain?,” McKinsey Global Institute, August 2020

Reduced dividends on natural capital?,” McKinsey Global Institute, June 2020

A Mediterranean basin without a Mediterranean climate?,” McKinsey Global Institute, May 2020

How will African farmers adjust to changing patterns of precipitation?,” McKinsey Global Institute, May 2020

Will the world’s breadbaskets become less reliable?,” McKinsey Global Institute, May 2020

Confronting climate risk,” McKinsey Quarterly, May 2020

Will mortgages and markets stay afloat in Florida?,” McKinsey Global Institute, April 2020

Can coastal cities turn the tide on rising flood risk?,” McKinsey Global Institute, April 2020

Addressing climate change in a post-pandemic world,” McKinsey Quaterly, April 2020

The future of operational-risk management in financial services,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020

Leadership in the time of coronavirus: COVID-19 response and implications for banks,” McKinsey & Company, March 2020

Climate risk and response: Physical hazards and socioeconomic impacts,” McKinsey Global Institute, January 2020

Making a Step Change in Risk Efficiency and Effectiveness,” The European Financial Review, August 2019

Confronting the risks of artificial intelligence,” McKinsey Quarterly, April 2019

Transforming risk efficiency and effectiveness,” McKinsey & Company, April 2019

The business logic in debiasing,” McKinsey & Company, May 2017

The future of bank risk management”, McKinsey & Company, December 2015

Managing third-party risk in a changing regulatory environment”, McKinsey & Company, May 2013

Risk IT and operations: Strengthening capabilities”, Institute of International Finance and McKinsey & Company, June 2011

Capital ratios and financial distress: Lessons from the crisis”, McKinsey & Company, December 2009

Past experience

Infotech AG
Software developer, forex decision-trading tools

Education

Stanford University
PhD, scientific computing and computational mathematics

University of Geneva
MS, mathematics