Dr. Umamaheshwaran Rajasekar is an urban resilience adviser at Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). He has over two decades of experience in developing plans, policies, and programs for mainstreaming governments, bilateral, and multilateral agencies for disaster risk reduction. He has been the team leader and project manager for some of the pioneering institutional building efforts in India, including the implementation of data labs, early warning systems, disease surveillance, and city resilience strategies. 

Previously, he was Chair, Urban Resilience Unit, where he helped the National Institute of Urban Affairs and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, in establishing the Climate Centre for Cities (C-Cube) to support sustainable urban development. 

His recent efforts within CDRI are focused towards Mainstreaming Urban Infrastructure Resilience through Strategy / Programs and developing a multi-country multi multi-institutional coordinated mechanism for data access and informed decision-making for countries in the Global South.