Ulrich Hess is Manager of agricultural and weather risk insurance project components at BMZ/GIZ Insurance Sector Project and the G7 InsuResilience Initiative. Prior to joining GIZ he worked at MicroEnsure, a private sector microinsurance broker, and as Sr. Economist at the World Bank Group from 1998 to 2012.

He pioneered operational work on weather risk management and index-based insurance at the World Bank Group, for example assisting successful weather index based insurance initiatives in India in 2003, Malawi in 2004, Ethiopia in 2005 and in Anhui, China in 2007. While on secondment to WFP as chief of Disaster Risk Reduction, he pioneered systemic drought risk management with LEAP (livelihoods, early assessment, Protection) in Ethiopia. Prior to joining the World Bank as young professional in 1998, Mr. Hess has been working in management and development consulting.

Hess holds a Master in Economics degree from Bocconi University, Milan and a Master in Political Science degree from Freie Universität Berlin. He also studied at Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and Yale Law School.