- Learn How To Access Create increased awareness of cross-sector vulnerabilities and inter-dependencies in supply chains to ensure the security and reliability of our nation's critical functions and systems.
- Understanding key risk considerations and risk reduction strategies to protect your employees, contractors, customers, supply chains and communities.\
- Learn How To Access The Collaboration & Problem Solving Community
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Learn How To Leverage Future Federal Investments, Research and Data
Why Attend
See what our past summit attendees say...
Bethany W. ElliottState Private Sector Liaison, Alabama Emergency Management Agency
Dave Jones
CEO, StormCenter Communications, Inc.
Anthony Hurley
Past Registrants Include:
Why a Virtual Summit?
How it Works – Before the Summit
- Register for the Summit at https://resilienceexch.org/, receive a confirmation email and add the event to your calendar invite.
- Bookmark this website (https://resilienceexch.org/) to keep updated on the 2023 Summit agenda sessions and speakers.
- Send an email to summit-support@ahcusa.zendesk.com with any questions about the Summit.
- Receive an email shortly before the event with access link information.
How it Works – During the Summit
- Be ready to use ZOOM as the platform. We encourage you to log in with a camera-enabled device if you would like to take advantage of the interactive sessions.
- Connect by asking questions, answering live polls, and chatting with presenters and other participants.
- Learn about the industry’s top vendors serving industry and government through our virtual reception.
- Complete the Post Summit survey with your feedback.
- All registrants will have an opportunity to purchase access to session recordings to view at a later date via an All Access Pass offer.
Tom Moran
Laura Schepis
Denise Anderson
Mike Zappone
Kent Kildow
Kari Hicks
Persia Payne-Hurley
Nicolette Louissaint
Chris McIntosh
David Vanderbloemen
Marvin Goldberg
Chad Ross
Carlos D. Torres
Bethany Elliott
Molly Dougherty
Mike Sprayberry
Jim Nowak
Greg McShane
Agenda At A Glance
DAY 1 – Tuesday, January 24, 202312:30PM – 6:00PM EST
12:30-12:40 PM - Virtual Welcome, Opening Remarks & Resiliency Scenario for the Day
- Laura Johnson, Director of Conferences, All Hazards Consortium
- Tom Moran, Executive Director, All Hazards Consortium
- Chris Geldart, All Hazards Consortium Board Member
12:40-12:55 PM - Day One Keynote Presentation: FEMA's Initiatives on Resiliency
- Victoria Salinas, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Administrator for Resilience, FEMA
12:55-2:05 PM - Panel: State and Local Operational Perspectives on Regional Resilience with Private Sector
Moderator: Persia Payne-Hurley, Private Sector Manager & BEOC Coordinator, North Carolina Emergency Management
Panelists:
- Casey Tingle, Director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, State of Louisiana
- Lt Col Stephen McCraney (Ret.), Executive Director, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
- Bud Mertz, Director of Public Safety, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania
As history has shown us, large-scale, multi-state disasters require coordination across state lines and with industry to expedite response and recovery. Each state approaches resilience and industry coordination in its own unique style based on its state's demographics, geography, budget, and threats they face.
This session will feature a panel of current or former Directors of Emergency Management (LA, PA, MS) who have each worked with the private sector in different ways to meet the challenges they faced in 2022. You will learn:
- What keeps each Emergency Management Director "up at night"
- About the 2022 challenges faced (natural disasters, pandemic, etc) and the impacts they had on the state
- About the innovations or solutions developed by these states and their private sector partners to address the challenges
- Recommendations to stakeholders to better prepare for the future
2:05-2:20 PM - Special Guest Presentation
- Bridget Bean, Assistant Director, Integrated Operations Division, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
2:20-3:35 PM - Panel: A 2023 Game Plan for Food Sector Supply Chain Resilience for Emergency Planners and Logistics Professionals
Moderator: Kathy Fulton, Executive Director, American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN)
Panelists Include:
- Doug Baker, Vice President, Industry Relations, FMI, The Food Industry Association
- Carmela Hinderaker, Sr. Director, Business Continuity and Customer Support, C&S Family of Companies
- Don Lynn, Director, Crisis & Business Continuity Management, Albertsons Companies
- Gene Shearer, Supply Chain Advisor, FEMA Logistics Management Directorate
Extreme weather, diesel prices, labor and fleet management issues, and inflation brought many operational challenges in 2022 that did not exist to this degree before, such as productivity issues, materials shortages, SKU consolidation, and driver shortages. The industry has had to form new partnerships and develop unique strategies to address the problems that impact its supply chain and business operations.
This session will focus on the main issues confronting the food sector and how they've been addressed. Learning from our panelists' innovation and collaborative efforts may help you to avoid common mistakes that can increase cost, damage organization brands, and hurt day-to-day operations and communications with stakeholders, regardless of the industry or commodity. In this session, you will:
- Build an awareness of the problems facing industry
- Gain a better understanding of how the Food Industry Association works with wholesalers, retailers, and manufacturers alike
- Discuss some issues that may surface in 2023 and the years beyond
- Understand the impacts that supply and driver shortages have had on industry, and the recent strategies and solutions that the food sector is using to address them
3:35-3:40 PM - Virtual Break
3:40-4:40 PM - Panel: Addressing Present and Future Civil Unrest in Major U.S. Cities
Moderator: Ron Prater, Executive Director, Big City Emergency Managers (BCEM) and COO, Bent Ear Solutions, LLC
Panelists Include:
- Clint Osborn, Deputy Director, Washington, DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA)
- Matt Mueller, Executive Director, City and County of Denver Office of Emergency Management
- Curry Mayer, Director, City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management
Civil unrest has been a growing concern for major cities for several years. Every election or major court decision brings the potential for chaos. The resulting disruptions impact citizens, government agencies, building owners, businesses, and much of our critical infrastructure. Emergency Managers are now often tasked with the coordination of such events and the planning, mitigating, and response that occurs.
This session will focus on what several large US cities have learned from the past and what they are doing to plan for the uncertain future. You will learn:
- What were the issues that occurred as a result of civil unrest incidents
- What was learned from these incidents across major cities
- What Emergency Managers are now doing to plan for future civil unrest given the likelihood that it will continue
4:40-5:30 PM - Panel: Responding to Infrastructure Failures - Water Crisis in Mississippi
Moderator:
- Persia Payne-Hurley, Private Sector Manager & BEOC Coordinator, North Carolina Emergency Management
Panelists Include:
- Andrew McMillin, Director of Response, Mississippi, Incident Commander of Jackson Water Crisis
- Todd DeMuth, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
Aging infrastructure is becoming a more common occurrence. Public water systems and sewage systems in particular have been in place for over 100 years in some cases which poses unique policy and funding challenges to state and local governments. In 2022, the city of Jackson, MS experienced a major infrastructure failure caused by aging equipment that resulted in 250K+ citizens being without water for multiple weeks. This cascaded into a myriad of issues for communities and businesses.
In this session, the incident commander for the crisis will provide a detailed overview of how the crisis started, what impacts it had on other infrastructure and the community, and what steps government emergency managers took to help remedy the immediate issues. In this session, you will:
- Learn how both states and industry worked together to address the challenges
- Understand the impacts of a water system failure and how it can cascade quickly to other stakeholders
- Learn the processes used to collaborate on a solution involving both industry and government
- Receive recommendations on how to mitigate future incidents
DAY 2 – Wednesday, January 25, 2022
12:30PM – 6:00PM EST
12:30-1:30 PM - Federal Support to Disaster Response: How FEMA and DHS CISA Work Together to Support Regional/National Disasters
- Bob Rutledge, Emergency Support Function #14, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (DHS)
- Ron Robbins, Operations & Insights Management Branch Chief, FEMA
The federal government has been working to streamline agency involvement in cyber and physical threats when dealing with the private sector. FEMA and DHS/CISA have joined together under the Emergency Support Function #14 (ESF #14) doctrine to help organize federal agencies during disasters as they coordinate with the private sector on a myriad of preparedness and response issues.
In this session, representatives from FEMA's National Business Emergency Operations Center (NBEOC) and DHS/CISA ESF #14 will provide an update on their efforts related to information-sharing and interagency coordination aimed at supporting private sector needs across physical and cyber threats that impact supply chains and critical infrastructure operations.
As a result of attending this session, you will take away the following:
- An awareness of the processes and benefits of ESF #14 to industry
- An understanding of real-world examples where FEMA and DHS/CISA supported industry during the recent Hurricane Ian
- Where to find information on the various efforts from both agencies including strategic plans, information websites, and fact sheets
- Knowing how to get engaged
12:30-1:30 PM - Drought and Heat Impacts on Critical Infrastructure
- Sam Chanoski, Technical Relationship Manager, Idaho National Labs
- Elizabeth Ossowski, Program Coordinator, National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), NOAA
- John Organek, Water Sector Coordinator, Electric Infrastructure Security Council (EIS)
The consequences of drought and extreme heat are far-reaching, impacting water quality and availability, increased public health illness, supply chain shortages affecting the economy, the degradation of the natural environment, stressing public infrastructure, disrupting hydroelectric power generation, and more.
In this session, you will:
- Gain a better understanding of the latest data and impacts caused by drought and extreme heat
- Learn how drought information and resources can better inform today's decision-makers to better address impacts and improve business and community preparedness plans
- Learn how extreme heat impacts critical infrastructure such as electricity and agriculture
- Know where to access the most current available resources to help your organization be more predictive in resilience-related efforts (datasets, websites, reports, etc.)
1:30-2:30 PM - Coordinating with External Sectors/States: New Cross-sector Tools for Business Continuity Planners
Moderator: Kent Kildow, Chair, SISE GIS Working Group, Director, Business Continuity & Emergency Management, Verizon
Panelists Include:
- Tom Farmer, Assistant Vice President - Security, American Association of Railroads
- Kelly McKinney, Emergency Manager, NYU Langone Medical Center
- Persia Payne-Hurley, Private Sector Manager & BEOC Coordinator, North Carolina Emergency Management
Natural disasters, cyber-attacks, civil unrest, and supply chain disruptions all impact a company's ability to do business and support continuity of operations. Over the past five years, new cross-sector initiatives have been implemented to help create awareness and a better understanding of the multiple organizations involved in a large-scale disaster, the processes they use to plan and share information across sectors, and to conduct workshops and exercises that create a community of trust around their common response objectives.
In 2021, the private sector developed a new cross-sector tabletop exercise (TTX) model that involved operations professionals from multiple sectors including electric, communications, transportation, fuel, food, water, wastewater, retail, finance, pharma, and medical sectors, along with emergency managers from federal agencies and various states in the Eastern U.S. In 2022, a cross-sector exercise tested and operationalized the recommendations from the 2021 TTX that were used during Hurricane Ian six weeks later.
This session will focus on how this new initiative is solving the elusive problem for professionals in business continuity, continuity of operations, and incident management when required to coordinate and communicate with external entities including other dependent sectors and states during a large-scale disruption to your company, your customers, or your supply chain.
In this session you will:
- Gain awareness and understanding of this private sector-driven cross-sector initiative
- Understand how it helps identify cross-sector gaps and issues during disasters
- Learn about the products produced as a result of the TTX, and- Learn how this initiative can be implemented within any organization and for any scenario to quickly reduce risk, improve safety, and achieve compliance with internal or external mandates.
As this initiative continues to evolve, a set of new cross-sector coordination tools (workshops, tabletop exercises, and playbooks) will become a staple in your continuity planning for external communication and coordination requirements.
1:30-2:30 PM - Using Current Data and Best Practices for Wildfire Risk Reduction
- Jessica McCarty, Associate Program Manager, NASA Wildland Fire Program
- Heath Hockenberry, NOAA NWS Wildfire Program Manager
- Monika Stoeffl, Executive Director, California Resiliency Alliance
- Abby Browning, Chief of Private Sector & NGO Coordination, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services Cross-Sector Exercises for Hurricane Season Preparedness
Rising temperatures, declining snowpack, and droughts are leading to a dramatic surge in wildfire frequency and severity across the western U.S. Once a seasonal threat, wildfires have now become a year-round reality for industry and government in California and several other states including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, etc.
In this session, you will:
- Increase your awareness of the latest federal capabilities and data for detecting and/or monitoring wildfires
- Gain a better understanding of the impacts of today's wildfires
- Understand how to increase the effectiveness of cross-sector coordination and information sharing during real-world wildfire events
- Learn how to access the latest resources to enhance wildfire resilience efforts
2:30-3:30 PM - Coordinated Damage Assessment for States and Industry
- Chris McIntosh, CEO, Bent Ear Solutions
- Ray Neel, GIS Services Manager, Bent Ear Solutions
Following a disaster, industry, and government conduct their damage assessment activities separately to determine disruptions and impacts to roads, infrastructure, and communities. Finding a way to coordinate these efforts, save time and wasted efforts, and save lives. In this session, you'll learn about a new process that combines the full capabilities of Esri’s ArcGIS Platform and the Microsoft Teams environment to provide complete situational awareness, collaboration, and communication capability. This integration is important for any organization that uses Microsoft Teams as their enterprise business communication platform and has the need to coordinate complex operations during both “blue sky” and crisis operations. From this session, you'll learn to:
- Maintain pervasive real-time situational awareness
- Provide continuous information sharing and collaboration through discreet channels
- Receive and enable alerts with predetermined triggers
- Access email, texts, social media, and other data from traditional systems in one integrated environment
2:30-3:30 PM - Enhancing Continuity of Operations Plans with Hurricane and Flood Data
- Michael Brennan, PhD, Chief of the Hurricane Specialist Unit, National Hurricane Center, NOAA
- David Vallee, Director, Service Innovation and Partnership Division, NOAA NWS Office of Water Prediction, National Water Center
- Richard Fimbel, Director of Emergency Management, South Florida Water Management District
- Anthony Hurley, Partner, Critical Preparedness, LLC (former FirstEnergy VP)
In 2022, the U.S. was hit with $15 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the first nine months of the year. An uptick in tropical activity in the Atlantic resulted in Hurricanes Fiona and Ian bringing devastation from wind and water in their wake. Learn how federal agencies have been investing in enhancing their current capabilities and data needed to predict and monitor hurricanes, storm surge, wind patterns, air pressure, and imagery to support preparedness and response efforts. This session will include a discussion on enhancing Continuity of Operations planning that involves essential facilities or supply chains that are threatened by wind and water.
At this session, you will:
- Increase your awareness of current forecasting data and tools available from NOAA, NWS, and the National Water Center
- Understand the cascading impacts on infrastructure caused by flooding, storm surge, and hurricane-force winds
- Learn why CoOp planning should include essential facilities or supply chains that are threatened by hurricanes and floods
3:30-4:30 PM - ENDEAVOR Model for Public/Private Collaboration with State BEOC Programs
Moderator: Molly Dougherty, External Affairs & Private Sector Liaison, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency
Panelists Include:
- Patrick T. Shull, Director, Security and Risk Assessment, Harrisburg Properties
- Carmela Hinderaker, Sr. Director, Business Continuity and Customer Support, C&S Family of Companies
- Jennifer Sharpe, Acting Deputy State Coordinator for the Commonwealth Coordination Bureau, Virginia Department of Emergency Management
For many years, state emergency management agencies have started and supported multiple versions of programs that interface with private sector companies in their state. With varying degrees of success, some states are looking at a different approach to these programs that are jointly governed by state, county, and industry representatives. These new models help attract private sector participation and investment and provide industry with a lead role when industry operational issues are being worked on.
In this session, state and industry representatives will discuss the new ENDEAVOR model first developed by industry in Pennsylvania with support from industry and their Multi-State Fleet Response Working Group.
- Hear industry examples of how problem-solving can be accelerated through joint planning and ongoing discussions among industry and multiple state agencies based on various use cases
- Learn what Virginia plans to do with their new ENDEAVOR model in 2023
- Understand Pennsylvania's process for including the private sector in the State Emergency Operations Plan to ensure the Endeavor Model and PPS collaboration continues
- Hear what private sector needs to do to keep engagements like this operational and valuable
3:30-4:30 PM - Extreme Weather - What Can We Expect?
- Dave Jones, CEO, StormCenter Communications, Inc.
- Sunny Wescott, Meteorologist, DHS/CISA
Extreme weather has become a reality for industry and government causing past planning methodologies to become ineffective or even obsolete at times. Additionally, long-term impacts will affect future policy, research, and investments that rely upon predictable weather expectations and patterns. In this session, panelists from industry and government will discuss the current best practices for predicting extreme weather patterns and what industry is doing to ensure that our nation's critical infrastructure can endure and provide the services that are intended.
Attendees will:
- Better understand the best practices being used by NOAA and NWS to predict extreme weather
- Learn what weather-related extremes are more likely over the next 5-10 years
- Obtain Considerations for long-term strategic planning for emergency management, business continuity, and continuity of operations
- Gain access to valuable resources regarding weather anomalies (websites, tools, papers) that provide actionable information for increased prep
4:30-5:30PM - Building "Working Groups" Before a Disaster
Moderator: Patrick T. Shull, Director, Security and Risk Assessment, Harrisburg Properties
Panelists Include:
- Christopher J. Fisher, Deputy Director - Office of Emergency Management, Dauphin County Department of Public Safety
- Brian D. Enterline, Fire Chief, Harrisburg Bureau of Fire
- John Goshert, Chief County Detective, Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Division
- Theresa Sellers, RN, BSN, MHSA, MBA, CPN, Director, Community Health Initiatives
Disasters force public and private sector organizations to coordinate and communicate during their response and recovery efforts to reduce delays, save lives, and get communities and businesses back to "normal" as soon as possible. This cannot be done during the response effort. This must occur during the blue sky days with a focus on common problems and issues that will be encountered during the next disaster.
In this session, representatives from government, law enforcement, fire, emergency management, and industry will discuss how they developed a simple framework to support blue sky day planning that dramatically enhanced their ability to communicate and respond together.
You will learn:
- To develop, maintain, and enhance a localized working group made up of private and public sector partners who share similar challenges
- How they conduct training, share information, and work together to help reduce the impact of those challenges
- Understand how this creates trust and allows "good neighbors" to work together, combine abilities, and share resources to improve resiliency
4:30-5:30 PM - Extreme Weather Preparedness & Response: Leveraging Proven Strategies for all Types of Utilities
Moderator: Mike Zappone, Tempest Energy, former Eversource Energy, Chair, Multi-State Fleet Response Working Group
Panelists Include:
- Anthony Hurley, Partner, Critical Preparedness, LLC (former FirstEnergy VP)
- Dave Vanderbloemen, former Dominion Energy, retired after 40+ years
- Jim Nowak, Director, Customer Relations, Tempest Energy, Retired Electric Sector, 35+ years
- Carlos Torres, former ConEdison, retired after 40+ years
Utilities of all sizes face common and unique challenges depending on their service territories, their relationship with their state and local government, and the availability of staff and resources to meet the challenges they face throughout the year. This session is aimed at any size utility company to help them learn proven strategies from former investor-owned electric utility storm experts (each with 30+ major storms over their 40+ year career) that can be implemented immediately and to streamline processes and avoid common mistakes in the following areas:
- Coordinating efforts with state and local government
- When regulators can help or hinder
- Establishing blue sky day planning meetings - Enhancing storm preparedness to become more predictive and less reactive
- Determine various sizes of events you face and the minimum staffing you need for each event
- Benchmarking your efforts with peers and other utilities - Streamlining future operations through better-organized after-action reviews (AARs)
- Identifying gaps in your operation when encountering multiple events
- Using your AAR to enhance processes, checklists, and future training for internal and external stakeholders
Attendees of this session will:
- Participate in a discussion period that will provide them with actionable information, strategies, and tactics that they can implement immediately to save money and improve safety
- Understand the 3 simple steps that can strengthen their relationship and coordination with their regulators, and state and local government emergency management professionals and practinioners
- Learn how to quickly determine the minimum staffing requirements you will need for each type of storm you are likely face
- Understand how to benchmark your organization and where to go to do it
- Learn how to use AAR's to evlauate and improve current process so you can do more with less
DAY 3 – Thursday, January 26, 2022
12:30PM – 6:00PM EST
12:30-1:15 PM - Digital Exhaust: What is it and Why it Should be Part of Your 2023 Risk Mitigation Strategy
- Antoinette King, PSP, DPPS, SICC, Founder, Credo Cyber Consulting LLC, Co-Chair, Digital Exhaust Intelligence
- Jodi Masters-Gonzales, FHCA, CEO, Humble Science LLC, Co-Chair, Digital Exhaust Intelligence CSC Member, NDRC Thirty-Six Stratagems Working Group
- Dr. Keeper L. Sharkey, Founder & CEO, ODE, L3C
- James W., Supervisory Intelligence Analyst, FBI Kansas City
Cyber adversaries today have developed a wide array of tactics to not just penetrate systems, but a way to collect information by users across a number of pathways used during a variety of internet-related activities. Increasingly, cyber adversaries seek to exfiltrate and exploit secure proprietary information on infrastructure and resources critical to the national security of the United States.
Digital Exhaust (DEX) is the information left behind when an individual interacts with internet websites, social media applications, or any internet-connected device. This tactic of leveraging individual DEX is executed daily in real-time by cyber adversaries. DEX deserves special protection because of its destructive potential and is used by our adversaries, including the nation-state actors China and Russia. This DEX information grants cyber adversaries the ability to identify and build profiles on individuals, citizens, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), C-Level executives, and the infrastructures within which they interact, often indirectly without awareness or consent. Cyber threats launched with DEX intelligence often have “decision-making advantage” as the end goal, attacking via corporate espionage or private sector acquisitions.
In this session, attendees will:
- Learn the vulnerabilities that DEX can cause, and provide examples of how DEX has been used
- Understand the impacts of Digital Exhaust to industry and government
- Receive recommendations on strategies to reduce cyber risk
12:30-1:15 PM - FEMA BRIC (Building Resilience Infrastructure and Communities) Grants & Grants Management
Moderator: Bear Afkhami, MS, PCP, EMT, Federal Solutions Manager, MPact
Speaker: Camille Crain, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Section Chief, FEMA
For Fiscal Year 2022, FEMA will distribute up to $2.295 billion through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program for underserved communities to undertake hazard mitigation projects. BRIC funding is meant to make communities more resilient by addressing future risks of natural disasters such as wildfires, drought, hurricanes, earthquakes, extreme heat, and flooding. With guiding principles aimed at supporting communities through capability- and capacity-building across multiple community lifelines, the BRIC program also encourages partnerships and innovation.
This session will include advice on applying for, receiving, and administering resiliency grant funding. Hear about a grant funding journey, including best practices to form a strategy, forming partnerships, writing grants, and the application process to include the Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) requirements. In this session you will:
- Build awareness of what the BRIC program covers and the eligibility requirements
- Hear about typical roadblocks to the highest possible scores to receiving funding
- Review best practices to start to plan to win an award and overcome obstacles
1:15-2:15 PM - Building Supply Chain Resilience for Essential Commodities
- Mark Scott, Critical Infrastructure Specialist, DCHSEMA
- Katie Murphy, Senior Manager, Business Continuity, C&S Wholesalers
Recent events including the pandemic, severe weather, and the potential for a national freight rail strike have brought increased national and international attention to the vulnerability of our most critical commodity supply chains. Climate change impacts, more public health emergencies, and cyberattacks, along with geopolitical unrest and labor availability issues, are expected to continue challenging supply operations, elevating supply chain risk management as an emergency management priority.
This session will review lessons from recent supply chain disruptions and describe how Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region are working to build resilience in these systems by mapping the supply chains, establishing early warning systems, and addressing capability gaps related to critical commodities. The session will also examine how two key supply lines – food and water -- prepare for and recover from catastrophic events such as hurricanes and winter weather, focusing on actions in the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic regions; discuss supply chain interdependencies on other critical infrastructure such as fuel and electricity; and address how government can work with the private sector to help restore these essential systems.
The session will highlight three key issues:
- Why supply chain resilience matters for emergency preparedness
- What emergency managers need to know about supply chains
- Actionable strategies for building supply chain resilience
1:15-2:15 PM - FEMA BRIC Initiative: Impacts of Mobile Energy Storage Innovation at the Local Community Level
Moderator: Darrell Darnell, Owner, DTE Consulting LLC (former Director Homeland Security & Emergency Management, District of Columbia)
Panelists Include:
- John Northon, Deputy State Coordinator - Disaster Services, Virginia Department of Emergency Management
- Jerry Warchol, Manager Electric Distribution Grid Solutions, Dominion Energy
- Donna Pletch, Chief Regional Coordinator, Region 1 / Disaster Services Bureau, Virginia Department of Emergency Management
Large-scale storms and disasters can cause extended electrical power outages in many communities, leaving residents and businesses without essential services (such as electricity, health and medical, transportation, food, shelters, and water) that are vital to recovery. The lack of power, often times days on end, is particularly acute in rural, underserved, or impoverished communities that are dependent upon local government services and rely on public safety officials to quickly restore electrical power.
These communities often have limited options for shopping and medical care, transportation, water, and safety and security and are more likely to be affected by widespread power outages that limit their ability to be self-sustaining during an emergency. Thus, it becomes critical to restore power to local businesses and critical facilities, and public safety and security infrastructure as quickly as possible to assist communities to recover quickly and effectively.
The FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Grant was designed to provide needed resources and support to disadvantaged communities to address these long-term cross-sector mitigation issues.
In this session, a panel of practitioners will discuss an innovative new energy resilience BRIC project in Virginia that features mobile “green energy” storage systems and a public/private partnership with Virginia and Dominion Energy to serve multiple underserved, disadvantaged communities with clean energy using an "on-demand" basis as part of a multi-year initiative.
In this session you will:
1) Learn how local communities struggle during events that cause extended power outages, the impacts of these outages, and how mobile energy storage capabilities can significantly reduce downtime at critical predesignated facilities
2) Learn about this innovative public/private approach and solution that will leverage evolving energy storage technology by developing a mobile battery system that will achieve FEMA BRIC grant objectives
3) Understand how this solution will operate and reduce risks
4) Learn how this unique approach can scale across any state and provide many long-term benefits to underserved communities including:
- Reducing risks to critical community lifelines including water, food, shelters, wastewater, transportation, medical, safety/security, and communications by allowing them to mitigate the risks and return to normal operations much sooner
- Enhanced safety with no batteries being stored within communities
- Increased electric grid resilience with stored energy providing power to the community’s grid during peak times
- Reduced greenhouse gases via less demand for fossil fuels
- Increased resiliency, improves reliability, and can offset the need to build new electric power-generating facilities that are extremely expensive and increasingly harder to approve.
2:15-3:00 PM - Making Cyber Threat Detection Actionable
- Chris McIntosh, CEO, Bent Ear Solutions
- David Cox, Global Threat Intelligence
Cyber threats are a fact of life today in every business and government agency at all levels in the U.S. Threats from outside an organization are difficult to detect, analyze, and take swift corrective action. Knowing what part of your organization is being attacked, where the attack is occurring, and understanding the intent of the attack is critical to a company's cyber risk management and preventing further damage to its brand, finances, sensitive information, and employee safety.
In this session, panelists will discuss the current trends, tactics, and threats of external cyber attacks from any source that could impact a company or its supply chain causing cascading impacts. Additionally, several new technologies and capabilities will be highlighted that can assist government and industry cyber-security leaders to better understand where the threat is occurring, and conduct analytics that can point to specific recommended actions faster than anything else available today.
Attendees of this session will learn:
- how to expedite the detection, identification, and classification of cyber threats and attacks
- how to visually be alerted and understand the target of those attacks and their possible implications by leveraging a unique process of "geoenabling" technology and high-end analytics
- a new innovation in cyber threat detection software, using ESRI's ArcGIS platform and Microsoft Teams, that provides a comprehensive Cyber response operating system that can be achieved quickly by many organizations and provides faster awareness and increased ability to respond
2:15-3:00 PM - Peeling Back the Layers of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA): Understanding the New Funding Streams and How to Pursue Funding Opportunities
- Steve Kral, Director of Recovery and Resiliency, APTIM
- Meredith Jones, Business Development, APTIM
- John Molnar, Director, Program Management Office, All Hazards Consortium
The recently approved Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will provide many opportunities for industry and government to access new funding mechanisms for new projects, initiatives, research, etc. State and local governments will need to dramatically expand their grants management efforts to process this new funding and provide overall management for the safe and equitable deployment of funds.
In this session, a facilitated discussion with a subject matter expert in infrastructure investment will cover the complexities of the IIJA bill, the numerous state agencies to be involved, the timetables, and the coordination among federal, state, and private sector entities incorporating enhancements into large infrastructure investments and projects. In this session, you will learn:
Information will be provided to you to help you better understand the federal funding streams and how you can learn more about leveraging the IIJA funding sources to enhance your organizational and community resilience.
- The basics of the IIJA bill and how funds will be allocated
- How the disbursement of funds will be spread across multiple years
- What the areas of investment will be
- How you can leverage IIJA funding sources to enhance your organizational and community resilience
3:00-3:45 PM - Inclusive Emergency Management - A Whole Community Approach to Planning With People With Disabilities
- L. Vance Taylor, Chief, Office of Access and Functional Needs, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services
Integrated, inclusive planning is the only way to meet the needs of the nation’s growing, diverse population throughout jurisdictions across the country and at venues such as sports arenas, college campuses, apartment complexes, and corporate offices. The need for emergency managers to involve individuals with disabilities throughout the planning process is critical.
In this session, L. Vance Taylor, Chief of the Office of Access and Functional Needs (OAFN) at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) – and recent appointee of President Biden on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC), will discuss some of the key strategies, considerations, and examples of how integrated planning improves community safety.
In this session you will learn:
- How inclusive planning reduces loss of life, injury, and suffering
- How California creates stakeholder groups and attracts industry support
- How corrective action results in community resilience
- Steps to increase corporate awareness, support, and preparedness
3:00-3:45 PM - Emerging Issues in Resilient Energy and Water Infrastructure
Moderator: Bear Afkhami, MS, PCP, EMT, Federal Solutions Manager, MPact
Panelists Include:
- Margaret Cook, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Houston Advance Research Center
- Richard Fimbel, Director of Emergency Management, South Florida Water Management District
- Dr. James D. Madia, Manager, Business Operations, Infrastructure Security and Compliance, Southern California Edison
The increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, combined with the increased resource demands of growing populations, particularly in dense communities, have strained critical infrastructure. Nowhere is this strain more evident than in the energy and water critical infrastructures sectors where disruptive events such as unseasonable and abnormally severe storms have caused serious impacts on the health and safety of communities.
The interdependence and interconnectedness of the energy and water critical infrastructure sectors are particularly important as disruptions in energy have cascading impacts on nearly all other critical infrastructure sectors, and water is necessary to sustain life and hygiene.
This session will bring together expert panelists from the energy and water critical infrastructure sectors with deep expertise in emergency management. Panelists will highlight what relevant stakeholders, who are not experts themselves, need to know about how the energy and water infrastructures work, as well as discuss the emerging resilience issues energy and water infrastructure.
In this session, you will get:
- An overview of how both the energy grid and water infrastructures work
- A snapshot of emerging issues within energy and water infrastructure
- Ways you can learn more about the infrastructure and how to best engage (THIRA, MOUs, etc.)
3:45-4:30 PM - Women as Leaders in Crisis Management
Moderator: Heather Geldart, Integrated Programs Manager, Arlington County’s Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management (DPSCEM)
Panelists Include:
- Cathy Clark, President, IAEM-USA
- Persia Payne-Hurley, Private Sector Manager & BEOC Coordinator, North Carolina Emergency Management
- Sherri Stone, Vice President, Energy Marketers of America
- MaryAnn E. Tierney, Administrator, FEMA Region 3
Women have an increasing influence in shaping the direction of any organization's efforts in many areas including leadership, culture, and diversity, yet there is more room for improvement to advance women in their chosen careers. Emergency management in particular has been a male-dominated industry yet more women are leading discussions and solving problems. This session will bring together crisis and consequence management leaders to discuss some of the challenges that women face in leadership in this field, along with tips and tactics they have developed to navigate obstacles and barriers to their professional and personal advancement.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to raise awareness of women as leaders in your own organization
- How to get involved with other women that are advancing this important cause
- How to build recognition and take action to serve the needs and talents of women in this field
3:45-4:30 PM - Operationalizing Resilience: Moving from Organizational Theory to Actionable Results
- John Coarsey, Director of Electric T&D Planning, JEA
- Laura Dutton, Chief Strategy Officer, JEA
- Anne Coglianese, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Jacksonville
As industry prepares to face various disasters and disruptions, as well as threats to infrastructure, an important capability is taking an idea or a concept and moving it through a process that will yield actionable and tangible results. In doing so, leaders can create important new energy and trust with their internal and external stakeholders that continue into solving new issues as they arise.
In this session, you will learn:
- How JEA is taking resiliency from conversation to commitment in Northeast Florida
- How issues are identified and prioritized across multiple stakeholder groups
- How to overcome internal resistance to change
- How JEA gets buy-in to support the planning and decision-making
- Advice on how to launch broader resiliency efforts across an organization
4:30-5:20 PM - Industry's Current Use of Drones for Damage Assessments
- Heath McLemore, UAS Flight Operations Manager, Florida Power & Light Air
Following disasters of any size (hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, wind, etc), utilities and government try to understand the extent of the damage. Waiting for damage assessments can cause delays for response and repair crews. Using drones and high-quality imagery has proven an effective approach to getting close to real-time information to expedite the response and recovery processes.
During this presentation, attendees will learn about new processes and drone capabilities that have been developed over the last year to help operations professionals obtain imagery and other data faster, allowing expedited damage assessments following a disaster.
In this session, you will:
- Learn the new capability developed by FP&L that allows utilities to start damage assessments sooner to avoid delays
- Understand the operational benefits and cost justification processes used to deploy this new capability
- Learn how government can expedite power restoration
- Learn the challenges FP&L experienced in operationalizing the program
4:30-5:20 PM - Harnessing Infrastructure Concerns Around Electric Vehicles
Moderator: Daniel Kassis, VP of Customer Relations and Renewables, Dominion Energy
Panelists Include:
- Jonathan Anschutz, Emergency Management Area Coordinator, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency
- Ted Walker, Partner, Guidehouse
Electric vehicles are now becoming part of our everyday lives for many Americans. This new technology and supporting policy is helping drive new capabilities in transportation, information, communications, and energy. New infrastructure bill plans to electrify many areas to support the future of electronic vehicles.
As more EVs are deployed, there are ongoing opportunities and challenges that the public and emergency management need to be aware of for these EVs to operate safely and meet the needs of public demand.
In this session, attendees will gain a perspective of the efforts going on at the upper levels of policy development, and also the practical issues that arise at the operational level on the road.
In this session, you will:
- Understand the challenges and opportunities being discussed and addressed within the public policy arena
- Understand the impacts of the electric grid of electrification and the challenges facing utilities in the future
- Understand the challenges faced by towing and maintenance crews with the operation of EVs
Contact Us
Speakers
Submit an Abstract to Present at the 2023 Summit
Tom Moran
Laura Johnson
Chris Geldart
Ron Prater
Dave Jones
Dave Vanderbloemen
Monika Stoeffl
Abby Browning
Molly Dougherty
Clint Osborn
Matt Mueller
Curry Mayer
Kelly McKinney
Doug Baker
Carmela Hinderaker
Sherri Stone
Camille Crain
Patrick T. Shull
Persia Payne-Hurley
Casey Tingle
Heather Geldart
Anthony Hurley
Jim Nowak
Carlos Torres
Bear Afkhami, MS, PCP, EMT
Mike Zappone
Kent Kildow
Steve Kral
Mark Scott
Katie Murphy
Del Roehrick
Bob Rutledge
John Northon
Ron Robbins
Laura Schepis
Chris McIntosh
Richard Fimbel
Darrell Darnell
Victoria Salinas
Cathy Clark
Laura Dutton
John Molnar
David Cox
Ray Neel
John Goshert
Kathy Fulton
Gene Shearer
Jennifer Sharpe
John Organek
Donna Pletch
Vance Taylor
Theresa Sellers
Christopher J. Fisher
Heath McLemore
Brian D. Enterline
Jodi Masters-Gonzales, FHCA
Antoinette King, PSP, DPPS, SICC
James W.
Don Lynn
Sunny Wescott
Tom Farmer
Michael Brennan
Daniel Kassis
Lt Col Stephen McCraney (Ret.)
Andrew McMillin
Anne Coglianese
John Coarsey
MaryAnn E. Tierney
David Vallee
Jerry Warchol
Margaret Cook, PhD
Jessica McCarty
Sam Chanoski
Bridget Bean
Jonathan Anschutz
Todd DeMuth
Heath Hockenberry
Meredith Jones
Elizabeth Ossowski
Dr. James D. Madia
Bud Mertz
Ted Walker
Dr. Keeper L. Sharkey
Nicolette Louissaint
Bethany Eliott
Carrie Trapasso
Robert Crow
Dave Jones
Laura Schepis
Sherri Stone
Persia Payne-Hurley
Molly Dougherty
Monika Stoeffl
Chris Geldart
Abby Browning
Jeffrey A. Thomas
Doug Baker
Gregory McShane, CBCP
Hailey Siple
Chris McIntosh
Kathy Fulton
Chris Vaughn
Tim Klett
Brian Hastings
George Giangi
Kari Hicks
Carmela Hinderaker
Kelly McKinney
Michael Overton
Denise Anderson
Patrick T. Shull
Mike Sprayberry
Mary Lasky
Steve Swick
Joe Viens
Sarah Bigham
Sam Visner
Andrew Dolan
Tom Fanning
Tom Farmer
Ralph F. Ley
Dr. Shane D. Stailey
Richard Krieg
David Winks
Adrienne Lotto
Ollie Gagnon
Bob Kolasky
Sam Rozenberg
Matt Morrison
Mike Hamilton
Eric Holdeman
David Terry
Anthony Hurley
Bill Nelson
Alisha King
Brian Tishuk
Dave Vanderbloemen
Mike Zapponne
Rick Driggers
Amanda Sramek
John Molnar
Channing Spencer
Philip J. Palin
Persia Payne-Hurley
Sherri Stone
Doug Baker
Robert Crow
Denise Anderson
Kelly McKinney
Dr. Michael Brennan
Gregory C. McShane
Kent Kildow
Mike Hoover
Sean Stajkowski
Cherrie Black
Ron Prater
Jake Gentle
Mary Lasky
Laura Schepis
Darrell Darnell
Greg J. Grillo
Molly Dougherty
James Williams
Carrie Tropasso
Sarah Freeman
Vincent Tidwell
Craig Patla
Michael Lambert
Carl Walter
Brian Hastings
Patrick T Shull
Monika Stoeffl
Abby Browning
Carlos Torres
Dave Jones
Jeffrey Wobbleton
Dr. Ed Naggiar
Megan J. Culler
Jeffrey A. Thomas
Pedro J. Pizarro
Karen Moe
Michael Leitman
Courtney Romolt
Colonel John Perkins
Wayne Austad
Dr. Chris Rodriquez
Matt Mueller
Curry Mayer
Marco Ayala
Mara E.B. Winn
Chris McIntosh
Timothy Klett
William C. Ray
Lucian Niemeyer
Katherine Keefe
Randy Vivian
Kent W. Kettell
George Giangi
Rodney Cooper
Wally Mealiea
Caitlin Flynn
Tom Farmer
Eugene Kipniss
John Northon
Raju Gottumukkala
Sam Rozenberg
Andy Bochman
Sara M. Goldstein
David Reisman
Chris A. Smith
Aubrey Sendra
Dave Vanderbloemen
Victoria Salinas
Josh Mauzey
John Organek
Del Roehrick
John Molnar
Nicolette Louissaint
Anthony Hurley
