Keynote Theater 1

Scott O'Connell
American Red Cross

Due to the increase in disasters, both rate of occurrence and complexity, coupled with the limited capacity of any single organization we need to put an emphasis on identifying our partners and determining how we can find mutually beneficial ways to support our clients. Partnerships need to move beyond than just exchanging business cards.

Stephen Bartley
General Service Administration

This seminar is co-hosted with Kris Nieswiadomy. GSA's Disaster Purchasing Program allows federal, state and local governments to buy supplies and services directly from all GSA Schedules to facilitate disaster preparation, response, or major disaster recovery. During our presentation we will share the avenues available to procure these items and highlight some of the Disaster-related products available through the GSA Schedule Program.

Kris Ann Nieswiadomy
General Service Administration

This seminar is co-hosted with Steve Bartley. GSA's Disaster Purchasing Program allows federal, state and local governments to buy supplies and services directly from all GSA Schedules to facilitate disaster preparation, response, or major disaster recovery. During our presentation we will share the avenues available to procure these items and highlight some of the Disaster-related products available through the GSA Schedule Program.

Scott Berg
Disneyland Resort

The key to success in many areas of business is to foster string relationships with involved stakeholders. When the goal is a more prepared culture within an organization, relationship building is essential to achieving buy-in, meeting the needs of the people, and developing trust in the process and the mission.

Cheryl Nelson
Prepare with Cher, LLC

We’ve all heard the preparedness message… we know that it is important to prepare for natural disasters. But do we practice what we preach? For example, most of us know that we should have an NOAA weather radio, yet some rely solely on a cell phone to receive weather notifications. I’ll examine the reasons behind why some people don’t prepare in advance, discuss potential solutions and share eye-opening results from my survey of fellow industry professionals.

Santiago D. Chambers, Sr.
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital

California Hospitals are experiencing record heat waves that significantly impact volume and strain aging HVAC systems. Innovation, redundant, creativity, and support are imperative to maintaining air conditioning and the people, equipment, and departments relying on it.

MAJ (TN) Steven Estes
State Guard Association of the United States

State Defense Forces were formed prior to the Revolutionary War with a war fighting mission, and have evolved over the history of the country to focus on supporting National Guard and state Emergency Management Agencies in disaster response. Recent responses include COVID pandemic, fires, floods, tornadoes, security, and HF Communications.

Jeremy Hagerman
National Organization for Victim Assistance

When a family assistance center (FAC) is set up, the services should be focused on the victim and community needs. A navigator is highly important and should be included with your FAC plans. A navigator will welcome the victims and community members, stay with them for the duration of their visit, streamline the process, decrease the time at each resource while also decreasing the potential for re-traumatization.