Have you noticed in the news that there are many dangerous and damaging weather events happening around the world? As climate change increases the damage associated with extreme events such as heatwaves, floods, hurricanes and fires, communities must work together with local, state, and federal agencies to adapt in ways that prevent harm from extreme events and facilitate post-event recovery.
Join us for a free and open-to-all* program to learn from two climate resilience experts:
Brock Long, Executive Chairman of Hagerty Consulting, former Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and App State alum (’97, ’99). A leader in the field of emergency management, Brock will discuss current priorities and directions for supporting communities to prepare for climate resilience, including FEMA’s Community Lifelines framework.
Ashley Ward, Director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. Ashley will discuss her work bringing together experts and communities to develop and deploy innovative policy solutions that reduce the impacts of extreme heat on human health and well-being.
* We invite Hickory Campus students, faculty, staff and community to join via livestream viewing of the event in the Hickory Campus Library.
SPEAKER BIOS
Brock Long is the Executive Chairman of Hagerty Consulting and the former Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Confirmed in June 2017 by the United States (US) Senate with strong bipartisan support (95-4), Brock served as the nation’s principal advisor to the President responsible for coordinating the entire array of federal government resources down through 50 states, 573 tribal governments, and 16 island territories to assist them with executing disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. Brock is the 10th Administrator and the youngest to hold the office.
While serving as Administrator, Brock coordinated the federal government’s response to over 144 Presidentially declared disasters and 112 wildfires, including three of the Nation’s most devastating hurricanes and five of the worst wildfires ever experienced. During this time, nearly $44 billion of disaster activity occurred under the various federal recovery programs.
During his tenure at FEMA, Brock led two major initiatives which will have long-lasting impacts on the emergency management community. He rapidly transformed the agency’s business enterprise by implementing innovative Community Lifeline and FEMA Integration Team concepts to strengthen public-private partnerships and permanently embed full-time staff within the offices of state and tribal governments to better meet constituent needs. Further, as the result of effective advocacy and eight influential Congressional testimonies, Congress passed the Disaster Recovery Reform Act and made pre-disaster mitigation a national priority, provided meaningful changes to the FEMA workforce, and bolstered state and local emergency management capability.
From 2008-2011, Brock served as Director of Alabama’s Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) under Governor Bob Riley. As Director, he served as the State Coordinating Officer for 14 disasters, including eight presidentially-declared events. Brock also served as an on-scene State Incident Commander for the Alabama Unified Command during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
He is a graduate of the prestigious Executive Leadership Program offered by the US Naval Postgraduate School/Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He attended Appalachian State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Public Administration.
Ashley Ward is the Director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability and her work focuses on the health impacts of climate extremes and community resilience. In this role, Ashley brings together scientists and communities to develop and deploy innovative policy solutions that reduce the impacts of extreme heat on human health and well-being.
Ashley’s career has focused on engaging communities to identify and address issues related to climate change, and helping communities develop long-term, sustainable strategies relevant to their needs.
Ashley’s previous work with NOAA’s Carolinas Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) team connected rural and urban communities and policy-decision makers with relevant climate and health data, particularly related to vulnerabilities and impacts.
Ashley has continued to bridge the gap between science, data, policy, and community at Duke’s Nicholas Institute. In this setting, she works with communities, public agencies, and policymakers to create and inform effective policy solutions to difficult environmental challenges.
Prior to launching the Heat Policy Innovation Hub, Ashley has worked on the Internet of Water (IoW) Coalition at the Nicholas Institute, helping public agencies modernize their water data infrastructure to better manage water resources. On the IoW team, Ashley has led stakeholder and policy engagement, pilot programs, and the development of the Technology Adoption Program (TAP) designed to guide public agencies through the organizational and behavioral changes needed to modernize their water data infrastructure.
Before her work with Duke and RISA, Ashley completed her PhD in geography and worked with communities throughout NC on a host of issues such as local food availability and asset-based economic development strategies. Ashley’s passion is building coalitions to advance scientific understanding and communicate information in a way that is relevant for use by decision-makers. Having worked in a broad range of communities with varying levels of capacity, Ashley is particularly thoughtful about meeting communities where they are and working from there to achieve community goals.