As both a practitioner and researcher in emergency management, Kesley Richardson is a looking to be a game changer.  Bringing youthful energy and the mind of a multidisplinary scholar to the field, he is ensuring that best practices are not just talked about but integrated.  Join us today on this episode of the Multi-Hazards podcast as Kesley Richardson shares his vision, experience and passion for emergency management and protecting communities.

Kesley Richardson’s Bio

Kesley Richardson is a U.S. Virgin Islands Native, scholar, public speaker, researcher, and practitioner in the field of Emergency Management. Currently as a doctorate student in Public Administration at West Chester University and being apart of organizations such as International Association of Emergency Managers(IAEM), Black Emergency Managers Association (BEMA), Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) with the United Nations, and Florida Emergency Preparedness Association (FEPA), he hopes to network with likeminded professionals to make actionable change. With his diverse background, Kesley hopes to leverage his awards such as the 2022 Govenors Hurricane Conference of Florida Rising Star and fellowship with the Bill Anderson Fund to support his goal of cultivating a more diverse field of Emergency Management.  

Intro: "Ten Inch Spikes" by Jeremy Korpas on Youtube Audio Library
Outro: "Island Dream" by Chris Haugen on YouTube Audio Library
Bio Photo from Kesley Richardson

To really protect communities, Ginny Katz and her team at HazAdapt Inc. are designing technology that pays attention to communities and truly addresses their needs.  Ginny is part of a new wave of entrepreneurs who believe equity and diversity should be at the forefront of innovation and not an afterthought.  Join us today on this episode of Multi-Hazards as we hear the wisdom and heartfelt passion of Ginny Katz, at the cutting edge of both technology and community resilience.

Check out the company, their app and podcast.

Ginny Katz’ Bio

Ginny Katz, MPH, has a BS Public Health Epidemiology & Disease Control (the University of Texas at San Antonio), MPH Global Health Disaster Systems and Digital Communication (Oregon State University) and is a Geography PhD Student, 2022 (Oregon State University).

While working to become an Emergency Management GIS and digital communications specialist in 2017, Ginny experienced the impact of emergency communications gaps firsthand. Without relevant information and support, so many people were becoming more vulnerable to hazards, most significantly impacting underserved communities.  Realizing that emergency managers are lacking the tools needed to facilitate meaningful and equitable mass engagement with their communities, she became a woman on a mission to build the tools that were so needed. In 2018 Ginny turned this problem into P.h.D. research at Oregon State University and in 2019 created a startup, HazAdapt Inc., to build the solutions. Now, Ginny is proud to present the first results of their hard work, HazAdapt, the Humanity-Friendly Hazard Guide and Emergency Assistant. HazAdapt is a free app and web tool built to boost community resilience from the bottom - up. 

Intro: "Ten Inch Spikes" by Jeremy Korpas on Youtube Audio Library
Outro: "Chasing the Dragons" by Joel Cummins, Kris Myers, Andy Farag on YouTube Audio Library
Bio Photo from Ginny Katz
Episode Photo by Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

Another year rolls by and certainty seems just as hard to find. Dr. Margaret Heffernan's recent book Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future has a message: Tomorrow may be uncharted territory, but we can learn to handle uncertainty and move forward with confidence and agility. Join Dr. Heffernan and Multi-Hazards podcast host Vin Nelsen in this remix from early last year, all the more relevant now that we face new and challenging times going into a new year.

Study Guide here, click where it says "PDF" on the middle left: https://multi-hazards.libsyn.com/finding-certainty-in-the-new-year-remix-with-margaret-heffernan

Topics in this podcast include:
* Why can we be optimists?
* Why could asking experts for their opinions about the future be a waste of time?
* Why and how our planning needs to change?
* Uncertainty: necessarily bad or good?
* How can uncertainty represent possibility?
* What do transhumanists want?
* How can aging bring out the best in us?
* What is the "doctrine of inevitability"?
* Why are driverless cars a problem?
* How has technology taken away our willingness to explore?
* Why are artists better with unpredictability?
* Why do artists keep producing things that are ahead of their time?
* How are scientists sometimes like these artists?
* What generates breakthroughs in science?
* How can we "reskill" for the future?
* How can we have hope for the new year?

Intro: "Ten Inch Spikes" by Jeremy Korpas on Youtube Audio Library
Outro: "Floating Home" by Brian Bolger on YouTube Audio Library
Photo by John Gibbons on Unsplash

Margaret Heffernan’s Bio

Dr. Margaret Heffernan produced programmes for the BBC for 13 years. She then moved to the US where she spearheaded multimedia productions for Intuit, The Learning Company and Standard&Poors. She was Chief Executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and then iCast Corporation, was named one of the "Top 25" by Streaming Media magazine and one of the "Top 100 Media Executives" by The Hollywood Reporter. The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, Willful Blindness : Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, she was awarded the Transmission Prize for A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as "meticulously researched... engagingly written... universally relevant and hard to fault." Her TED talks have been seen by over twelve million people and in 2015 TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. Her most recent book, Uncharted: How to map the future was published in 2020. She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme and, through Merryck & Co., mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath and continues to write for the Financial Times and the Huffington Post. Text and photo taken from her website: https://www.mheffernan.com/biography.php#modal-close