That looks impossible, I want to try it. This has been my mantra since, well, always and it’s likely the reason I’ve become a go-to expert in all things crisis communications and crisis management — with a heavy dose of high-visibility operations. My background consists of making huge changes to organizations that are resistant, even allergic, to change — finding that middle ground to get to the solution without anyone feeling completely left behind.

I’ve literally written the book on unconventional leadership (coming soon!) and believe that if you plan for everything to be a crisis, then you can avoid things becoming a crisis. With over a decade of service in the US Coast Guard, I was a qualified Type 1 Public Information Officer, overseeing crisis communication responses for major disasters from Hurricane Katrina to the BP Oil Spill. I also proudly launched the first mobile app for the Coast Guard (now, that’s a story!).

Previously as the Head of Global Disaster Response and the Head of Launch, Blog, and Podcast operations for Amazon Web Services, I built their Critical Event Protocol, a comprehensive crisis response plan including internal and external communication operations. Then as Principal for Global Disaster Response I oversaw the technical operations for applying AWS technology to disasters including Hurricane Dorian and the COVID19 pandemic, developing a comprehensive crisis management plan.

Along with running Merewif LLC and working on my books, I currently teach Crisis Communications at my alma mater (I’m a triple Husky), the University of Washington in Seattle for the Communications Leadership Graduate School.