The guest of this episode is Andrea Davis, who is the founder and CEO of the Resiliency Initiative. Andrea shares some powerful examples from many years in crisis managmenet on how to expand the capacity of the world by focusing on the individuals and creating an environment where people take care of their families and then the company. Andrea strives to be culturally relevant to each of the individuals she works with and for by striving to be a leader who knows what is important to each of the members on every team she is a part of. Andrea teaches us that our team’s success is our success and that we should constantly ask who’s missing to make sure that we are working to help everyone have a seat at the table and have their voices heard.
Andrea has been in the field of crisis management since 1999, starting in the non-profit sector developing Y2K crisis response plans. Andrea went on to serve at the City and County of San Francisco and in the US Federal Government as the Emergency Manager for the 12th District Federal Reserve Bank and as the External Affairs Director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Louisiana Recovery Office for Hurricane Katrina. While at FEMA, Andrea oversaw all media, intergovernmental and congressional activities for one of the U.S.’ largest disaster recovery efforts, with a total recovery portfolio of over $25 billion.
For the past ten years, Andrea has led global, enterprise-wide crisis management departments for multi-national, Fortune 50 companies-The Walt Disney Company and the Walmart Corporation. Currently, she is the Founder and CEO of an SBA-certified, woman-owned, crisis management consulting firm, The Resiliency Initiative.
Andrea’s passion is volunteer service which led to her selection as the Inaugural Emergency Manager of the Year by the International Association of Emergency Managers in 2018 and her induction into the Women’s Hall of Fame for Emergency Management in 2013. Andrea is currently serving as the Board Chair for the NW Arkansas American Red Cross and a founding member of the Arkansas Tiffany Circle.
Links:
The Resiliency Initiative – Resiliency, Continuity, Crisis Management https://theresiliencyinitiative.com