Region I Hosts Private Sector Outreach Conference
Release Date: July 18, 2007
Release Number: Con-02-02
Marty Bahamonde talks about the Private Sector Outreach Initiative (6.5 MB)
Transcript of Bahamonde Comments
FEMA Region I hosted the first ever private sector outreach conference in Windsor, Conn. on July 13. The event arose as a chance to provide feedback following the Hurricane Yvette exercise - the first federal disaster exercise to include private sector participation.
Those who attended comprised several areas of the private sector, from banking to health care to telecommunications, along with federal, state and local officials. The event marked the first meeting as part of a new FEMA initiative to promote a public-private partnership.
Marty Bahamonde, FEMA Region I External Affairs Director and conference facilitator, outlined the genesis of the initiative and the vital role it will play in successfully mitigating and managing future disasters.
"During Hurricane Katrina, it was very difficult to get information to the general public, to the private sector through the media," said Bahamonde. "I want to know how to reach the general populace without having to rely on the media."
Bahamonde continued by outlining the primary goal - how best the government can provide accurate, timely disaster information directly to the public.
"How do I tap into you to get the information out that I'm trying to provide and then how do we know what it is that you need from an emergency standpoint when something happens - when a catastrophic event takes place." asked Bahamonde. "If we have a catastrophic event here in New England, as they say, that's not the time to be exchanging business cards."
Vince McNamara, Business Continuity Manager of GTECH Corporation (a gaming technology and services company) based in Providence, R.I., followed with a presentation on business continuity planning. A former FEMA employee, McNamara has over 15 years of emergency management experience.
"You [private sector] need to have a strategy for workgroup recovery which is where business people go to if their primary site is down." said McNamara. "Now all of the human elements and logistics of the plan particularly have to be in line with your local jurisdictional government because none of this matters if the governor of Rhode Island says everyone stay at home and as a result we can't get to our sites for recovery."
Also in attendance were representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Jeff Karonis, director of Incident Communications, discussed roles and responsibilities in a disaster.
"How can we get information out as fast as we can - it's absolutely critical," said Karonis. "If we don't have a pre-incident system, we are never going to have a degree of success."
The event also included presentations on FEMA's groundbreaking situational awareness products and the FEMA Region I Web site.
The conference wrapped up with a lively roundtable discussion on the newly launched public-private initiative and the discussion of priorities going forward to build the partnership for the future.
"What we do here in New England will be the standard for what we [the federal government] do in the rest of this country in dealing with the private sector," said Bahamonde.
Asked how he thought the new initiative was taking shape, McNamara said, "I thought it was a real good starting point to start to forge our relationships between private and public sector."
The formation of a task force and a future disaster exercise scheduled for this fall were both discussed as priorities for the near future.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 07-Nov-2007 14:40:02