Social
Sciences
Addressing Global Issues
Summit on Resilience
S
ome of the biggest names in the U.S. private and public sectors
converged at Pace in early 2012 for the "Summit on Resilience: Securing
Our Future Through Public-Private Partnerships." Co-sponsored
by the Center for Homeland Defense and Security University Agency
and Partnership Initiative, the Summit provided a forum to discuss how
partnerships between these two sectors could be developed to strengthen
resilience in communities in light of increasing hazards.
The Summit was convened by Pace President Stephen
J. Friedman who said the idea came to him after looking
out of his office window in downtown New York at the
empty site now called Ground Zero. "After a disaster
event…rebuilding tends to be a black hole. The resources
and talent are in the private sector while the authority
is with the public sector," he noted. "What's required is
real partnership, with areas of responsibility defined,
accepted, and understood in advance."
The event featured an opening address from U.N. Disaster
Reduction Chief Margareta Wahlström (pictured below,
right) and a keynote address, from speaker Tom Ridge,
CEO and President of Ridge Global Inc., and the first U.S.
Secretary of Homeland Secretary (pictured below, left), who
emphasized that corporations must take a seat at the table
and be involved in all stages of planning during a catastrophe.
More than 300 participants attended the event, including
representatives from both the public sector—such as the City
of Los Angeles Emergency Management, the New York City
Office of Emergency Management, and the Florida Division
of Emergency Management—as well as the private sector—
such as Verizon Communications, the Boeing Company,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Target, and Southern California Edison.
8 | Dyson College of Arts and Sciences
