The Build it Better Leadership Forum held May 15-17 in Charlotte, NC brought together experts to identify and discuss mitigation best practices, public policy efforts, communication success stories and emerging research.

FLASH President and CEO Leslie Chapman-Henderson’s panel tackled the important topic – “What Do We Do Now? The Path to Community Resilience.”  Margaret Davidson, Acting Director, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management; David Canaan, Director, Mecklenburg County Storm Water Services and John Plodinec, Ph.D., Associate Director, Resilience Technologies Community and Regional Resilience Institute joined Chapman-Henderson  on the panel.

Additional discussions addressed the unforeseen consequences from Hurricane Sandy with on-the-ground experts addressing the complexity of emergency management and rescue efforts along with the compounding effects of wind and water on community infrastructure.

The event featured a keynote address from Wayne Goodwin, North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance and remarks by National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb, PhD.  For a full wrap and additional resources including presentations from speakers, visit mitigationleadership.com

Special thanks to John Plodinec and his take on the upbeat and energetic meeting. See a blurb from his blog below and visit John Plodinec’s blog for the rest of his post.

“Thursday and Friday I had the pleasure to attend the Build It Better Leadership Forum in Charlotte. Renaissance Reinsurance, the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH), and their partners put on a superlative event bringing together nearly all of the stakeholders in what Leslie Chapman-Henderson has dubbed the Mitigation Movement. Presentations (are now available) on mitigationleadership.com, so I’m just going to hit a few highlights and throw in a few gratuitous comments.”