Vincent B. Davis, CEM, is corporate workplace resilience manager for Amazon LLC and former senior preparedness manager for Sony PlayStation. Prior to joining Sony, he was the program manager of emergency preparedness and response for Walgreens Co. Following his 23-year career in the U.S. Air Force and Illinois National Guard, in public affairs, he served as: external affairs and community relations manager at FEMA; regional preparedness manager for the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago; and private sector consultant to the Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin Regional Catastrophic Planning Team. He holds certifications as an Illinois Professional Emergency Manager and FEMA Professional Continuity Practitioner and is a past chairperson of the International Assoc. of Emergency Managers Children’s Caucus, Advisory Board Member for Domestic Preparedness Journal, and a lifetime member of the Black Emergency Managers Assoc. Mr. Davis is also founder and president of Preparedness Matters Disaster Consulting

We recently asked Vince about resiliency and his upcoming ICMC 2018 presentation, “Defeating The Clown – Community Resilience In The New Normal.”

1. What are some of the core components to building the foundation of a resilient organization?

My 6-Steps to a Resilient Workplace Guide will be the backdrop of my presentation:

  1. Defining Resilience
  2. The Factor of the 3 C’s
  3. The Emergency Management Gap
  4. Overcoming Resistance
  5. Forging Effective Partnerships
  6. The Employee Equation
  7. Putting it all together
  8. A Resilient Workplace

2. It appears that Amazon are fully invested in being a resilient company, why is that?

While I cannot officially speak to Amazon’s rationale, I can say that more and more companies are understanding the need for deliberate planning. This is something I will explore in greater detail during my presentation. As natural and human caused disasters occur more frequently, companies are feeling the effects of lost productivity, erosion of employee confidence, and increasing economic exposure due to inadequate preparation and planning. Forward thinking can avert a crisis rather than walking into one unprepared.

3. What’s the most challenging part of your role as a workplace reliance manager at Amazon?

Again, since I’m not representing Amazon in my official capacity here, I can share in general terms, some of the challenges I’ve faced as a resilience manager. One of the major challenges is integrating resiliency into divergent company cultures, while also maintaining a level of objectivity about how to solve problems rather than imposing  knowledge that may be irrelevant to some organizations.

4. What can the 2018 International Crisis Management Conference attendees expect from your presentation? 

Attendees can anticipate an informative, lively, and engaging presentation, with anecdotal references from my perspectives as a government, non-government, and private sector practitioner over the past 20-years.

Register for ICMC 2018

Register to attend the 3rd annual International Crisis Management Conference which will be held on April 24th and 25th in Boston MA.

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