Equipping New Leaders in Crisis Management

September 18, 2020

Storm School Instructors

Mike Zappone >>
VP Sales and Marketing at Tempest Energy
Retired, Eversource Energy, Electric Sector, 35+ yrs Chair, Multi-State Fleet Response Working Group
Aaron Strickland >>
Director of Business Development, Utilicon
Retired, Southern Company
Electric Sector, 35+ yrs
Carlos Torres >>
Independent Consultant/Experienced Utility-Emergency Management Executive, Former Operations Executive, ConEdison NYC, NY, Electric Sector, 35+ years
Jim Nowak >>
Sr. Director, Operations, Products & Services, ARCOS
Retired, American Electric Power
Electric Sector, 35+ yrs
Anthony Hurley >>
Consultant, Utilities and Critical Infrastructure, Emergency Management & Physical Security Professional
Retired, FirstEnergy
Electric Sector, 35+ yrs
David Vanderbloemen >>
David Vanderbloemen
Principal Consultant at DV Consulting, LLC & Retired, Dominion Energy
Electric Sector, 40+ yrs
Executive Director
Tom Moran

Summary

Storm School is a trusted forum for mentoring, learning, networking, for preparing electric utilities for real world crisis scenarios, education and application to immediately start creating success for you and your organization from those who have done it, improved it, and remain in constant pursuit of perfecting it. 

We call it a trade school of online learning in the field of crisis management that allows you to immediately take action and achieve results.

Background

In today's business climate, and there's really never enough time to allow people from your organization or new to your organization to get up to speed fast enough on your Dark Sky leadership roles prior to your next crisis. The days of allowing people the ample time to get comfortable in a Dark Sky world are pretty much gone. There's just too many changing and increased internal and external expectations, changing regulations, requirements, too many personnel changes to allow for that seamless transition, not to mention the opportunity to build relationships with talented people you identify as “go-to” people that you come to rely on.

These individuals, these talented people you identify as “go-to”, they're leaving industry at an alarming rate across all sectors, and that usually halts your progress or stalls it significantly, especially in the optics of your stakeholders. 

Stakeholders simply don't care that we have these challenges. The expectation is that we execute seamlessly and maintain a high level of preparedness and response. These challenges are present in the private and public sectors alike. 

What we realized was lacking was a forum, that caters to the electric sector, that allows people to learn from people who have served in those leadership and mentoring roles, people who have been there, have done that for decades, experts, with a passion to pay it forward and allow others to learn from historical industry mistakes and poor performance, a support system and partner to help you close the gap in both knowledge and experience transition.

Small budget for training
Spread thin on management / Not enough people / no communication
Accountable to regulators
Controlling Cost / Low threshold for error 
Poor customer brand management
Limited networking skills (operational partnerships)
Limited tech / can't gather past data for data prediction / else = inflates cost

The importance of the ICS (Incident Command System) framework (Safety) 
- Limits New business *w/o ICS training
- Small budget for training
- Spread thin on management

Determining Scope and Scale of a Potential Event
- Fear of wasting money / financial loss for over estimating labor needs
- Controlling Cost / Low threshold for error 

Developing an Effective Action Plan 
- Controlling Cost / Low threshold for error 
- Spread thin on management 
- Small budget for training

Managing Expectations & Communication
- Avoid angry regulators, customers, frustrated employees & contractors
- Small budget for training / Spread thin on management

Internal and IT Systems 
- They don't want to lose data / Critical system outages disrupt response effort 
- Limited tech / Spread thin on management

Needed Materials and Equipment 
- Fear of poor response / Poor customer brand management
- Lack of checklist on supply chain resources
- Small budget for training / Spread thin on management

Employees and Stakeholder Readiness
- Accountable : Employee & Contractor Safety, Brand damage, regulator judgement & fines
- Small budget for training / Spread thin on management / Lack of checklist & SOP's

Communications Strategy & Messaging
- Brand damage, miscommunication = Financial losses; Confusion  = Costly Inefficiencies  
- Limited networking skills (operational partnerships)


CUSTOM JAVASCRIPT / HTML

Next Generation Operational Training for Electric Sector Crisis Managers

 2022 National ResilienceEXCH Virtual Summit
January 25-27, 2022

 Board of Directors 

Chris Geldart
DC Public Works
Director

Mike Ambrosio
Wakefern Food Corp
Vice President

Kelly McKinney
NYU Langone Medical
Treasurer

Chris Eisenbrey
Edison Electric Institute
Secretary

Joe Picciano
Private Sector

Ira Tannenbaum
New York City
Emergency Management

Christy Morris
Retired
West Virginia DMAPS

Jim Sheehan
New Jersey UASI

Joe Bruno
Hellen Keller Services

Roland “Bud” Mertz
Westmoreland County
Public Safety

Executive Director
Tom Moran

Background

Since 2016, the AHC’s SISE (Sensitive Information Sharing Environment) trust framework has invited both industries and states to solve complex operational problems in a trusted, non-fault, operations only environment. 

The SISE has provided a safe sustained planning environment that engages of cross-disciplinary operational personnel in joint problem-solving discussions that most times leads to real world results within six-eight months.
The PPE Use Case is a complex supply chain problem with supply, demand, quality and logistics (including distribution) challenges with high competition for the same PPE resources.
The AHC quickly formed multiple use case committees of PPE Buyers and PPE Suppliers and Manufacturers to understand both sides of the problem. After four meetings, an approach was decided. The private sector provided the tools and data needed to create a unique prototype specifically designed to support any emergency resource type, starting with PPE.
Future AHC “resource/commodity exchanges” are already being discussed for commercial generators, fuel distribution, and lodging.
★★★★★ 5 
4.97 based on 23 reviews

TRUSTEDBY

CURRENT PROTOTYPE CAPABILITY

- Phase 1:

  • ​Leverages the data from the SISE ESRI platform
  • ​The primary front-end education
  • ​User management system 
  • ​The buyer & supplier enrollment process 
  • ​The buyer & supplier request/reply process
  • And a basic administration area design

- Phase 2:

  • ​Add user ranking and feedback system for self-governance and monitoring
  • ​Create a mobile app capability
  • ​Integrate with Commercial Routing Assistance (CRA) application to support PPE delivery routing for truckers by including route resistance data as part of supplier selection decision process (a big delay issue during Mar-Jun)

- Phase 3

  • ​Create a similar Exchange sourcing model integrated with the CRA for:
  • ​Commercial generator providers
  • ​Fuel truck distributors

PPE BUYER INFORMATION WEBSITE

Attachment 2: OPERATIONALIZING ESF 14

The AHC’s leadership is fully committed to continue its goal of operationalizing ESF 14 and producing tangible, operational use cases and solutions for both industry and government.
ESF 14 Purpose:
“Emergency Support Function (ESF) #14 supports the coordination of cross-sector operations, including stabilization of key supply chains and community lifelines, among infrastructure owners and operators, businesses, and their government partners.”
-Excerpt from DHS CISA ESF#14 Overview Document.
ESF 14 Intended Outcomes:
The ESF 14 doctrine outlined what the private sector has been looking for a long while: reducing their overall risks by ongoing planning, information sharing, and coordinating research, data analytics, and response operations with states and federal agencies whenever possible, to produce operational results.
“Intended Outcomes: ESF #14 provides unique services to enhance response operations. ESF #14 is a platform that engages the private sector, leverages existing resources and capabilities within the affected community, and provides analytical capabilities focused on interdependencies. These activities support other existing Federal and state procedures.” 
-Excerpt from DHS CISA ESF#14 Overview Document.
Background
At the end of the 2017 hurricane season, the AHC, along with 30+ partners submitted a letter of recommendation that included suggested improvements on how FEMA and DHS CISA could
improve cross-sector communications and coordination with industry and states during emergency and non-emergency scenarios.
With input from the AHC and many other sources, FEMA/ DHS CISA shortly developed the ESF 14 concept and rolled it out in 2018.
Since that time, the AHC and its SISE working group, have been focused on operationalizing the ESF 14 doctrine at the regional and state levels with states and industry on specific problems or use cases.
The ongoing cross-sector working groups and use case committees have been developing new use cases and solving problems with state and federal agency participation, especially over the past several months with the COVID-19 pandemic. 
ESF 14 & the AHC
ESF 14 doctrine was adopted by the AHC Board of Directors and its working groups in early 2019. 
The FEMA “life-lines” and DHS CISA “national critical functions” have been used to align SISE Use Cases to federal priorities and as an education tool to help industry understand how DHS CISA works to help them reduce risks by supporting their planning, response and recovery functions incidents that affect their organizations, their supply chains, and their communities.
How the AHC Uses ESF 14
The private sector understands that most of their operational actions during disasters require close coordination with multiple state agencies (who don’t always coordinate well in some states), but in coordination with the appropriate federal partners (who don’t always coordinate well). 
This doesn’t always happen on periodic disaster calls. Ongoing planning and problem solving needs to happen year-round.
Starting with joint planning and closed discussions these working groups will focus on operational problems facing industry or states, Use Cases are developed that form the overall framework to work the problem towards one or several solutions, leverage existing R&D, identify existing solutions, create partnerships, and build trust between the invested participant.
The entire process is based upon sustained private sector supported planning, problem solving, results and trust.
Enabling Trusted Problem Solving
The SISE’s “integrated planning capability” has been fundamental to the “trust” between government and industry.
According to the private sector, it is the trust that is missing, not the data, the technology, the policies, the processes, or the products. These all help but do not often sustain when people rotate in and out of their jobs or roles within their respective organizations. Once trust between people is achieved, problem-solving is accelerated dramatically.
Problems are solved (or show progress being made), the participants want to repeat the process again, and again, and again.
Results - Inter-Dependency Awareness
ESF#14 doctrine with the SISE has helped create an “interdependency awareness” across electric, telecommunications, fuel, food, transportation, finance, health, water, lodging, retail, and logistics by utilizing professionals that have been involved in the Use Case development process within the SISE. 
Results - State Adoption
In early 2018, the SISE created a new Use Case Committee comprised of state private sector liaisons who work in state emergency management agencies to work with the Fleet Response Working Group to address issues around fleet movement across state lines. This group started with liaisons in FL, NC, VA, MD, & PA who met weekly for 18 months. Using ESF 14 as part of the strategy, this committee became instrumental to the private sector’s operational problem-solving weekly calls during “blue-sky” days and response partners during disasters. Today this committee has expanded to include LA, MS, AL, OE, IL and AR. 
Results – Operational Solutions Produced 
Solving operational problems is what both industry and government operations professionals desire, along with their leadership. The SISE has created a private sector managed “safe space” for candid discussions over complex problems between government and industry stakeholders. The ESF #14 doctrine has created the policy framework government needed at the federal level to organize resources in support of the coordination of cross-sector operations, communications, planning, research and resource/information sharing. This has provided the credibility and legal support that can attract private sector investment of time, energy, etc.… In this environment, the SISE has produced multiple use cases , 100+ solutions, dozens of partnerships and provided government a unique way to gets things done faster while leveraging a willing private sector community that I willing to share the results.
Results – Lowered Risks
Lowering risk is s shared objective of government and industry. Yet, when people are honest about it, lowering risk is not always easy to prove or validate. The private sector views risk differently than government many times. Universally, industry and government stakeholders in the SISE like to measure risk reduction using simple metrics: reductions of labor hours, hard costs, process delays, brand damage, personnel safety, customers and increases in process efficiencies, customer satisfaction, safety, brand enhancement, etc…. Each of the SISE solutions were created to reduce operational risks and/or increase operational benefits. Many solutions don’t make the cut or have to be enhanced in order to get fully implemented and sustained.
For example: The SISE has created three PPE solutions to date:
  • PPE solution #1 – created a PPE supplier directory of vetted suppliers
  • ​PPE solution #2 – created a data service to download the solution 1 data into your systems
  • ​PPE solution #3 - created a “uber-like” PPE exchange that produces valid PPE quotes within minutes.  
  • Solution #1 was interesting, but few used it. User provided feedback. Planning continued.
  • ​Solution #2 was also interesting, but few subscribed to the service. Users provided feedback. Planning continued. 
  • ​Solution #3 was unique and provides a clear and measurable risk reductions (vetted Suppliers, legal agreements/disclaimers) along with measurable process enhancements and cost efficiencies (reduced PPE related staff time by 50% to 80%, reduced labor costs, competitive bids in minutes vs days)
Sell PPE Supplies?
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About AHC

All Hazards Consortium, a 501(c)(3) organization, fosters an environment where industry and government can collaborate on cross-sector issues, explore interdependencies, broaden situational awareness, lower operational risks, prioritize investments and enhance infrastructure security and resilience via public/private planning, training, exercises and research.

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