Episode 35: Carrie Speranza on Emergency Management's Identity Crisis and the Rise of the Disaster Diplomat
"Why do we continue to call ourselves operators, when the skill set we actually have is executive leadership?"
That's the question at the center of an identity crisis Carrie Speranza says emergency management has been having for years — and the reframe she landed on, "disaster diplomat," has since spread across the field's LinkedIn titles.
In this episode of Careers & Coffee Talk, we unpack that identity crisis, along with her path from debris management on the ground during Hurricane Katrina to testifying before Congress on the future of FEMA. Carrie served as Deputy Director (and Acting Director through the COVID-19 response) of DC's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, President of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), and Chair of FEMA's National Advisory Council. She's now Director of Emergency Management Solutions at Esri.
We get into what it actually took to help run an emergency management agency through a pandemic, why she built National Emergency Management Awareness Month from scratch (now wrapping its second year), and the deeply personal story behind her advocacy for mental health and burnout awareness in the emergency management community.
We also talk about:
☕ Deploying to 7 major hurricanes in her first two years — including Katrina, Rita, and Wilma
☕ Leading through the COVID-19 pandemic
☕ Testifying before Congress on the future of FEMA
☕ Building National Emergency Management Awareness Month
☕ The personal story behind her mental health and wellness advocacy
☕ Moving from public service into the private sector
☕ Her advice for anyone considering a career in emergency management
Connect with Carrie Speranza: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-speranza/
#EmergencyManagement #DisasterDiplomat #FEMA #IAEM #CareersAndCoffeeTalk #DisasterResponse
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