We bring public policy experts to the Steamboat community.

“Disaster Preparation and Management in the Face of a Changing Climate”

Craig Fugate Consulting, LLC, Gainesville, FL,
Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Administration (2009-17)

Craig Fugate is the former administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), during which time he organized recovery efforts for a record eighty-seven disasters in 2011 alone.  Before that, as director of the Florida Emergency Management Division, he coordinated the state’s response to Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne (the “Big 4 of ’04”), and Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Wilma in 2005.  At FEMA, Fugate emphasized a “whole community” approach to emergency management, spearheaded the effort to build capacity to stabilize catastrophic events within 72 hours and incorporated “Thunderbolt exercises” using fake disasters and lightning inspections to train emergency operations centers.

“Colorado River in Crisis: Learning From the Past to Protect the Future”

Visiting Professor at the University of California – Irvine School of Law, with introductory remarks by Luke Runyon, Managing Editor & Reporter, Colorado River Basin, KUNC — Community Radio for Northern Colorado

Heather Tanana is a visiting Professor at the University of California – Irvine School of Law and has become a nationally recognized researcher and educator specializing in the vexing questions at the junction of law, health and water policies. In 2021 she received an award from the American Bar Association for “distinguished achievement in environmental law and policy” for her work including the 2021 report Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribes in the Colorado River Basin, for which she served as lead author. She is also contributing to the water chapter for the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), due in 2023, which will analyze the effects of global change on the world’s natural environment, resources and social systems.

“Russia, Ukraine, and Beyond — Challenges for the U.S.”

President and CEO, U.S. Russia Foundation, Wilson Center, Washington, DC

Matthew Rojansky is one of the country’s pre-eminent Russia scholars.  In early 2022 he became President and CEO of the U.S.-Russia Foundation, a private grant-making foundation established to promote the development of the private sector and the rule of law in Russia.  Prior to joining USRF, Rojansky served as Director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, the premier U.S. institution for research on Russia, from 2013 to 2021.  Between 2010 and 2013, he was Deputy Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he founded Carnegie’s Ukraine Program and prior to that he served as executive director of the Partnership for a Secure America (PSA).

“Elections on the Brink: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go to Ensure Fairness and Integrity”

Vice President for Democracy, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law

Wendy Weiser directs the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan think tank and public interest law center that works to revitalize, reform, and defend systems of democracy and justice.  Her program focuses on voting rights and elections, money in politics and ethics, redistricting and representation, government dysfunction, rule of law, and fair courts.  She founded and directed the program’s Voting Rights and Elections Project, directing litigation, research, and advocacy efforts to enhance political participation and prevent voter disenfranchisement across the country.

“R/Evolution: Recasting Life in an Age of Radical Biotechnology”

Technology Futurist, Geopolitics Expert, Entrepreneur, Sci-Fi Novelist

Jamie Metzl is one of the world’s leading technology and healthcare futurists and author of the non-fiction bestseller, Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity. He has appeared regularly on national and international media programs and his writings in science, technology, and global affairs are featured in publications around the world. He additionally earned the title of “the original COVID-19 whistleblower” for his leading role advocating for a full investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. During his career, Jamie has served in the U.S. National Security Council, State Department, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and as a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations in Cambodia and was a member of the World Health Organization expert advisory committee on human genome editing from 2019 to 2021.