business community.
Felicia is the first person we’ve signed
up under our state liaison volunteer program. She has run her own business
and served on nonprofit boards. That
rare blend of perspectives is allowing us
to bridge the gap between business and
nonprofit activities. The liaison program
is designed to expand our reach and help
more organizations. Having local representation is critical to building relationships and quickly leveraging local capabilities that someone from another part
of the country might not even know exist.
Q The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is ALAN’s first major test under your
leadership. Can you describe the organization’s response efforts, and what have
you learned from this endeavor that can
be applied to improve the group’s future
efforts?
A The Ebola response activities are complex due to multiple modes of
travel and nodes of origin/destination.
To date, the air bridge has delivered over
650,000 pounds of personal protective
equipment and medical supplies. Our role
has been the coordination of U.S. ground
logistics, as well as making introductions
internationally for sources of temporary
warehouse storage. Our association partners have generated great leads for sourcing the warehousing, transportation, and
material handling equipment necessary to
support this work.
It has also reminded us that disaster
relief is a continuum and that interest
wanes as media moves on to the next
big story. But just because you don’t
hear about it doesn’t mean support isn’t
still needed. Even now, we’re receiving
requests to help with cleanup activities from the flooding in Detroit last
year, recovery work after the 2013 tor-nadoes in Illinois, and even requests as
homes are rebuilt from the destruction of
Superstorm Sandy.
Q Speaking of Sandy, we are at its two- year anniversary as we speak. Can
you provide an update on where the
recovery stands, the logistics community’s involvement in it, and what ALAN
has taken away from that experience?
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Q What was the thinking behind bringing in Joel Anderson and
Felicia Alexander?
A Joel brings a unique network and passion to the organization.
He will help us build a sustain-
able funding stream so ALAN has
the financial support to continue its
work. Because of Joel’s deep under-
standing of how logistics providers
work, he can ensure that not only
are we looking to the right organiza-
tions to help meet disaster needs, but
that we are also delivering the right
disaster information and education-
al content to meet the needs of the
