Following Hurricane Sandy, working together to examine and encourage better construction practices to make communities safer in extreme weather is more important than ever.

At this Leadership Forum, the 9th in our series, we brought together experts to identify and discuss mitigation best practices, public policy efforts, communication success stories, and emerging research to make communities more resilient.

The event featured a keynote address from Wayne Goodwin, North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance, remarks by National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb, PhD., and a free, private tour of the ground-breaking IBHS Research Center. Click here for IBHS Tour Presentation

Speakers included:

• Bill Read, Former Director of the National Hurricane Center; currently Severe Weather Expert at
  KPRC-TV, Houston
• Margaret Davidson, Director of NOAA Coastal Services Center
• Michael Lingerfelt, FAIA, LEED® AP, Chairman of Disaster Assistance Task Force,
  American Institute of Architects
• Frank Nutter, President of the Reinsurance Association of America
• Ann Roberson, Program Manager, South Carolina Safe Home
• Timothy Reinhold, Ph.D., P.E. SVP, Research and Chief Engineer, IBHS
• Robin Westcott, Esq., Insurance Consumer Advocate, Florida Office
  of the Insurance Consumer Advocate
• Gavin Smith, Executive Director, UNC Center for the Study of Natural
  Hazards & Disasters
• Chris Estes, President and CEO, National Housing Conference
• John Plodinec, Ph.D., Associate Director, Resilience Technologies
  Community and Regional Institute
• Mark Shelburne, Counsel & Policy Coordinator, NC Housing Finance Agency
• Peter Vickery, Ph.D., Principal Engineer, Applied Research Associates
  

Panels included: Click here for agenda

• Unique Meteorological Aspects of Superstorm Sandy
• Sandy: A Wake-up Call For Hurricane-exposed Communities
• Post-Sandy Solutions: Which Communities Are Next and How Ready Are They?
• Inventory Resilience: Commercial and Residential Exposures
• What Do We Do Now? The Path to Community Resilience
• Unique Challenges of Low-income Communities in Natural Disasters

Check back soon to explore the Built It Better Forum highlights, including speaker bios, presentations, and the key principles that emerged from the Forum.

We also invite you to explore presentations from past Risk Mitigation Leadership Forums, including our most recently concluded events: Gulf Coast: Preparing for Extreme Weather and Facing the Challenge Leadership Forum. They are an excellent resource to bring you up to speed on the latest scientific and policy advances to help protect America from disaster.