Emergency managers, planners and responders met this week at the University of North Alabama in Florence for the Preparedness for Alabama Resilience Summit.

The aim of this stakeholder-led, conversation-driven summit is to enhance disaster preparedness and stakeholder partnerships in Alabama.

Objectives include increased awareness of disaster mitigation, response, and recovery management, and the growth of the resilience stakeholder network and collaboration with emergency management through partnerships between local, state, and federal partners, including both public and private sector partners.

Alabama EMA Director Jeff Smitherman guided the theme of this summit – a “team of teams” approach to emergency management. Championed by General Stanley McChrystal, this approach is an innovative way of building faster, more nimble organizations capable of managing rapidly changing and chaotic operation environments.