2013 NCAA Convention

Crisis Management: A Conversation with Homeland Security Executives

Crisis takes many forms, from natural disasters to criminal charges and scandals of every type in between. Even with such variety, there are best practices that apply to successfully managing crises of all kinds. Join a panel of the nation’s top homeland security executives as they share candid, informed advice about how to manage a crisis. How do you build the right response and management team, both before a crisis and during one? What are the right questions to ask? How do you manage relationships with your superiors? When do you ask for outside advice? How do you engage the public, staff and stakeholders? From which mistakes, in college sports and from elsewhere, can we learn?

Moderator: Amy Dunham, Managing Director of Strategic Communications, NCAA

As NCAA managing director of strategic communications, Dunham is responsible for strategic, longer-range communications, initiatives and relationships.  In her role, she focuses on how the NCAA articulates and presents its core values: how it shapes and manages its brand, communicates with its membership and employees, interacts with communities and charities and maps all of these efforts back to the Association’s strategic communications plan.  In addition to leading the strategic communications, membership communications, and employee engagement units, she also manages the communications department’s overall budget and performance metrics. 

Before joining the Association in July 2011, she served as deputy assistant secretary of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  In that role, she was a principal counsel on public affairs to the Secretary and senior leadership team on matters of counterterrorism, cybersecurity, emergency/crisis management and all other aspects of communications for the department and its 22 component agencies, which include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  Dunham also directed the day-to-day operations of the headquarters public affairs office of 34 staff, and established and managed the department’s national “If You See Something, Say Something” public awareness campaign.

Dunham began her time at DHS as deputy press secretary, serving as the senior Bush-Obama transition official for the Secretary’s press office.  During the transition, she conducted executive crisis communications/media training, table-top exercises and drills with the national security press corps to ensure a smooth transition between administrations.

Earlier in her career, Dunham served as regional public affairs manager for the TSA and manager of media relations for US Airways.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from Wake Forest University.

Speakers:

John D. Cohen, Principal Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Department of Homeland Security

John D. Cohen serves as the principal deputy coordinator for counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and as a senior advisor on counterterrorism, law enforcement and information sharing issues to both the Deputy Secretary and Secretary of Homeland Security. In this capacity he coordinates the development and implementation of Department-wide counterterrorism operational activities and programs, to include those associated with detection and prevention of, response to, and recovery from acts of terrorism in the United States.

Prior to his current role, Cohen served as a special advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, advising the Secretary on matters pertaining to information sharing, counterterrorism, and law enforcement. He has also served as the senior advisor to the program manager for the information sharing environment, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where he authored and coordinated the implementation of key components of the National Strategy for Information Sharing.

Cohen has an extensive background in homeland security and law enforcement operations and policy development.  He was senior Homeland Security policy advisor to the Governors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of Arizona.  In 2004 he was selected by National Journal as one of the “100 Key People in Homeland Security.” He has worked within the private sector and has held a variety of government positions including special agent, Office of Naval Intelligence; police detective, City of Gardena, CA; senior investigator, House Judiciary Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and senior policy advisor, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President of the United States.

Noah Kroloff, Chief of Staff, Department of Homeland Security

Noah Kroloff has served as the chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since January 2009.  In this capacity, he oversees 240,000 employees, a $60 billion budget and 22 federal agencies, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Citizenship and Immigrations Services (CIS), United States Coast Guard (USCG), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Secret Service (USSS), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  From 2006 to 2008, he was the deputy chief of staff and from 2003 to 2006, the chief assistant for policy, in the Office of the Arizona Governor.  Kroloff left government to manage Governor Janet Napolitano’s successful reelection campaign in 2006, claiming victory by nearly 30 points. He was the policy director on her first campaign for governor in 2002.  Noah also served as a speechwriter and assistant to the attorney general in the office of the Arizona Attorney General.  Prior to his work in Washington and Arizona, Kroloff was an aide to New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and taught junior-high school in the Bronx as a Teach for America Corps member.   Kroloff holds a B.A. from St. John’s College and a J.D. from Arizona State University College of Law. 

Sean Smith, Senior Vice President, Porter Novelli

Sean Smith is a senior vice president at Porter Novelli, a global communications firm.  He helps lead the global Corporate Communications and Reputation Management practice. With almost 20 years of communications experience, Sean offers clients strategic guidance on a range of public affairs initiatives and corporate communications issues.  He travels around the globe counseling Porter Novelli’s top clients on corporate reputation issues and managing crises.  

Since joining Porter Novelli in 2011, he has helped implement corporate communications campaigns and manage issues for McDonald’s, Bel Brands Cheese, Chapstick, SanDisk, Dun & Bradstreet and other Fortune 500 companies.   

From January 2009 to April 2011, Smith was the assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In that role he was responsible for developing and implementing the Department’s strategic communications initiatives as well as a number of the Department’s major initiatives. While at DHS, Sean helped lead the Obama administration’s public response to attempted terrorist attacks, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, the H1N1 outbreak, border violence in Mexico, cyber attacks and dozens of other breaking news incidents. 

In the past, he has been a communications staffer on a variety of political campaigns, including three presidential campaigns, and worked with major multinational corporations in the banking, insurance, chemical and telecommunications sectors, national and international non-profits, trade associates, labor unions and issues campaigns.  In 2012 he served as a senior advisor to the Obama campaign. 

Smith earned his M.A. in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his B.S. in political science from the University of Oregon. He has lectured at the United States Military Academy at West Point and Johns Hopkins University, and currently teaches at Yale University.