“There comes a time in every person’s life that their focus shifts
from success to significance”
– Ed Granger-Happ, CIO IFRC/Chairman NetHope
Some of you might have noticed that I have been rather quiet on the blogging front for the last month and a half. One of the key reasons was that I have taken on a new role and that has taken a large portion of my time.
This summer Microsoft decided to cut my Disaster Management Advisor position that I had been doing for the last 3 years. The cut was not part of any strategy by Microsoft to move out of disaster related work, but rather a part of a larger reorganization within Microsoft, where a number of headcounts needed to be found for people selling the new cloud strategy. Luckily for me they treated me nicely so I had a good time to look around for the dream job.
In my last post I talked about going to the NetHope Member summit. I had been working on a project for them since September focused on emergency preparedness. That project was a preview of what my new role is all about.
In late October I agreed to take on the role of Global Program Director for Emergency Preparedness and Response at NetHope or in short be their Emergency Response Director. When they offered me this role it was easy for me to say yes, because this role allows me to continue bringing together my two passions in life technology and disasters.
NetHope is one of the organizations I have admired since I originally learned about it. Through it the CIOs of 32 of the leading NGOs in the world find ways to collaborate on things related to information and communication technology (ICT). The atmosphere within NetHope is one of collaboration and innovation, something I have not seen too much of inside the UN.
I am looking forward to working within this great community and to hopefully continue make a difference in the way technology is being applied to respond to and prepare for crisis worldwide.
As part of my new role I will be relocating from Iceland to Geneva, Switzerland in early 2011, so expect to start seeing me add a few sprinkles of French to my blog posts…
Published December 22nd 2010 at DisasterExpert