The Coming Wave of Resilient Executives
CROs have been long associated with disaster management, but their contributions to normal state and local operating conditions has been undervalued. Only 13 states and fewer than 150 cities and counties in the entire country have a Chief Resilience Officer, or an equivalent position, today. This is going to change as states and localities begin to understand how important the function will be for accessing international capital markets, driving down insurance costs, promotin
3 min read
The Disaster After the Disaster
The 2018 Kilauea volcano eruption blocked important roads, erased some of the area's most treasured natural features, destroyed homes and caused small businesses to close doors, while longer-term recovery funds took over two years to flow to the community. That's a very long time to wait for recovery, particularly for lower income residents. When an extreme event like a tornado or hurricane strikes, it's an individual tragedy. The gap that too often follows between the emer
8 min read
Beyond Regulation: Seven Ways AI Governance Can Keep Up With Innovation
A recent RAND report accurately diagnoses a critical failure point in modern technology policy: "big-G government" moves on a linear timeline, while frontier AI moves exponentially. Waiting for centralized, federal legislation to prevent AI insecurity is a strategy designed to fail. The report rightly argues that business and civil society must step up to manage operational risks, design market incentives, and cushion the community-level shocks of workforce disruption. But wh
4 min read
Your Community Is a Portfolio of Unique Assets — It's Time to Manage It Like One
A new ISD framework argues that disaster management and community development belong inside the same system — and that treating them as separate is costing communities their futures. There is a question that almost no American community can answer: Is our community better off than it was five years ago? Not richer or poorer in the narrow fiscal sense. Not whether this year's budget came in on target or whether the new development project broke ground on schedule. But better o
8 min read
Understanding CDBG-DR Housing Recovery: A Focus on Swannanoa
On June 10, ISD and StateBook will host Stan Gimont and LC Clemons for a conversation about CDBG-DR housing recovery. Stan has years of experience at HUD, where he designed and oversaw CDBG-DR. He will provide an overview of its design and purpose. LC has spent the last eighteen months on the ground in Swannanoa, working with twelve locally-rooted business owners trying to rebuild. He will share his experiences and the implications for small-town recoveries. This blog aims to
5 min read
Maximizing the Benefits of the Technology Revolution for Vulnerable Communities
The technology revolution will create more wealth than anything in human history. Not everyone will benefit. The difference will not be technology alone. It will be whether communities are prepared to capture the opportunity — and whether technology leaders are smart enough to help them do it. The summer of 2026 may be remembered as a landmark moment in economic history. SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are expected to enter public markets at valuations measured in trillions of
7 min read
