The After the Fire USA Wildfire Leadership Summit
September 20-22, 2022 in Sonoma, CA
KEYNOTE: "Innovative Service Models in Disaster" Jennifer Gray Thompson, CEO, After the Fire USA
Jennifer Gray Thompson, the CEO of After The Fire USA gives a keynote that focuses on how concerted effort in wildfire recover can make a real difference in the lives of fire survivors. Jennifer is the driving organizing force behind the Wildfire Leadership Summit and her direct connections led to bringing the entire event together. From wildfire survivors to recovery organizations, new technologies, insurance, community engagement, and more, the summit wouldn’t have occurred without her vision.
The new future of wildfire being a part of our daily lives is inevitable, and to adequately address this problem takes an entire team. We cannot do this alone, and have to do it together.
Jennifer’s speech showcases the many different topics that were touched upon in specific panel discussions and keynote speeches – but adding in a sense of hope that through innovation and collaboration, this even massive problem has solutions. It is a human piece of connection that makes the difference. Local-leadership need to be coalesced to have power, local officials and state representatives need to listen, while private sector embraces the challenge and invests into communities.
As each community is different, the local leaders need to design their recovery on their terms, and the web of aid and assistance needs to meet them where they are at.
After the Fire embraces those that work with integrity and understands that sometimes, the most powerful thing to say is “I Don’t Know”. Because to have a space to fail, but fail and learn how, is essential, and Jennifer’s vision has inspired many along the way, and her work has been recognized nationwide.
Most recently she was named to the top 50 women over 50 by Forbes magazine, and is now considered to be an expert on wildfire recovery and community engagement.
To find out more about After The Fire USA please visit www.afterthefireusa.org and
Selected Biography:
About Jennifer Gray Thompson, CEO, After the Fire USA
Jennifer Gray Thompson is a lifelong resident of Sonoma Valley in Northern California. She attended Santa Rosa Junior College and graduated from Dominican University in 2001 with degrees in English and History. After teaching high school for 10 years, Jennifer went on to earn a master’s degree in Public Administration from University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy. Postgraduate school, Jennifer worked for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. After the devastating fires in the North Bay of San Francisco in October 2017, she accepted a position as Executive Director of the newly formed 501c3 nonprofit Rebuild NorthBay Foundation (RNBF), an organization dedicated to helping the region rebuild better, greener, safer, and faster. In summer of 2021, RNBF created After the Fire USA in response to the prevalence of massive megafires in response to climate change and wildland imbalances. Our tagline remains “Recover. Rebuild. Reimagine.”
As CEO of this evolutionary organization, Jennifer expanded her commitment to help communities navigate the aftermath of wildfires not only for the short term, but also for the long-term slog that is rebuilding post-disaster. Jennifer and her team are committed to equitable and resilient recoveries for every community, regardless of their ability to pay. ATF USA does not charge communities for their services and primarily acts as a support for locally led and designed recoveries. ATF USA has a thriving resiliency program called “Before the Fire” that is the lead agency for nearly $10M is state and federal grants for wildlands fuel mitigation programs. The mission of After the Fire USA is to help communities across the American West navigate wildfire disasters and build resiliency before the fire. Jennifer is nationally recognized as a leader in the space of wildfire and has presented at several national conferences on the issue by invitation of the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, HAC, Fannie Mae, Brownsfield, Smart Cities, FEMA, and many more. She is cofounder of CANVAS, an association of professional leaders in disaster working together to “listen locally, act regionally, reform nationally.” Jennifer is the creator and host of the “How to Disaster” podcast, which highlights proven and effective leaders with great ideas in the space of disaster. She is on the board of directors of La Luz Center, a nonprofit serving primarily the Latino community in Sonoma Valley.