On this edition of "Disaster Relief for America", hosts Tim Karney and Tom Moran interview Matt Morrison, the CEO of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWE...
ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW: On this edition of “Disaster Relief for America”, hosts Tim Karney and Tom Moran interview Matt Morrison, the CEO of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER).
GUEST BIOGRAPHY:Matt Morrison(courtesy of Disaster Resilience for America) Matt Morrison, CEO of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER), serves the public/private partnership established in 1991 by statute in the states of Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, and the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and the Yukon Territory, and manages the Pacific Northwest Center for Regional Disaster Resilience. His duties include coordinating all projects of PNWER and reporting to the governing board which includes legislative leadership of each state, province, and territory, governors and premiers, and private sector leaders. The mandate of PNWER is to enhance the economy of the region while maintaining the region’s natural environment. PNWER’s 18 working groups include trade & economic development, border issues, agriculture, tourism, transportation, energy, environment, arctic issues, and sustainable development. Improving the region’s cross border infrastructure and implementing pilots like the enhanced driver’s license for the 2010 Olympics has been a focus of PNWER. Mr. Morrison has been a leader in promoting innovation in the Canada – U.S. border region, and has been instrumental in several successful pilots of the Beyond the Border and Perimeter Security Action Plan. PNWER has encouraged both Ottawa and Washington, D.C. to consider the region a “cross-border pilot zone” because of the network of trusted relationships that have been built by the ongoing working groups that PNWER facilitates. Most recently, PNWER managed a project for the U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada focusing on protocols for rapidly responding to and recovering from disasters and emergencies on either side of the border, with a focus on maritime business resumption strategies in the Pacific Northwest. He also worked with leaders in Alaska, Yukon, and Northwest Territories to form PNWER’s Arctic Caucus which has held forums in Whitehorse, YT; Yellowknife, NWT; Barrow and Anchorage, AK.
