THE CRISIS READY INSTITUTE BLOG

9/11: Remembering and Reflecting

Tomorrow is September 11th.

9/11/2001 is a day when the world changed. Thousands of people lost their lives, tens of thousands were directly impacted by that loss. Over the past twenty years, millions of people have had their lives changed as a result. The feelings evoked on this date are powerful and deeply personal for many. This post reflects my memories of that morning, and observations about what has been learned, or not learned, within the context of risk, crisis, and consequence management.

For those who find themselves in a dark place this weekend, know that you are not alone. We came together to respond to tragedy in 2001. Even in today’s polarized world we can stand together. Remember what was lost. And respect what has been sacrificed. I believe that one of the surest ways to express that respect is to learn from our experiences and apply that knowledge to better prepare for the potential tragedies of the future. It is in that spirit that I offer up this post.

– Aaron

On this date in history:

813 – Charles the Great crowns Louis I Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

1814 – the U.S. Navy defeats the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain

1946 – the first mobile, long-distance, car-to-car telephone conversation takes place

1965 – Beatles’ “Help!” album goes #1

1977 – Atari releases their 2600 console in North America

2001 – Terrorists hijack four passenger aircrafts, crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York City (American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175) and one into the Pentagon (American Airlines Flight 77). The third, United Airlines Flight 93, crashes into a Pennsylvania field after passengers and crew attempt to retake control.

I remember that morning.

I was on duty as the Chief Paramedic for a commercial ambulance provider in Rochester, New York, on September 11, 2001. It was a busy morning. I had already left my desk to cover calls. My partner and I were joining the triage line at Rochester General Hospital with an elderly patient when Flight 11 crashed into 1 WTC. There was a television in the E.D. waiting room that was showing one of the news networks. I remember hearing screams when the regular coverage was interrupted. The anchor cut to live footage of the smoking tower. I remember looking at my partner and telling her, “It’s early, but that’s going to be an ugly scene.” I called our dispatch center and told them to call in all our supervisors and start calling the off-duty crews to determine who would be available for deployment to New York City or to cover our commitments when the mutual-aid request came in.

We were still in the triage line when Flight 175 flew into 2 WTC. Five minutes later, my pager and cellphones were going off. The County was mobilizing all available resources. I pulled rank and jumped my patient to the front of the triage line. The E.D. staff were worried about what was going on in NYC, but they still had patients to care for. After another 15 minutes or so, I finally got my patient into a bed, and we headed back to the garage. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon as we were pulling out of the hospital parking lot.

2 WTC collapsed about five minutes after I got back to the ambulance base. The situation there was barely controlled chaos. On-duty crews were volunteering for the deployment. Off-duty crews were rolling in before being called. The supply and logistics team was putting together a push-pack of basic and advanced life support supplies and enough food, water, and personal hygiene supplies for the crews to be self-sufficient for up to a week.

On the leadership side, we were working to determine exactly what and how many resources we could send to NYC and still meet our commitments in Rochester. After some intense debate, we decided to err on the side of caution and only deploy four ALS crews and two supervisors. Four hours after the first plane hit 1 WTC, a caravan of Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement resources left Rochester on the five-hour drive to NYC.  I think they made it in three.

I stayed behind, minding the shop while the Owner and the Director of Operations went with our crews. We re-balanced our coverage plans and invoked the emergency clauses in our contracts to mitigate the impact of sending people and vehicles as part of the response. I don’t remember any pushback when I told people that our response times might be delayed because of the deployment.

Random people started coming to our building and walking up to crews posted around the region. Some had seen the news coverage of our ambulances heading to NYC. Others just wanted to show their support for first responders in general. Crews were telling stories about people buying them meals or bringing food and drinks to the rigs when they were on post. Everyone was talking about the FDNY losses, but they remembered that they also saw Ambulances on the television.

We ran short-staffed, burning overtime resources to cover for the crews who had deployed. Our call volume went up, primarily with mental health and substance abuse-related complaints. Everyone worried about what was going to happen next.  I spent my time planning on crew rotation through NYC because we did not know how long that mission would last.

2,713 Civilians

343 Firefighters of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)

8 On-Duty EMTs and Paramedics

3 Off-Duty or Volunteer EMTs

37 Police Officers of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department

23 Police Officers of the New York City Police Department (NYPD)

3 New York State Court Officers

1 Patrolman from the New York Fire Patrol

The deployed crews spent five days in NYC, primarily providing medical coverage around the WTC site as The Pile was combed for survivors and then remains. They treated human and K9 patients for cuts and scrapes, physical and emotional exhaustion, and breathing problems. They slept in their rigs, and eventually on the USNS Comfort, before being demobilized and coming home.

We welcomed them back, bought everyone a nice meal, and then fell back into our routine work and sleep patterns. More than a few of us lost some sleep thinking about what the new age of terrorism could look like and how we would adapt to the new now.

It has been 20 years.

A lot has changed.

Or has it?

I’m not going to talk about the geopolitical environment or the Global War on Terror that spun up in the days after the WTC and the Pentagon attacks. There are plenty of people out there who know significantly more about those topics than I do.

I am going to talk about some things that I do know about: Risk, Crisis, and Consequence.

Risk

In terms of risk, our awareness has evolved. We have a much better understanding of how interdependent and interconnected our world is. Discussions about extended risk are now commonplace, and we are learning about new risks associated with good intentions when it comes to managing risk.

Our ability to understand risk has also improved. We are moving away from the traditional, 2-dimensional risk matrix approach to much more nuanced techniques to think about risk as more than probability and consequence. We are considering associated and extrapolated risk, looking at how managing one element may complicate another or create new aspects of risk that were unexpected.

Generational risk is moving to the forefront. Considerations about long-term threats such as Climate Change and Inequity and Inequality (both socially and economically) are becoming commonplace.

Over the past 20 years, our understanding of, and in some cases our willingness to engage with risk has expanded and improved exponentially. In this context, I think we are in a better place.

Crisis

Where our engagement with risk has improved over time, I am not as confident about our efforts in crisis management. In terms of the art and science of crisis management, we have made gains like those associated with risk. We are embracing the collective nature of the modern world, applying advancements in both the hard and soft sciences to enable adaptation to our environment, and actively working to shape the concept of crisis management.

Where we have not done as well is our individual and collective readiness for crisis.

Crisis is uncomfortable. It means that something is not going as planned or expected. Someone has acted negligently, criminally, or maliciously. Technology or infrastructure has failed. Or maybe Mother Nature has reminded us that she is the ultimate serial killer. As a society, we do not like to think about these things. We retreat into our safe space of “it cannot happen here.”

Immediately following 9/11, we recognized the futility of that retreat and aggressively stepped forward in what was to be a new age of preparedness. Plans were reviewed and updated. Entire new government bureaucracies were created, there was massive investment in prevention, protection, and response capabilities for terror-related threats. These all reflected a loss of innocence. The ultimate failure of “it cannot happen here.”

In the years since we have become complacent.

I cannot tell you the number of times I have been told “Prevention and Protection worked. We don’t need to continue investing in anything else.” Even as the world reminded us that there are more threats out there than terrorism, we continued to allow our elected and appointed officials to find things other than readiness to spend our limited resources on.

There are pockets of capability and capacity for effective crisis management scattered across the world. Individuals and organizations continue to apply the lessons learned from 9/11 and every one of the hundreds (thousands?) of crises since. Unfortunately, for each one of those lessons learned, there are even more lessons that have been lost.

It seems like the most common response to efforts to enhance preparedness starts with an excuse. “It is too expensive.” “It is too disruptive.” “It is too hard.”

In terms of crisis management, the jury is still out. We have made significant improvements in understanding the what and the how. Still, we continue to focus readiness on what happened before, to the detriment of watching the horizon for what might come from over the next hill.

Consequence

In the years since the 9/11 attacks, we have gotten extremely good at consequence management. I’m not sure if that is a good thing because most of that growth has been the result of experiencing some truly horrific consequences.

We have recognized that our preparedness is not necessarily the best, so we emphasize flexibility in our ability to respond to and manage incidents and consequences. More and more organizations are focusing on developing capability and capacity that can be applied across multiple types of consequences, regardless of the triggering threat or hazard.

Nontraditional partners and organizations, such as environmental and occupational health and safety organizations, mental and emotional health professionals, and others, are playing a more prominent role in consequence management. We have learned that consequences include much, much more than what we can see or touch.

Continuity, both business and operational, is becoming a mainstream concept. If nothing else, the COVID-19 crisis has taught us the value of alternate facilities for work and the impacts of prolonged stress on critical infrastructure and supply chains.

With these lessons that we seem to be learning, we still have one lesson that seems to be lost almost every time. There is value in planning. In building relationships and understanding as we work together to figure out how an organization or community might deal with the consequences of an incident or crisis. But that value cannot move beyond an academic or theoretical level until we test those plans. It seems to me that most organizations are willing to let that testing wait for a real-world opportunity to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of a plan instead of investing in exercises that enable the same type of learning in a more controlled, safer environment.

The Bottom Line

A lot has changed since 9/11/01. Some of those changes have been positive, some not so much.  

For the most part, within the context of Risk, Crisis, and Consequence, I think we are in a better place than we were 20 years ago.

We have learned some hard lessons, paying for them in blood, sweat, and tears. Now we must continue working to rediscover the lessons that have been misplaced and see if we can reclaim that experience before we must learn them again. The hard way.

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    Paul Damaren

    Paul Damaren is the Global Director of Strategic Accounts for LRQA, a global Assurance Provider. Paul also holds the position of Chief Commercial Officer and Partner at StepUp Solution Services. Paul has worked as a Senior Executive in the Certification space for 10 years and has over 39 years’ experience in the Hospitality, Certification, Service, Retail agri-food and Technology sectors. Damaren is skilled in sales, marketing, certification, operations and software applications and he possesses an MBA from McGill University.

    Mr. Damaren has worked with many companies across multiple sectors in supporting their food safety, supply chain, health & wellness, front & back of house operations, brand protection, quality, environmental, health & safety, GMP/GDP compliance, automotive, aerospace, medical, information security and technology requirements.

    Paul was formerly a board member and Treasurer for the Ontario Food Protection Association (OFPA) and is a currently an Advisor & Council Member with The GW University School of Business and the Crisis Ready Institute.

    Before working in the Certification industry, Damaren was a professional Chef/consultant for 20+ years working in major hotel chains, restaurants, private golf courses and food service organizations. Further, Damaren was a member of the National Canadian Federation of Chefs and Cooks (C.F.C.C.) for 14 years, member of the Region of Waterloo Culinary Association (R.W.C.A.) for 14 years, President of R.W.C.A. (Region of Waterloo Culinary Association) for 3 years, special Events chairman - R.W.C.A. – 1998 – 2000 and National Culinary Ambassador to Russia for 5 years.

    Paul’s wealth of knowledge and experience across the span of our services supports his commitment to the ongoing success of our customers.

    As Executive Vice President and Managing Director in the BCW Public Affairs and Crisis practice, Licy drives healthcare and social impact policy and strategy, and helps shape strategic direction on diversity, inclusion and belonging for the firm and its clients across North America, in public and corporate affairs, government relations, communications, crisis and reputation management. Licy also leads the BCW Healthcare Team in Washington, D.C.

    An expert in public affairs, policy and diversity and inclusion, with over twenty five years of experience at the international, national, state and local levels across the nonprofit, philanthropic, corporate and government sectors, Licy is an accomplished, values-driven leader with unparalleled experience in developing and leading integrated public affairs campaigns combining strategic communications, public relations, political/legislative initiatives, policy, coalition building, grassroots efforts and advocacy.

    Before joining BCW, Licy built and lead a nationally recognized minority owned strategic public affairs and communications firm, served as Health Practice Chair and Principal at The Raben Group, was the Chief Executive Officer of The AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families, and managed and helped set the leadership direction for strategic policy, communications, and advocacy investments in executive and senior government affairs roles for the American Cancer Society and the nation’s Community Health Centers.

    Before joining the private sector, Licy was domestic policy advisor to U.S. Congressman Barney Frank and served in several capacities in the Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. During his extensive tenure in Washington, D.C., Licy has played a leading role in efforts to draft, shape and enact legislation and policy to improve the public health, health care safety net and the lives, livelihoods and well-being of the nation’s disadvantaged and underserved communities. 

    Licy also has worked with Moet Hennessey to drive diversity and inclusion on Wall Street and corporate America. He has partnered with Vice President Al Gore, senior government officials, scientists, NGOs and activists, on global climate change impact and sustainability across Africa. And he was appointed by Republican and Democrat governors to oversee the conservation, preservation and management of a prominent U.S. national historic landmark.

    Licy is a graduate of Duke University and holds a certificate in public health leadership in epidemic preparedness and management from the University of North Chapel Hill—School of Public Health and Kenan Flagler Business School, and is the recipient of multiple industry awards and citations for his leadership, policy and public affairs acumen, including being named to The Hill Newspaper list of most influential  leaders in Washington, D.C. consecutively over the last ten years. As a global citizen, Licy has lived in Turkey and Spain, and is fluent in Spanish and Cape Verdean Portuguese.

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    FOUNDER AND CEO, CRISIS READY INSTITUTE

    • Recognized globally as an expert, thought-leader and visionary in the field of crisis communication.
    • Has worked with global players, including NATO, the Pentagon (DoD), Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, financial firms, technology companies, healthcare organizations, cities and municipalities, law enforcement agencies, aviation organizations, global non-profits, etc.
    • Author of “Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World”—ranked amongst the leading crisis management books of all time and named as one of the top ten
      business books of 2018 by Forbes.
    • Creator of the Crisis Ready® Model–which is recognized and being taught as leading industry best practice in universities and higher education curriculums around the world,
      including at Harvard University.
    • Leading international keynote speaker on the subject and TEDx alumna.
    • Sat on the panel tasked with developing the International Standard for Crisis Management— ISO 22361, Guidelines for developing a strategic capability.
    • Sits on the Board of Directors for ZeroNow, a non-profit on a mission to bring school violence down to ZERO.
    • Sat on Police Professional Standards, Ethics and Image Committee for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
    • Founder of the Crisis Ready® Community.

    Build for a stronger tomorrow by strengthening your team’s skills in issue management, crisis management, and crisis communication.

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    Licy Do Canto

    Licy Do Canto, is a veteran of public policy, corporate strategy, health care communications and diversity and inclusion, is managing director of APCO Worldwide’s Washington D.C. office headquarters and mid-Atlantic region lead. Licy is also a Global Advisory Council (GAC) member here at the Crisis Ready Institute and a highly recognized African-American public affairs, lobbyist and communications strategist— recognized by TheHill newspaper for the 11th consecutive year as one of the most influential leaders in Washington, DC.

    As Executive Vice President and Managing Director in the BCW Public Affairs and Crisis practice, Licy drives healthcare and social impact policy and strategy, and helps shape strategic direction on diversity, inclusion and belonging for the firm and its clients across North America, in public and corporate affairs, government relations, communications, crisis and reputation management. Licy also leads the BCW Healthcare Team in Washington, D.C.

    An expert in public affairs, policy and diversity and inclusion, with over twenty five years of experience at the international, national, state and local levels across the nonprofit, philanthropic, corporate and government sectors, Licy is an accomplished, values-driven leader with unparalleled experience in developing and leading integrated public affairs campaigns combining strategic communications, public relations, political/legislative initiatives, policy, coalition building, grassroots efforts and advocacy.

    Before joining BCW, Licy built and lead a nationally recognized minority owned strategic public affairs and communications firm, served as Health Practice Chair and Principal at The Raben Group, was the Chief Executive Officer of The AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families, and managed and helped set the leadership direction for strategic policy, communications, and advocacy investments in executive and senior government affairs roles for the American Cancer Society and the nation’s Community Health Centers.

    Before joining the private sector, Licy was domestic policy advisor to U.S. Congressman Barney Frank and served in several capacities in the Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. During his extensive tenure in Washington, D.C., Licy has played a leading role in efforts to draft, shape and enact legislation and policy to improve the public health, health care safety net and the lives, livelihoods and well-being of the nation’s disadvantaged and underserved communities. 

    Licy also has worked with Moet Hennessey to drive diversity and inclusion on Wall Street and corporate America. He has partnered with Vice President Al Gore, senior government officials, scientists, NGOs and activists, on global climate change impact and sustainability across Africa. And he was appointed by Republican and Democrat governors to oversee the conservation, preservation and management of a prominent U.S. national historic landmark.

    Licy is a graduate of Duke University and holds a certificate in public health leadership in epidemic preparedness and management from the University of North Chapel Hill—School of Public Health and Kenan Flagler Business School, and is the recipient of multiple industry awards and citations for his leadership, policy and public affairs acumen, including being named to The Hill Newspaper list of most influential  leaders in Washington, D.C. consecutively over the last ten years. As a global citizen, Licy has lived in Turkey and Spain, and is fluent in Spanish and Cape Verdean Portuguese.

    Melissa Agnes

    Recognized globally as an expert, thought leader and visionary in the field of crisis communication, Melissa Agnes has worked with global players, including NATO, the Pentagon (DoD), Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, financial firms, technology companies, healthcare organizations, cities and municipalities, law enforcement agencies, aviation organizations, global non-profits, and many others.

    In 2020, Melissa founded Crisis Ready Institute, a public benefit corporation dedicated to teaching advanced crisis communication skills.

    She's currently passionate about providing dedicated support to crisis communication consultants. Through her programs, she’s focused on helping them strengthen their crisis communication skills and credibility in the market, and supporting them in growing and scaling their business. The work they do is important and she's passionate about helping them amplify the positive impact they have in the world.

    Her book, Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, is taught in dozens of universities around the world, including at Harvard University; is ranked amongst the leading crisis management books of all time, by Book Authority; and was named one of the top ten business books of 2018 by Forbes.

    Melissa is the creator of the Crisis Ready® Model, which is recognized and being taught as leading industry best practice in the fields of crisis management and crisis communication.

    As an in-demand international keynote speaker and a TEDx alumna, Melissa has traveled the world helping organizations and leaders further strengthen their crisis ready mindset, skills and capabilities.

    In 2019, Melissa founded the Crisis Ready® Community, a space for professionals to come together to support one another, collaborate and strengthen their crisis ready skills.

    Melissa sits on the Board of Directors for ZeroNow, a non-profit committed to ending harmful events in schools.

    She also sat on the Board of Trustees for D'Youville University for four years until the end of her term, where she also serves as a visiting scholar for the course she co-created and co-teaches on Crisis Leadership.

    Passionate about serving law enforcement and bridging the trust divide between agencies and the communities they serve, Melissa is a former member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). In 2021 she co-chaired a committee tasked with developing a strategy and plan of action to begin resolving the trust crisis in the U.S.

    In 2019 and 2020, Melissa sat on the panel tasked with developing the International Standard for Crisis Management— ISO 22361, Guidelines for developing a strategic capability.

    Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Melissa currently lives in New York City and enjoys weight-lifting, sailing, and exploring new cities, countries, and cultures.

    Erick Anez

    Erick Anez is the Global Head of Business Resilience at Finastra. Erick is a proven leader with well over a decade of experience leading change and transformation in the Operational Resilience field.

    His hands-on approach focuses on operational learning, culture, and reputational management. Erick holds a Bachelor of Emergency & Homeland Security, Graduate studies in Security and Disaster Management, is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), Certified Risk Management Professional (CRMP), graduate of the FEMA institute in Incident Management and Command, and is a respected member of Public-Private partnerships within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and  the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

    Some of his most notable achievements in the field include leading the private sector response to Hurricane Maria as well as working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Continuity of Operations (CCOP) projects for mission-critical facilities in the United States. Erick has also trained with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Infectious Disease Planning and community response, including Point of Dispensing initiatives.

    From 2016 to 2019, Erick held several roles at Crowley and, most recently, was the company’s Managing Director of Safety & Resilience. During this time, he was responsible for resilience operations supporting all business segments as well as leading the organization’s safety culture improvement journey. At Crowley, he led the Occupational Health & Safety, Business Continuity, and Crisis Management teams.

    Before joining Crowley, Erick held similar roles at Southwest Gas and Third Federal Savings & Loan.

    Aaron Marks

    Founder and Principal, One Thirty Nine Consulting
    Global Advisory Council Member, Crisis Ready® Institute

    Aaron Marks is the founder and principal of One Thirty Nine Consulting, providing services for small and large businesses in Risk, Crisis, and Consequence Management.

    Supporting both domestic and international clients, he provides operational and subject matter expertise in readiness and preparedness, crisis and incident management, and business and operational continuity for complex systems and organizations.

    Aaron has provided in-depth review, assessment, and analysis for technology, policy, and operational programs for clients in healthcare, critical manufacturing, and entertainment and hospitality, as well as for state, local, tribal, territorial, and federal governments in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He is a recognized authority on the application of nontraditional techniques and methodologies to meet the unique requirements of training, evaluation, and analytic games and exercise.

    Prior to entering the readiness and preparedness field, Aaron was the Director of Operations for a commercial ambulance and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider in western New York State where he participated in the integration of commercial EMS and medical transportation resources into the local Trauma System.

    During his 30-year career, Aaron has worked in almost every aspect of EMS except fleet services. This includes experience in Hazardous Materials and Tactical Medicine, provision of prehospital care in urban, suburban, rural, and frontier environments, and acting as a team leader for both ground and aeromedical Critical Care Transport Teams.

    Aaron is a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner and received a B.A. in Psychology from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and a master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus in Emergency Management from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. He is also a Nationally Registered Paramedic and currently practices as an Assistant Chief with the Amissville Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, Amissville Virginia.

    Chris Hsiung

    Chris is the 11th Police Chief of the Mountain View Police Department, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. For more than 25 years, he has served the Mountain View community, and as the department’s leader, is passionate about maintaining MVPD’s role as a progressive law enforcement organization in the 21st century.

    Chris is an internationally recognized speaker and columnist on the areas of crisis communications, critical incident management, leadership, and engagement with stakeholder groups. In his time with Mountain View PD, Chris has held a variety of investigative, tactical, and leadership roles, serving in every division in the organization. He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives in State and Local Government program and has a master’s degree in eBusiness Management from Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, CA.

    Chris also serves in several leadership positions on multiple boards, including as president on the Government Social Media Leadership Council and committee member on the IACP's Professional Standards, Ethics, and Image Committee. Previously, Chris served as a board member for the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center and two terms as a commissioner on the City of San Mateo Community Relations Commission.

    You can connect with him on Twitter @Chief_Hsiung or LinkedIn.

    Ashley Davis

    Ashley is a Brand and Marketing Strategist who partners with CEOs, executives and solopreneurs to grow their personal and professional brands. After spending over a decade working in strategic communications for multimillion dollar brands and startups, Ashley knows what truly drives conversations, builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their stakeholder groups and attracts strong strategic partnerships.

    Ashley has helped organizations and leaders increase employee awareness and overall understanding of the company vision. She has strong experience / knowledge of social media tools and techniques for driving awareness, reputation and brand—and is known for advancing a company's messaging in the marketplace by growing the following of now multiple multimillion dollar brands and startups.

    Ashley has served as the Editor of monthly all employee publications by managing the planning, writing and production. She is an integral part of new product launches and is frequently engaged to train entire sales teams along with channel / distribution partners on new product launches. In addition to her extensive experience, Ashley is a trained business coach.

    Ashley holds a BA in Global Business Management from the University of Phoenix.

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