Powered by Crisis Ready® methodology—
taught at Harvard, trusted worldwide.
Crisis Ready® AI gives your team the clarity, speed, and confidence to communicate decisively before, during, and after any storm.
Watch a demo to see how leaders are reducing response times from hours to minutes, without sacrificing empathy or trust. Discover why leading communicators are calling this "the missing tool we've been waiting for."
Watch the demo here:
If you’re a communications, HR, or leadership professional, you’re carrying a weight that’s only getting heavier.
The world has changed. What used to be routine messaging now carries a real risk of public backlash, social escalation, or trust erosion.
You feel the cost of that pressure:
You're not alone. And you're not being dramatic.
The crisis response penalty (CRP)—the increased damage to people, operations, and revenue due to delayed or misaligned communication—has never been higher.
While most are scrambling to react, those who lead with emotional intelligence see what others miss:
People are desperate for connection, safety, and leadership they can trust.
Your stakeholders are waiting for leaders who will:
✓ Show up with presence and empathy, even under pressure
✓ Validate real emotions to create unity rather than division
✓ Guide through uncertainty with competence and care
✓ Create calm instead of amplifying fear
This moment isn’t just about surviving reputational risk. It’s about redefining how leadership looks in a world of emotional volatility.
Organizations that rise with emotional intelligence, clarity, and strategic communication won’t just weather the storm. They’ll become the trusted voice their people and industries rely on.
What if you had a Crisis Ready® Certified advisor available 24/7, trained in the methodology taught at Harvard and trusted by leading organizations like NATO, the Pentagon, and Google, ready to guide you through any high-stakes communication in real time?
When your team spends 12 hours crafting a statement that still misses the mark, but social media escalates in less than 2 hours, you don’t have time for trial and error. You need clarity, empathy, and decisiveness—fast.
Crisis Ready® AI delivers exactly that.
No prompt engineering. No AI expertise required.
Simply describe the scenario, and within minutes, receive:
✓ A targeted communication plan built around your stakeholders’ emotional realities
✓ Draft messaging with proven emotional intelligence frameworks baked in
✓ Anticipated Q&A and escalation scenarios
✓ Multi-channel content for web, social, and internal teams
✓ Guidance to help you regulate and lead calmly under pressure
Companies that mishandle high-stakes communication experience a 25–35% drop in stakeholder trust within months and spend up to 4× more on remediation.
Crisis Ready® AI helps prevent those losses, reducing response time by as much as 70% while strengthening credibility and emotional connection.
This isn’t another generic AI.
It’s the only platform specifically engineered for crisis and high-stakes communication, built on world-renowned Crisis Ready® methodology and powered by the most advanced AI models (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and more).
Accessible in all languages. Secure across networks. Ready when you are.
Here’s what makes Crisis Ready® AI completely different:
Crisis Ready® AI integrates leading emotional intelligence research and the Crisis Ready® frameworks proven to transform real-world crises.
✓ Recognizes and responds to over 85 distinct emotional states your stakeholders experience
✓ Guides you in responding to anger, grief, and fear authentically, building lasting trust
✓ Supports leaders in managing their own emotions, ensuring composure and authority under pressure
When you feel overwhelmed, uncertain, or afraid of “getting it wrong,” Crisis Ready® AI helps to ground you in clarity and confidence. The goal is to support you in leading with calm intelligence when everyone else is being reactive.
Generic AI gives you words. Crisis Ready® AI builds your expertise.
Included immediately:
✓ Strategic guidance rooted in Crisis Ready® methodology
✓ Contextual explanations of why each response works (provided within the bonus platform)
✓ Direct links to referenced frameworks and applied strategies
Founding members (available until November 30, 2025) also receive:
✓ Exclusive training sessions teaching the why behind every recommendation
✓ A two-year locked subscription rate
✓ Input into the next generation of competence-building features
You’re not just using AI. You’re developing genuine communication mastery.
✓ Taught at Harvard and universities worldwide
✓ Trusted by organizations including Google, NATO, the Pentagon, and Fortune 500’s
✓ Validated through real-world crisis leadership transformations
Now, this gold-standard methodology—previously exclusive to high-touch consulting—is instantly accessible, whenever and wherever you need it.
Crisis Ready® AI automatically selects the most advanced model for your situation (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and others), ensuring accuracy, personalization, and emotional resonance.
✓ Works seamlessly across devices
✓ Maintains strict EU and global data compliance
✓ Protects your sensitive communications with cutting-edge privacy safeguards
Crisis Ready® AI expands your capacity and strengthens your team’s consistency under pressure:
✓ Turn hours of drafting into minutes of editing—reducing response time by up to 70%
✓ Scale consistent, high-quality messaging across your entire organization
✓ Train your crisis or communications team in under 60 minutes with built-in learning
✓ Protect your brand from potential $ millions + in reputational damage per mishandled event
✓ Deliver composure, clarity, and care… at scale
When every message could shape your organization’s future, this is the tool that keeps you ready and ahead.
Whether you’re managing a full-blown crisis, navigating a controversial announcement, or preparing a major internal change, Crisis Ready® AI delivers the clarity and confidence you need in minutes—no prompt engineering required.
In today’s environment:
Crisis Ready® AI prevents that risk by guiding both strategic response and composed leadership presence in real-time.
Stakeholder Communication
Within seconds of describing your situation, you receive:
✓ Strategic Communication Plan: Tailored to your context, stakeholders, and outcomes using Crisis Ready® Formulas.
✓ Emotionally Intelligent Mesaging: Draft statements and content that validate emotions, build connection, and demonstrate authentic leadership.
✓ Real-Time Scenario Analysis: Distinct guidance for employees, media, customers, board members, and communities—all aligned in tone and values.
✓ Multi-Stakeholder Strategies: Distinct guidance for employees, media, customers, board members, and communities—all aligned in tone and values.
✓ Multi-Channel Delivery: Ready-to-use communications for internal, external, and digital platforms.
✓ Trust-Building Roadmaps: Frameworks that transform short-term crises into long-term credibility and brand resilience.
All available in multiple languages. Accessible on any device. Designed for speed, not stress.
Competence Development
Crisis Ready® AI isn’t just a support tool. It’s a learning system that accelerates your mastery.
Now and over time, this tool will provide:
✓ Proven Methodology: Every recommendation aligns with the world-renowned Crisis Ready® frameworks used at Harvard and by global leaders.
✓ Founding Member Training Access: Includes three recorded certification sessions plus learning modules that explain the “why” behind delivered responses.
✓ Growth Mapping: Identifies where advanced training will strengthen team capability.
✓ Member-Driven Innovation: Founding members influence future skill-building features and receive ongoing upgrades for the next two years—at no added cost.
Leader Support & Emotional Regulation
Even the most experienced communicators feel pressure during high-stakes moments. Crisis Ready® AI provides evidence-based support to help you lead from calm clarity.
✓ Validation and Emotional Clarity: Recognizes and normalizes stress responses using neuroscience-backed frameworks.
✓ Guided Emotional Regulation: Offers quick, research-based techniques to move from fear to composure within minutes.
✓ Integrated Meditative Tracks: Support cognitive reset and decision-focus when emotions run high.
✓ Strategic Reframing: Bridges emotional impact to stakeholder needs for authentic connection.
✓ Leadership Empowerment: Strengthens your strategic voice and helps you prepare concise cases for executive alignment and board confidence.
Scientific studies show emotionally regulated leaders make decisions 23% faster with 32% fewer post-event corrections.
No scheduling delays. No consultant queue. No prompt engineering.
Just the world’s most intelligent, emotionally aware communication partner—available whenever you need it.
Experience how Crisis Ready® AI empowers leaders to communicate with clarity, confidence, and calm, even in the most high-stakes situations.
✓ Live walkthrough of Crisis Ready® AI in action
Watch the demo here and see Crisis Ready® AI in action
Crisis Ready® AI was built for professionals who don’t just send messages; they shape trust in moments that matter most.
It’s for you if you:
✓ Feel the Weight of Responsibility
You carry your organization’s trust and reputation daily, and understand the stakes when emotions run high.
✓ Know There’s More to Learn
You know you’ve mastered the basics, but you sense there’s a deeper level of emotional intelligence and strategic capability that most training never reaches.
✓ Struggle with Leadership Buy-In
You see the long-term value of clear, empathetic communication and need data-driven support to make your business case with confidence.
✓ Navigate High-Stakes Communications Regularly
From controversial announcements to internal morale issues, you operate in moments where a single sentence can influence perception, culture, and loyalty.
✓ Crave Mastery, Not Shortcuts
You want tools that grow your competence — not shortcuts that flatten your strategy or your voice.
✓ Feel Overwhelmed by Current Tools
Generic AI can’t read tone, context, or emotion the way that high-stakes moments require. Crisis Ready® AI was designed specifically for complex human dynamics — integrating emotional intelligence with speed, precision, and trust.
Crisis Ready® AI isn’t for everyone. It’s for those committed to leading with purpose, empathy, and presence when the stakes are highest.
Important note:
Crisis Ready® AI is designed to amplify your expertise and extend your capacity, not replace your professional judgment.
The world needs skilled crisis communicators more than ever. That's why we've built both this AI platform for real-time support AND our Crisis Communication Certification for developing deep mastery. Together, they create something greater than either could alone: professionals with both the skills and the support to lead through any high-stakes moment with confidence and competence.
You might be thinking: “I already use tools like ChatGPT or Claude. Why invest in this?”
Here's the truth:
Generic AI platforms are intelligent, but they’re not emotionally intelligent. They weren’t designed for moments when every message could move markets, calm employees, or rebuild trust.
Crisis Ready® AI was.
Let's compare:
| Generic AI Tools (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) | Crisis Ready® AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ❌ Requires hours of prompt engineering | ✅ Zero prompt engineering needed — it already understands your needs |
| Crisis Communication Methodology | ❌ None — generic business outputs | ✅ Built on the proven Crisis Ready® methodology trusted by Harvard, NATO, and Fortune 500s |
| Emotional Intelligence | ❌ None — focuses only on word choice | ✅ Integrates deep emotional intelligence with strategies for over 80 emotional states |
| Leadership Support | ❌ Provides copy, not confidence | ✅ Guides your emotional regulation so you can lead with clarity and calm |
| Learning & Growth | ❌ Offers results but no reasoning | ✅ Access to additional learnings teach you the why behind the recommendations to build long-term competence |
| Anticipation | ❌ Responds only to your inputs | ✅ Anticipates stakeholder reactions and escalation patterns |
| Multi-AI Capability | ❌ One AI engine with limitations | ✅ Integrates Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini & others for optimal performance every time |
| Security & Compliance | ⚠️ Depends on the platform | ✅ Secure, encrypted, EU-compliant, and enterprise ready |
| Team Impact | ❌ Individual productivity only | ✅ Scales strategic communication across your entire team, without extra headcount |
In short:
Generic AI gives you words.
Crisis Ready® AI gives you strategy, composure, and leadership mastery — in real time.
This is the only AI that thinks, feels, and communicates like a Crisis Ready® advisor.
We founded Crisis Ready Institute because we saw extraordinary communication professionals — people like you — carrying the weight of impossible expectations.
Leaders tasked with protecting reputation, guiding teams through chaos, and preserving trust during the most emotionally charged era of modern history… often doing it without support, training, or recognition.
You already know there’s a better way.
You’ve sensed it: that emotional intelligence is the missing key between reaction and real leadership.
The challenge has been how to operationalize it when every decision feels urgent.
Crisis Ready® AI changes that.
For the first time, world-class crisis communication methodology — the same one that has been trusted by Harvard, NATO, and Fortune 500 organizations — is available to you 24/7.
It’s guidance for your message and support for your mindset.
You no longer have to carry it all alone.
You no longer have to guess what’s right.
You no longer have to choose between speed, composure, and strategic alignment.
Crisis Ready® AI meets you exactly where you are — and equips you to become the calm, confident, strategically aligned communicator your organization needs most.
Melissa Agnes
Founder and CEO, Crisis Ready Institute
Watch a demo and discover what's possible!
Experience the future of high-stakes communication.
See how Crisis Ready® AI empowers leaders to respond smarter, faster, and with empathy — in the moments that matter most.
Watch the demo here:
Crisis Ready® AI is a web-based tool that supports communication professionals in managing crises and other moments of high-stakes communication.
The tool helps teams respond faster and more effectively by automatically generating—within minutes—communication texts, a communication strategy, and a public sentiment assessment.
It also creates an Emotional Intelligence Response Plan and a Leadership Self-Awareness Tool, ensuring that both the technical and human dimensions of crisis response and critical communication are addressed.
This gives teams clarity and confidence under pressure. Crisis Ready® AI is fully aligned with the Crisis Ready Institute methodology and guides you step by step through the process—without requiring technical expertise or extensive preparation.
Crisis Ready® AI is specifically designed for crisis communication and high-stakes communication, and is built on a vast body of knowledge and experience in the field, including lessons learned from past crises.
While general AI tools like ChatGPT are broadly applicable, Crisis Ready® AI delivers highly targeted output that directly meets the needs of communication teams in the moment.
The tool not only generates texts, strategies, and public sentiment assessments but also structures the entire crisis communication process.
Through a clear dashboard, teams are guided step by step and receive the right information at the right time. As a result, the output of Crisis Ready® AI is far more specific, relevant, and immediately applicable in crisis and high-stakes situations.
Crisis Ready® AI is designed for communications and HR professionals who are called upon to navigate critical, high-stakes communication—whether that’s during a crisis, a controversial announcement, sensitive HR matters, or any situation where getting it wrong could damage trust, reputation, or relationships.
It doesn’t matter what role you hold or which department you serve. Crisis Ready® AI supports:
The platform is specifically built to help you respond faster, more consistently, and with greater confidence in any high-stakes moment—not just traditional “crisis” scenarios. Whether you’re managing external stakeholder emotions or internal team dynamics, Crisis Ready® AI provides the emotionally intelligent support you need to communicate with competence and care.
Crisis Ready® AI provides immediate support by generating the key elements a communication team needs under pressure: ready-to-use communication texts, a clear communication strategy, a public sentiment assessment, an Emotional Intelligence Response Plan, and a Leadership Self-Awareness Tool. This includes, for example, an initial press release or Q&A.
While crisis teams often take up to an hour to deliver their first messages, Crisis Ready® AI produces these texts and analyses within minutes. This enables teams to act faster, stay aligned, and communicate consistently across all channels, even in high-stress situations.
Not at all. Crisis Ready® AI brings the methodology to you. However, certified professionals receive special discounts, and using the AI will help you identify where certification could accelerate your mastery.
Absolutely. Crisis Ready® AI runs on secure, privacy-compliant infrastructure. We’re dedicated to maintaining the highest security standards.
Crisis Ready® AI is continuously improved and expanded upon. The tool is developed by Crisis Ready Institute and Compaijen C&C, two leading organizations in the field of crisis communication. We closely monitor the latest insights and developments in both crisis communication and AI and integrate them into the tool. Updates are implemented automatically, ensuring that users always have access to the most current features and best practices without requiring any extra work.
Crisis Ready® AI includes business case support that helps you make the strategic argument for investment. We also offer organizational licenses for teams. Schedule a demo call and we’ll help you build the business case together.
Yes, Crisis Ready® AI is particularly well suited for organizations with little experience in crisis communication or high-stakes communication. The tool guides communication teams step by step through the process and provides ready-to-use texts, strategies, and analyses. This gives less experienced teams immediate support and ensures they can still respond professionally and consistently in a crisis or high-stakes situation.
Crisis Ready® AI integrates multiple leading AI models (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and others) and intelligently selects the optimal technology for your specific situation. You don’t need to understand the technical details—the platform automatically chooses the best AI for each task. This gives you access to cutting-edge capabilities without vendor lock-in or technical complexity.
Yes. Crisis Ready® AI provides strategic guidance and draft communications in multiple languages, making it ideal for global organizations or those serving diverse communities.
The tool currently supports English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, and Ukrainian. In addition, new languages are regularly added, allowing organizations to reach more audiences directly without the need for extra translation work.
Consider what you’re getting: 24/7 access to Crisis Ready® methodology (normally requiring $10,000+ consultants), Harvard-taught frameworks, emotional intelligence integration, and multi-AI capabilities—all for $5,000/year. A single crisis mishandled can cost organizations millions in crisis response penalty (increased damage to reputation, revenue, operations, and stakeholder trust). Crisis Ready® AI helps you avoid that penalty while building capacity to handle multiple high-stakes situations throughout the year. It extends your team’s effectiveness without requiring additional headcount, delivering both immediate crisis support and long-term competence building.
As soon as you receive your login details (which can take up to 48 hours), you can start using Crisis Ready® AI right away. No installation or technical configuration is required. While organizations often spend significant time setting up and aligning processes, Crisis Ready® AI enables you to generate communication texts, strategies, and analyses almost immediately—saving valuable time when every minute counts.
An account for Crisis Ready® AI is created easily through a registration form. You enter basic information such as name, email address, and organization. You can also optionally add extra details, such as your organization’s tone of voice or specific characteristics. This information helps the tool generate even better outputs. That said, you are not required to provide this upfront. You can always add or update it later. Once your registration is processed, you’ll receive your login details by email and can start using the tool immediately, without any installation or technical steps.
Crisis Ready® AI complements consultant relationships by providing 24/7 support between engagements. Many consultants are using the platform themselves to enhance their client work.
No, you don’t need any extra software or separate accounts for AI models such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to use Crisis Ready® AI. Everything you need is built into the tool. You don’t have to arrange any additional subscriptions or integrations—this is fully taken care of for you. Simply log in through the web app and you can start right away.
Yes, Crisis Ready® AI is well suited for use during trainings and simulations. This allows your team to become familiar with the tool, making it easier to use effectively when a real crisis occurs. We therefore strongly recommend incorporating Crisis Ready® AI into trainings and exercises.
No. We strongly advise you to NOT enter sensitive information, such as personal data, into Crisis Ready® AI. To keep confidential information safe, limit the input to what is necessary for generating useful output. If you want to work with sensitive details, you can easily anonymize them—for example, by replacing names with initials, a letter, or a symbol. This ensures that your organization can use the tool effectively without exposing privacy-sensitive information.
Yes, Crisis Ready® AI is fully web-based and can be used anywhere in the world. This makes it especially valuable for companies and organizations that operate internationally. The tool can also retrieve geo-information from different parts of the world, ensuring that teams always have access to current and relevant context. In addition, the tool automatically detects which time zone you are in based on your geo-location and adjusts accordingly.
Yes, Crisis Ready® AI can adapt the output to your organization’s tone of voice. When creating an account, you can specify how your organization typically communicates. For example, if you use a formal and professional tone with your audiences, you can set that. If your style is more informal and personal, that’s possible too. This applies to different types of communication texts, such as Q&As, social media posts, and website messages. These preferences can always be added or adjusted later, ensuring the output continues to match your organization’s communication style.
No, there is no limit to the number of analyses or communication texts you can generate with Crisis Ready® AI. Users can deploy the tool as often as needed, both during real crises and in trainings or exercises. This gives teams the freedom to use the tool whenever required, without worrying about extra costs or restrictions.
Yes, Crisis Ready® AI is fully web-based and can be used on mobile devices such as phones and tablets. The tool automatically scales to your screen size, making it easy to use on mobile phones as well. This gives communication teams access to the tool anytime and anywhere, even when they are not at their laptop or in the office. It enables fast responses and consistent communication, even on the go or on-site during a crisis.
Yes, Crisis Ready® AI provides the option to keep an overview of all generated outputs. This makes it easy to evaluate afterwards which texts, strategies, and analyses were used during a crisis. It helps organizations learn from previous situations, identify areas for improvement, and refine their approach for future crises.
Yes, Crisis Ready® AI is designed to be used during large and prolonged crises. The tool supports communication teams not only in the initial acute phase but also in the days or weeks that follow, when consistency and continuity in communication remain crucial. During a crisis, you can add updates at any time, such as new factual information, and supplement the Public Sentiment Assessment. The tool can also search online sources for current input. Based on this, Crisis Ready® AI generates new texts and strategies that match the evolving phase of the crisis.
Crisis Ready® AI is intuitive and easy to use, so no training is required to get started. Users receive their login details and can begin right away. In addition, short instructional videos are available that walk you step by step through the main features.
No, you don’t need any knowledge of AI to work with Crisis Ready® AI. The tool is designed to be intuitive and easy to use. Everything runs through a clear interface, allowing communication professionals to get started right away without any technical background.
Annual subscriptions run for 12 months. However, if within the first 30 days you determine the platform isn’t delivering the value promised, contact us and we’ll work with you to ensure your success or provide a prorated refund.
We're hosting two live webinars where we'll share how Crisis Ready® AI transforms high-stakes communication into opportunities for authentic leadership.
In these live webinars, you will:
✓ See Crisis Ready® AI in action: Live demonstration using real crisis scenarios
✓ Learn the Crisis Ready® formulas and frameworks: Discover the methodology that transforms crisis communication
✓ Get your questions answered: Bring your specific challenges and situations
✓ Discover the complete ecosystem: How AI + Certification work together to build both skills and support
✓ Receive exclusive bonuses: We have gifts and bonuses for our founding members!
✓ Meet the team: Connect with the crisis communication and tech experts who built this platform
Space is intentionally limited to ensure everyone gets personalized attention.
Both webinars will be the same, we're just offering them at different times for your convenience.
Whether you’re an in-house professional, a crisis communication consultant, or an educator who teaches on the subject, the Crisis Ready Newsletter provides tailored content specifically for you.
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 we get this membership off the ground, we’re looking to our 2022 inaugural members to be a part of helping us strengthen and tailor this program to meet your needs.
This will involve regular communication with the Crisis Ready Team to provide feedback, share requests for additional ways to support you and your business, etc.
Each Crisis Ready Course is designed to help you strengthen your Crisis Ready® Expertise. Course subjects will include crisis communication, establishing governance, crisis leadership, storytelling for crisis comms, DEI integration, and more.
Each course is complete with:
If you:
... then you will benefit from Crisis Ready Institute's 1:1 coaching and support. This opportunity is retainer-based and is offered exclusively to our consultant and small agency members.
This offering provides personalized coaching and support in:
Monthly retainer*
Hours of support per month
$2,500 USD
Up to 5
$5,000 USD
Up to 10
* This is in addition to the annual membership fee.
Click below...
Have experts review your crisis comms program prior to the course
1:1 Consultation time with a member of the Crisis Ready Team, post the course (per hour)
We're excited to be sharing Sustained Resilience: Building Tomorrow's Leaders with you. Fill in the form below to gain access to demo this course. Once you fill in this form, we'll send you an email with further instructions.
Thank you for the honor of considering this important course for your curriculum. We look forward to sharing in the experience with you!
Between the demands of our social impact economy, the divisiveness of society and the many other challenges in front of us, embedding a crisis ready culture is more important than ever before. Having a team that is trained, poised, and empowered to effectively respond to risk, controversy and other threats, will strengthen stakeholder relationships and increase the brand equity of your organization. This is a powerful opportunity. The Crisis Ready® Coaching Program is specifically designed to equip your team with the tools needed today for launching into a stronger tomorrow.
From best practices around re-opening, to diversity and inclusion, to managing through the impacts that 2020 has left on your business, the Crisis Ready® Coaching Program is designed to support you through the challenges of today, in order to recover faster and stronger for an even better tomorrow.
COVID-19 continues to affect a great majority of professionals and businesses, leaving them blindsided by its impact and all the uncertainty that came with it. The Crisis Ready® Coaching Program provides you with access to a diverse group of experts, each with unique areas of insight, to help provide you and your team with strengthened foresight to better anticipate and plan for both the risks and opportunities that lay ahead of us all.
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.
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 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.
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 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 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.
Stay informed and at the forefront of your Crisis Ready Mindset, Skillset, and Capabilities. Subscribe to the Crisis Ready Newsletter.