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Crisis Ready IMPACT is your invitation to take your skills, your business, and your LEGACY to the next level. It's designed to uplift, inspire, support, and propel you forward.
✓ You’re passionate about helping your clients lead through change, challenge, controversy, and crisis. You’re lit up knowing that your unique skills make a positive impact on the world.
✓ You’re ready to level up your business, create a bigger IMPACT, and scale your growth to give you more of the life you desire.
✓ You find inspiration in a community of growth-minded, supportive professionals who share similar passions and goals, understand the nature of your work, and are committed to supporting each other and finding collaborative opportunities that are both fun and expansive.
✓ You’re tired of the “old” ways of doing business — the hustle, the grind, the endless hours — and you’re ready for a more soul-aligned way of working, expanding, and growing that feels fun, inspired, and truly aligns with both your purpose and the lifestyle you want to live.
We have a mission to create a crisis ready, crisis-resilient world. Helping you strengthen your expertise and supporting you in building your business is how we aim to accomplish this because the more you win, the more we all win.
We’re here to support your growth and help you continue to thrive. An IMPACT membership provides you with:
✓ Monthly group mastermind calls with hot seat opportunities to discuss the areas of impact that matter to you.
✓ Regular access to Crisis Ready® Experts through Slack Community.
✓ Resources for best practice strategies, tactics, and practices.
✓ 50% off all Crisis Ready Courses.
✓ 10% off all Crisis Ready Certifications.
✓ License to use Crisis Ready® intellectual property (IP) within your business and with your clients – don’t reinvent the wheel!
✓ Permission to put the Crisis Ready emblem on your website and in other marketing materials, demonstrating your wealth of knowledge and support, increasing your credibility in the market.
✓ Opportunities to submit articles to the Crisis Ready Blog for publication, helping to increase your visibility, credibility, and SEO rankings to your own website and brand.
✓ Support in identifying and attracting the right clients for your business (via group coaching calls with experts).
✓ Support in helping you (re)design a business model that allows you to scale as you grow, freeing up more of your time to live the life you desire (via group coaching calls with experts)
✓ Energetics coaching to help align yourself with the flow of affluence and abundance (via group coaching calls with experts).
✓ Money and wealth mastery discussions (via group coaching calls with experts).
✓ Once Crisis Ready Certified, the opportunity to be listed as one of CRI’s recommended Crisis Ready® Experts.
✓ Access to global network of experts via Slack Community.
✓ One 60-minute 1:1 onboarding call with Melissa Agnes to align and jumpstart your success.
✓ Collaboration opportunities — committees and working groups in the areas that interest and matter to you.
✓ Accountability pods with an intimate subgroup of IMPACT members.
✓ 1 in-person annual retreat.
🆇 You understand and have experience in crisis communication but you want to take those skills to the next level and haven’t found a good enough program to get you there.
🆇 You’ve been burning the candle at both ends and yet you’re still struggling to take your business to that next level.
🆇 The work you do is important but it can also be lonely. It’s hard for others to understand, which means that the weight on your shoulders can feel isolating and heavy.
☑️ To the top of your game! You have plans to become one of the best, most capable crisis communication consultants out there!
☑️ You’re ready to take your business to the next level—growing and scaling both your revenue and impact!
☑️ Having a community is important to you. Having an abundance of opportunities for connection, support, encouragement, and collaboration is a concept that both excites and inspires you!
If we don't yet know each other, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Melissa Agnes and I'm the founder of Crisis Ready Institute. I've been a crisis communication consultant for nearly 15 years and, over the span of my career, I've worked with governments, corporate organizations and non-profits around the world. I'm a best selling author, an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, a TEDx allum, and a globally recognized visionary in the field of crisis communication.
Over the span of my career, there are a few things that I've come to know for sure about this profession:
Gaining buy-in and support for the important work we do as crisis communication professionals is a constant challenge because it goes against human nature. It’s human nature for people to not want to look at what is uncomfortable to them—and the idea of a crisis is very uncomfortable!
That said, over the years I’ve managed to become very successful at selling Crisis Ready and I want to teach what I know to other consultants doing this great and challenging work.
As crisis communication professionals, we support our clients through some of the most trying moments of their professional careers.
In order to be successful, we have to constantly be at the top of our game, understanding the landscape that we’re navigating and showing up as our most empowered selves to help fear-stricken people (because crisis is scary) effectively lead when it matters most.
The more skills and support we have in doing this work, the more impact we can make as consultants and the more success and growth we can achieve. Meanwhile, finding true support in these areas has been nearly impossible… until now!
We live in a divided era where emotions run hot and high, media (both traditional and social) exacerbate both the emotions and the divisiveness, controversy is abundant, and people are inundated, fatigued, and apprehensive.
All of this adds to the challenges of our role. Having resources dedicated to helping us efficiently remain at the top of our game is invaluable in so many profound ways.
The life of an entrepreneur, especially a crisis communication entrepreneur, can feel daunting and isolated.
There aren’t many people who truly get what we do, the responsibilities on our shoulders, the way we care, or the constant challenges we face. Having a network of similarly-minded achievers who can relate to you, your work, and your mission can be a game-changer.
There’s a shift that’s occurring in our world and, while there are certainly challenges that come with these transformations, there are also incredible opportunities for expansion and growth.
I certainly want to be apart of those opportunities and it’s my goal to take as many crisis communication consultants along with me!
I believe that crisis communication consultants have a unique opportunity to positively IMPACT the world in incredible ways — ultimately leading to less destruction and less suffering. This is a big deal and the core reason why I do what I do.
Over the years, I've grown tired of going at it alone and so I designed a space where I could support others and, together, we could have the opportunity to scale our growth, scale our impact, and better our lives and the lives of those around us.
This is my "why" behind IMPACT. I want to create a truly crisis-resilient, Crisis Ready world and I want to do that by helping and support others in this line of work. If this speaks to you, I'd love to chat!
Are you ready to take the leap and accelerate the life you're creating and the impact you're making on the world? If so, apply to join the IMPACT Mastermind!
We live in an era where change and challenge is abundant and remaining at the cutting edge of this profession can be an all-consuming task. Meanwhile, your clients need and expect you to keep up with all the latest trends in risk management and crisis response. As the leading authority on Crisis Ready, we take this challenge on for you and create content, courses and, eventually certifications, that help keep you ahead of the curve.
This membership also provides you with the opportunity to use your affiliation with Crisis Ready Institute to increase your visibility and credibility within your market.
Crisis preparedness is not an easy sell. Over the years, our team has perfected strategies on how to pitch and sell these important services with increased rates of success. We’ve also developed models that enable consultants and small agency owners to scale their services and grow their business. Through this membership, you gain access to these strategies along with support in adopting them into your business model and bringing them to your clients and prospects.
We know how isolated and lonely this work can be. There aren’t many who can relate to what you do, how stressful and draining it can be, and how vitally important it is. Through this membership, not only will you have access to support from leading Crisis Ready Experts, but you’ll build your network of like-minded professionals who understand you and share similar goals.
Crisis Ready Institute practices a growth mindset and believes in abundance. This means that we continue to foster a space of inclusivity, collaboration, and support where we all get to win together.
If you have more than 1 consultant on your team who will benefit from this membership and from using the resources for/with your clients, please send an email to team@crisisreadyinstitute.com to discuss a special pricing model for your agency.
Absolutely! These courses will continue to grow and expand with the times and your needs. The goal is to continue to advance the status quo in our industry and provide you with the insight, skills, and foresight to remain at the forefront of your market and your clients’ needs. Eventually, these courses will grow into a Crisis Ready Certification that will be available to you.
In short, the answer is:
No, on the contrary. There are more benefits than there are risks. Especially due to the culture we foster.
What are we talking about?
Crisis Ready Institute believes in and operates with the mindset of abundance. This means that we know that there’s more than enough work to go around and, in fact, there’s such a need for more Crisis Ready leaders and organizations that the more of us who are out there working to achieve this, the better—the better for you, the better for us, the better for your family and community, the better for the world. For this reason, we don’t see “competition” in the traditional sense of the term.
Instead, we believe that we’re stronger together, and therefore, our culture advocates for collaboration and mutual support with a viewpoint of “when any one of us wins, we all win”.
We’re on a mission to create a crisis ready, crisis-resilient world. Helping you strengthen your expertise and supporting you in building your business is how we’re working towards accomplishing this mission. The more you win, the more we all win, and we’re here to support your growth and help you continue to thrive.
If you share in this mindset and belief, then come and join other like-minded leaders who are doing important work, just like you. Together, we have the opportunity to do some incredible things in this very chaotic world.
While this membership comes with a monthly live group coaching / AMA / hot seat session, Crisis Ready Institute also offers its members the opportunity to be coached individually by a Crisis Ready Expert. This opportunity is exclusive to our members. For more information on this opportunity, please click here to learn more.
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.
