Monday, August 10 at 2:00 pm
Speaking in Maine returns to The College of the Atlantic’s Champlain Institute which is holding its sessions in a virtual environment. This year the Champlain Institute is exploring the future of US diplomacy, climate change policy, income inequality, national security, the Second Amendment, the Supreme Court, coronavirus, and other issues that will be critical national topics leading up to the presidential elections in November.
COVID-19 is the latest disaster to challenge the US government, US businesses, and the lives of every American. National threats and emergencies range from climate change, cyber threats, and terrorism to natural disasters and pandemics. How well does the US government prioritize and prepare for these risks and how well do they respond when there is an emergency? What role and responsibilities do state and local governments and the private sector have in preparing for these challenges?
These topics will be the focus of discussion between Nathaniel Fogg, former Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Counselor to the Administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Nick Dowling, Founder and CEO of IDS International, a firm that helps the US government handle complex national security challenges ranging from cyber warfare to COVID-19.
Introduced by: Arthur Martinez
Nathaniel Fogg:
Nathaniel Fogg is a private investor and trusted advisor in the defense and government services market with over 20 years of relevant experience. He has led over 50 engagements with corporate and private equity clients with 25 successfully closed deals totaling $5B in enterprise value.
Most recently, Fogg was an advisor to A&M Capital Partners and subsequently SVP for mergers & acquisitions and Corporate Development at Centerra Group, a portfolio company of A&M Capital, which was acquired by Apollo in April of 2017. Prior to joining Centerra, Fogg was a partner and founding member of the Chertoff Group, a boutique advisory and M&A firm specializing in national security markets. He also served at the Department of Homeland Security in the Bush 43 administration as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer at FEMA, helping to restore the agency’s reputation and image in a post-Hurricane Katrina environment.
Fogg began his career as an officer in the US Navy, serving on various ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets as a surface warfare officer. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA from Yale University. Fogg remains a senior advisor to the Chertoff Group and resides in Palm Beach, Florida.
Nick Dowling:
Over the past two decades, Nick Dowling’s career has focused on stability operations and interagency coordination in both the public and private sectors. In his government service, Dowling worked to end the Balkan wars. He was Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), where he coordinated Bosnia and Kosovo policy. Dowling has also worked as a defense fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as a senior fellow at the National Defense University, and as a policy advisor for two presidential campaigns and a US Senate campaign.
Over the past fifteen years, Dowling has been the CEO of IDS International, a firm that helps the US government handle conflict and complexity in the 21st century. IDS trains and supports US military and diplomatic efforts around the world on issues ranging from cyber warfare to security assistance.
Arthur Martinez:
Arthur C. Martinez is retired chairman, president, and CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company. Previously, Martinez was the vice chairman of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City and a member of that company’s board of directors, group chief executive for the retail division of BATUS, Inc. and a member of the BATUS board, and held several positions with Saks, including executive vice president for administration, senior vice president, and CFO. He also served as executive chairman of Abercrombie & Fitch, as non-executive chairman of HSNi, Inc., and as a member of the supervisory board and chairman of ABN AMRO Holding, N.V.
Martinez received a BS from Polytechnic University and an MBA from Harvard University, and is the 1999 recipient of Harvard’s Alumni Achievement Award, the school’s highest honor. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Notre Dame in 1997 and an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Polytechnic University in 2008. He has received many awards throughout his career, including CEO of the Year in 1996 by Financial World magazine, Business Statesman of the Year in 1997 by the Harvard Business School Club of Chicago and in 1998, he received the National Retail Federation’s Gold Medal for Excellence in Retailing.
He is currently a trustee of The Maine Coast Heritage Trust and the Norton Museum of Art, and serves as chairman of the board of trustees of Greenwich Hospital, and is a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Northwestern University. He is the author of The Hard Road to the Softer Side (2001).
Source: College of the Atlantic – Champlain Institute
Music by Our Alarm Clock