For the second year in a row, US GDP estimates are being revised downward due to harsh winter weather in the North East. Record snow falls and bitter cold are casualties of the Polar Vortex of low pressure weather systems that bring Arctic air down across the eastern United States. Meteorologists say this seasonal phenomenon is the result of warming water in the Pacific that has changed historic weather patterns and may continue for several more years.

But these changes don't have to hurt business and regional growth. Using new Open Weather Data provided by NOAA, and advanced risk calculation and planning tools, organizations can improve forecasting, prevention, and remediation. We can and must integrate weather planning into business processes and policy planning. This is where Open Data can have a demonstrable impact on GDP growth and human life by reducing seasonal weather impacts.

Please join us as we explore the issues, challenges, and solutions with our outstanding speakers and panel:

David Kenny is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Weather Company (Weather). An experienced executive with a strong record in the media and digital industries, Kenny oversees the company’s valuable portfolio of consumer and business-to-business weather brands and businesses including The Weather Channel, weather.com, wunderground.com and WSI. Kenny assumed this role in January 2012 after serving as president of Akamai, the leading cloud platform designed to help enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences to mobile and fixed Internet users.

Dave Jones is CEO, President, and Founder of StormCenter Communications, Inc. Dave Jones combines years of experience in meteorology, broadcasting, and remote sensing with a vision for the future in leading the way to transform the television weathercast into an Envirocast®. Dave has been described by NASA as an "Applications Futurist" with his ability to identify future earth science applications that can address national and local priorities. Dave is leading StormCenter Communications, Inc. to provide critical environmental information and visuals to the media, government agencies and decision-makers and the public.

Zach Goldstein, is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Chief Information Officer and Director, High Performance Computing and Communications. In this position, he is responsible for implementing statutory requirements regarding the acquisition, management, and use of NOAA's information and information technology resources, to include NOAA's high performance computing and communications infrastructure. Mr. Goldstein is also responsible for NOAA’s Homeland Security Program to ensure business continuity in event of a terrorist attack, major disaster, or other emergency.

Professor Brant Houston holds the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting and teaches investigative and advanced reporting in the Department of Journalism in the College of Media at Illinois. Houston also is the author of four editions of the textbook, "Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide," and co-author of the fourth edition and fifth edition of "The Investigative Reporter's Handbook." Currently he is working on projects involving nonprofit journalism, ethnic media newsrooms, and new technologies for news-gathering.

Agenda:

Introduction: Steven Adler, IBM Open Governance Council

1. The Business of Weather Data: David Kenny, CEO, The Weather Channel

2. Integrating Weather Data into GIS: Dave Jones, CEO, StormCenter

3. The Future of Open Weather Data, Zach Goldstein, NOAA CIO

4. Interactive Q&A Moderated by Professor Brant Houston

Steven Adler 

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Weathering the Future: Forecasting Economic Risk

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Weathering the Future: Forecasting Economic Risk

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