Synopsis: Gulf coast residents are familiar with the phrase, "The start of hurricane season" and “It only takes one to hurt you.” Our chapter tradition is for our longtime friends at StormGeo to provide us with a tailored look at what they think will happen in the Gulf and Atlantic waters each year. We will welcome Derek Ortt from StormGeo on May 10th to present the 2022 hurricane forecast, why the threat is more than what we recall from the last event, and how to share this information within our organizations. We will encourage all members to share how they have leveraged the StormGeo material to the benefit their organizations and personal readiness over the years.

Member Spotlight: Our very own chapter President, Chuck Russell!

Speaker: Derek Ortt with Stormgeo

Derek Ortt is the business continuity manager and senior tropical meteorologist at StormGeo, joining in June 2010. Prior to joining StormGeo, Derek earned both a B.S. in meteorology and applied mathematics and a Master of Science degree in meteorology from the University of Miami. While in Miami, Derek also forecast for the Hurricane Rainband and Intensity Experiment, providing daily forecasts so research missions into Hurricanes Katrina, Ophelia, and Rita could be conducted during the busy 2005 hurricane season. Derek also blogged for the Pensacola News Journal, keeping readers up to date on threats to the Pensacola area.

Since joining StormGeo, Derek has continued to forecast hurricanes. In addition, he has prepared and conducted hurricane drills and to help clients test and evaluate their response plans and provided seasonal outlooks. In February of 2022, Derek became the Business Continuity Manager at StormGeo. In this role, Derek is responsible for StormGeo's own business continuity plans, as well as helping clients integrate their response plans with StormGeo products, such as the StormGeo timeline trigger report which objectively indicates to the client what stage of their response plan they should be in at a given time.