This year’s Presidential Forum reflects upon the American Meteorological Society (AMS) annual meeting theme, "Earth System Science in Service to Society" that provides participants a better understanding of living through extreme events. Our society continues to experience the effects of more and more extreme events like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and drought, some as a result of our changing climate and others as a result of our expanding population. The AMS needs to continue to address lessons learned, and more importantly, identify what future actions it will take to help mitigate the impact of these devastating life-changing events. To highlight this, we’ve invited an outstanding panel of speakers – Admiral Thad Allen, United States Coast Guard (ret), Executive Vice President Booz Allen Hamilton; Max Mayfield, Director, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Hurricane Center (ret); Dr. Kerry Emanuel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Dr. Shirley Laska, Professor Emerita, and founding past Director of the Center for Hazards Assessment, Response and Technology, University of New Orleans. Moderator Maureen McCann, News 13 Orlando, will lead a discussion of the panelists' personal experiences during Hurricane Katrina and Deepwater Horizon. The panel will also address AMS’s current activities that encompass research and forecasting of events and inspire our members to embrace a renewed sense of purpose as they direct our Society in the coming years.

As the 38th U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker is a key member of President Obama’s economic team, with 27 years of private sector experience. Before joining the Obama Administration, Pritzker founded and ran five different businesses in the real estate, hospitality, senior living, and financial services industries. Since taking office in June 2013, she has worked closely with the business community and helped advance the President’s priorities of expanding growth and opportunity for all Americans. Guided by conversations with more than 1,600 CEOs and business leaders, and over one-third of the Fortune 500 CEOs, Secretary Pritzker has developed the “Open for Business Agenda.” This bold strategic plan and policy blueprint for the Commerce Department focuses on expanding trade and investment, unleashing government data for economic benefit, spurring innovation, protecting the environment—and executing these priorities with operational excellence as careful stewards of taxpayer dollars. In a keynote address to the AMS Washington Forum, Secretary Pritzker announced that NOAA is forming new alliances to help bring its vast data resources to the public. Partnerships such as those with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, IBM, Google, and the Open Cloud Consortium help address the growing need for access to NOAA’s huge—and rapidly growing—environmental data resource. Secretary Pritzker earned her bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University. The informal discussion with Secretary Pritzker in this Presidential Town Hall will be moderated by NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan. For additional information, please contact Marni Goldberg mgoldberg@doc.gov.

Vilhelm Bjerknes initiated the era of modern meteorology around 1900 when he proposed that weather prediction be treated as an initial value problem of mathematical physics. In the subsequent development of dynamic meteorology, Nordic and American scientists have played key roles. Their scientific interaction produced results that form today’s theoretical basis for our understanding of the behavior of the atmosphere and numerical weather prediction. Dr. Eliassen (speaker) will highlight selected parts of this transatlantic interaction from a scientific but also personal perspective since he met many of these scientists in his youth, being the son of one of those who played a key role in this period. Dr. Eliassen will also present the development of atmospheric chemistry and its relationship with dynamic meteorology based on personal experience. Finally he will have a look at whether the general public has received its fair share of present-day, high-quality weather forecasting. For additional information, please contact Annie Reiser ann.m.reiser@noaa.gov.

The rapid growth of atmospheric, weather, and climate science applications in industry, finance, and the corporate sector opens a range of career opportunities for AMS members beyond the better known careers in academia and the federal government. In this Presidential Town Hall, weather enterprise leaders will share concepts, thoughts, and perspectives on how their industries operate and what skill sets they value. In addition, they will share thoughts on employment trends, changes, and areas of future growth. Whether you are a mid-career professional, freshly graduated, or looking for your next adventure, this discussion will raise your awareness of opportunities in our field, and the skills and competencies that employers are looking for. In the current ever-fluxing employment climate, when mid-career job changes are common and new directions and opportunities are emerging in our field, AMS is committed to supporting our members in bringing their skills to the service of society. Panelists: Heidi Centola, Manager of Business Development at Schneider Electric, Dr. Michael Farrar, Director, Meteorological Development Laboratory, and Dr. Kevin Petty, Chief Science Officer at Vaisala Moderator: Rebecca Haacker For additional information, please contact Scott Mackaro scott.mackaro@vaisala.com.