BEC Remarks (Jon Porter, BEC Chair with SCM preview)

The Board on Enterprise Communication’s (BEC) primary purpose is to facilitate open, inclusive discussions amongst the government, academic and private sectors on pressing issues facing the weather, water and climate enterprise. The BEC operates on the assumption that open, thoughtful communication can assist in identifying appropriate roles for the public, private and academic sectors and assist in developing partnerships and collaborations as appropriate. The BEC, in conjunction with AMS leadership, also can pursue communications with federal decision makers by providing information on the weather, water, and climate enterprise.

The board operates on the assumption that open, thoughtful communication can assist in identifying appropriate roles for the public, private and academic sectors and assist in developing partnerships and collaboration as appropriate. The board further believes that agreed external communications managed in coordination with the CWWCE Commissioner to the public and decision makers is appropriate and helpful in strengthening the role of the weather, water and climate enterprise to benefit society.

• The BEC organizes and plans the content for the AMS Summer Community Meeting, accepting input and suggestions from all sources. The BEC may reach out to the full AMS community for volunteers to work on the Summer Community Meeting. The BEC may suggest venues for the AMS Summer Community Meeting, with the final decision to be made by the AMS staff. The BEC may also suggest dates, with input from the CWWCE’s Executive Committee and AMS staff.
• The BEC will organize, in coordination with the AMS Policy Program, efforts to educate public policy decision makers on the importance of the public, private and academic sectors within the AMS.
• The BEC will organize appropriate venues that will serve to bring together the meteorological community to learn about, discuss, and provide input concerning issues of interest to the community. Venues may take a wide variety of formats, including workshops, web casts, special symposia, and conference sessions, depending on the nature and time-sensitivity of the topic to be discussed.
• The BEC will also conduct outreach activities to help identify user needs and promote the capabilities of the meteorological community.

Jonathan Porter BEC Chair – Bio

Jonathan Porter is AccuWeather’s Vice President of Business Services and General Manager of Enterprise Solutions. In this key leadership role, Jon directs all aspects of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions’ continued global expansion across all industries, including retail, transportation, manufacturing, entertainment, financial, energy, emergency management, and many others. He is committed to delivering the most accurate, actionable weather data, forecasts, and intelligence to help business clients worldwide save lives, protect property, minimize risk, and drive revenue.

AccuWeather, with global headquarters in State College, Pennsylvania, now reaches over 1.5 billion people worldwide through smart phones, tablets, wired and mobile Internet sites, radio, television, newspapers, digital signage and the AccuWeather Network cable channel. Further, AccuWeather serves more than half of Fortune 500 companies as well as thousands of other businesses worldwide including such well respected brands as Amazon, Disney, Google, LG, Microsoft and Samsung. Recognized as the most accurate source of highly localized weather forecasts and warnings everywhere in the world with proven Superior Accuracy^TM, AccuWeather has saved tens of thousands of lives and prevented tens of billions of dollars in property losses.

In his previous role as Vice President of Innovation and Development, Jon used his background in both meteorology and information technology to collaborate with the world’s leading government meteorological services and other key data providers to acquire top-tier weather information and content to integrate the most advanced weather data and technologies into AccuWeather’s products and services. Under Jon’s leadership, AccuWeather has also greatly expanded its forecast capabilities with the introduction of innovative products such as MinuteCast and unique map displays, including real-time weather radar from around the world. In his new role, Jon will continue to strategically direct partnerships with the global weather community.

Jon Porter joined AccuWeather in 2004, after graduating with high distinction from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Meteorology and minor in Information Technology. For several years, Jon was a software engineer on a dedicated team, writing software to quickly and accurately process weather content through AccuWeather’s Enterprise IT Architecture. After serving as a Technical Account Manager, working directly with top global digital media partners to help them integrate data and content with their products, Jon was named Director of Innovation and Development in 2012 and promoted to Vice President of Innovation and Development in 2015. He is also a broadcast meteorologist and has discussed the impacts of extreme weather on variety of network broadcasts as well as on AccuWeather.com and the AccuWeather Television Network.

Jon is an active and well known Professional Member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He has served on several AMS committees and working groups over the years and most recently was appointed as the incoming Chair of the Board on Enterprise Communication (BEC) for the AMS. He is also the chair of the AMS Ad-Hoc Radio Frequency Allocation Working Group and since 2012 has been appointed to the AMS Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting. Jon was appointed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Information Services Working Group (EISWG) in December 2016. He also serves on an alumni committee for Penn State’s Department of Meteorology, and frequently delivers presentations on the exchange of weather data and warnings at conferences and professional meetings around the world.