Ana Visneski

Anastacia Visneski

That looks impossible, I want to try it. This has been my mantra since, well, always and it’s likely the reason I’ve become a go-to expert in all things crisis communications and crisis management — with a heavy dose of high visibility operations. My background consists of making huge changes to organizations that are resistant, even allergic, to change — finding that middle ground to get to the solution without anyone feeling completely left behind.

With over a decade of service in the US Coast Guard, I was a qualified Type 1 Public Information Officer, overseeing crisis communication responses for major disasters from Hurricane Katrina to the BP Oil Spill. I also proudly launched the first mobile app for the Coast Guard (now, that’s a story!).

I’ve literally written the book on unconventional leadership (coming soon!) and believe that if you plan for everything to be a crisis, then you can avoid things becoming a crisis.

As the Head of Global Disaster Response and the Head of Launch, Blog, and Podcast operations for Amazon Web Services, I built their Critical Event Protocol, a comprehensive crisis response plan including internal and external communication operations. Then as Principal for Global Disaster Response I oversaw the technical operations for applying AWS technology to disasters including Hurricane Dorian and the COVID19 pandemic, developing a comprehensive crisis management plan.

I currently teach Crisis Communications at my alma mater (I’m a triple Husky), the University of Washington in Seattle for the Communications Leadership Graduate School.

When I’m not finding new ways to apply technology to crises, I play video and tabletop games (Cult of the Lamb, Balder’s Gate 3, Pandemic) and also help design tabletop games (currently working on two). A soon to be published author, I’m writing the best picture book for grownups.

Additional certifications and qualifications include:

ICS and NIMS certified
Type 1 PIO
Defense Information School
AWS Cloud Certified

Work
- U.S. Coast Guard
Education
- AA, BA, MCDM, MCCN