Hearts and Minds

Jeff Kulawiak took this photo of the team at the American Heart Walk: on the left in the fuschia jacket is Lauren Graf. Joseph Magd and his mother Orchid are in the center of the photo. Tracey Graham and myself are wearing the WaMu shirts. About 10,000 people walked last Saturday to raise money and awareness for heart disease and stroke research.

Below, a photo from the Coronado conference held earlier in the week, where I led a panel on interweaving public and private sector pandemic plans.

The theme of the conference was "When Failure is not an Option." Here I am with Apollo 13 lunar module pilot, Fred W. Haise, who offered the keynote address. You may not remember the story of Apollo 13: despite constraints on power, cabin heat, and potable water in the main module, the crew used the lunar module as its "lifeboat" in space, deactivating the command module to preserve its ability to return to earth, while the ground crew literally created a means to get them home -- an ultimate expression of a business continuity plan. My pandemic flu readiness panel followed Mr. Haise, as lively and unscripted as I hoped. Six panelists, each a leader in his sector, represent the best minds focused on catastrophic planning.