Creativity in Homeland Security to Be Explored at the National Conference on the Creative Economy

Business Wire, August 14, 2007

FEMA Director and Coast Guard Leader Join Accomplished List of Speakers at the October 24-25 Conference in Fairfax County, Virginia

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. -- Deidre Lee, director of management and chief acquisition officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Vice Admiral Robert J. Papp, chief of staff of the U.S. Coast Guard, will speak at the 2007 National Conference on the Creative Economy, set for October 24-25 in Fairfax County.

Papp and Lee will headline a panel entitled "Creativity in Homeland Security." Lee was appointed FEMA director of management and chief acquisition officer in October 2006. Previously, Lee was assistant commissioner of integrated technology services in the General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service. She also served as director of defense procurement and acquisition policy at the Department of Defense.

Papp became Coast Guard chief of staff and commanding officer of Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, D.C., in April 2006. He oversees general management functions of the Coast Guard. Previously he was responsible for all Coast Guard missions on the Great Lakes.

The panel will be moderated by Stephen B. Wehrenberg, the Coast Guard's chief of human resource strategy and capability development. He also is director of Future Force, which is overhauling human resource systems and processes of the Coast Guard.

Sponsored in part by FORTUNE magazine, the conference (www.creativeeconomies.org) will examine the role that a creative workforce plays in the growth and success of businesses and communities. Participants will take home important strategies on:

* Attracting and retaining creative talent

* Creating a culture of creativity in the workplace to improve the bottom line

* Using diversity to promote creativity

* Harnessing the power of an aging workforce

* Improving communities and the economy through creative companies

The conference will feature compelling keynote speakers: Professor Richard Florida, author of "The Rise of the Creative Class;" Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Thomas L. Friedman, author of "The World is Flat;" and Alvin Toffler, author of "Future Shock."

Conference sponsors are the Fairfax County government, FORTUNE, the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, ICMA, The Push Group LLC, Siddall, SkillSource Group and the Washington Business Journal.