W. David Stephenson bio
“You’re doing exceptionally important work, and have been one of the principal proponents of real networking for quite a long time.” — John Arquilla, co-author, Networks and Netwars.“User self-service and collective intelligence shouldn’t just be limited to consumer applications. This stuff has real utility for government disaster response.” — Tim O’Reilly (”father of Web 2.0″)
“David:.. thank you for your mentorship…. Please keep up the great work, and count us among your biggest fans.” — Brian Humphry, LA Fire Department Web 2.0 specialist
“I love the fact that … he’s using YouTube [referring to “21st-century disaster tips you won’t hear from officials“]. David is right on the money on using the technology that is available to people today.” — Tom Simpson, Strategic Solutions NW, former emergency manager, Multnomah County, OR
“Google ‘homeland security blog’ and security consultant W. David Stephenson’s site tops the list. If you like blogs that are updated nearly every day, Stephenson is your man, providing links and analysis of current homeland security topics.” — Chris Linquist, CIO.com
“W. David Stephenson is outlining a new approach to national security that is closer to a ‘new politics’ way of organizing a government service than anything I’ve seen,” Matt Stoller, Blogging of the President
W. David 
Stephenson — the “disaster guru techno-geek” as one fan called him — has the skills, creativity and flexibility needed to plan for and respond to these crises.
Stephenson is a leading homeland security, e-government (especially “transparent government“), and crisis management strategist and theorist. In addition to work for his own firm, he is a “subject matter expert” for the Homeland Security Institute, a participant in the Intitute for the Future’s “Open Source Warfare” project, and an on-call expert for James Lee Witt Associates, a leading disaster management firm.
He created the “Pandemic Flu Survival Guide” as well as the “Terrorist Survival” suite of programs that put all the information necessary to prepare for and/or respond to a terrorist attack in an easy-to-use data base for handheld devices. He is about to begin a project to update these data bases and make them available for free to the general public through a major non-profit organization.
Stephenson particularly concentrates on what he calls “networked homeland security” strategies that capitalize on the synergies between:
- the increasingly common and increasingly networked personal communication devices that we use daily (and will use in a crisis whether or not government wants us to)
- the growing body of scientific research about the power of social networks and the phenomenon of “emergent behavior,” in which groups, even ad hoc ones such as the Flight 93 passengers, are capable of a far higher level of collaborative behavior than could have been predicted from the capabilities of individuals.
He also demonstrates how Web 2.0 applications such as wikis and Google mashups foster this trend by encouraging collaboration and non-hierarchical organizations.
Stephenson also consults on:
- e-gov transformation
- community education and empowerment
- win-win collaborations between government and the private sector that provide both security and economic benefits
- bio-terrorism and pandemic preparation.
Stephenson is a frequent speaker on “outside-the-box” thinking at national and international homeland security conferences. He taught courses in security management and issues in technology and criminal justice in the Criminal Justice Department at UMass-Lowell, and before that, taught internet strategy in the continuing education program at Bentley College.
Stephenson’s expertise also includes organizational transformation through Web 2.0, corporate issue management, and new economic and environmental visions. His articles on homeland security, crisis management, new economic paradigms, and advanced technology have appeared in publications including Federal Computer Week, Government Computer News, Network World, The New York Times, Homeland Security Affairs journal, The Journal of Homeland Security, Tech Central Station, The Boston Globe, MassHighTech, Profit, Collaboration, and The Los Angeles Times. He previously wrote the “Future File” column for the MetroWest Daily News.
Before entering the homeland security field, Stephenson provided award-winning crisis management, community relations, and public relations and marketing services in the environmental and renewable energy/energy conservation fields. Stephenson created Web-based strategies for companies and organizations in the energy, health care, education, development and environmental fields.
Stephenson served on the boards of MassNet, 1000 Friends of Massachusetts, Urban Solar Energy Association, the Charles River Watershed Association, and the Massachusetts Residential Conservation Service. He drafted and won passage of the Massachusetts law requiring labeling of plastic packaging to encourage its recycling.
Stephenson began his career as an associate producer and writer of award-winning documentaries at WCVB-TV. He was speech writer, assistant press secretary and press secretary to former Governor Dukakis, and the Lahey Clinic’s communications director. He was vice-president and director of public affairs at one of New England’s largest public relations firms. Later, he was a director of strategy services at several leading web strategy and services firms.
Stephenson won awards for New England’s best campaigns of the year in public affairs, politics, and crisis management.
He earned a B.A. from America’s Finest Liberal Arts College, and a M.A. from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, where he was a University Fellow.
