Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania and the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will be the featured speaker at the 22nd R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues at 10 a.m. Sept. 15. The Convocation in the Looney Complex is free and open to the public.
“There are few issues more critical than security and terrorism, and few people better equipped to speak to those issues than Tom Ridge,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president. “His long career of public service culminated in working to establish the Department of Homeland Security, so he is intimately familiar both with the practical nature of the threat that terrorism poses and the political forces that can impact our response to that threat. I’m really looking forward to hearing what he has to say.”
In addition to the Convocation, Ridge will be the guest of honor at the annual Convocation Luncheon at noon Sept. 15 in the Fulkerson Center.
Ridge is currently president and CEO of Ridge Global. As the company’s chief executive, he leads a team of international experts who helps businesses and governments address a range of needs throughout their organizations, including risk management, global trade security, emergency preparedness and response, strategic growth, infrastructure protection, technology integration, crisis management and other issues that encompass a diverse portfolio. He also serves as a partner at Ridge-Schmidt Cyber, a cybersecurity firm, founded with former White House Cybersecurity Advisor Howard A. Schmidt.
Ridge became the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the 15th cabinet department, in 2003.
In that role, Ridge worked with more than 180,000 employees from a combined 22 agencies to create an agency that facilitated the flow of people and goods, instituted layered security at air, land and seaports, developed a unified national response and recovery plan, protected critical infrastructure, integrated new technology and improved information sharing worldwide. He served as secretary until 2005.
Ridge was twice elected governor of Pennsylvania and served from 1995 to 2001. He was also elected to Congress in 1982 and re-elected five times.