Jono is the Executive Director of the Kennebunkport Climate Initiative (KCI), a nonpartisan organization that inspires to educate, empower, and active 10 million youth around climate action by 2025. He joined the after a long tenure as both a Red Cross, where he started as a youth volunteer in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska. Most recently, Jono served as the Head of Disaster and Crisis, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for the Americas and Caribbean region, based in Panama, Panama and also served as the Vice President of International Services at the American Red Cross based out of Washington, DC. Jono’s hundreds of national and international disaster assignments with the American Red Cross, IFRC, and ICRC have led him to serve in places such as Mexico, Belize, Suriname, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Liberia, and Haiti, to include being detailed to the United States Agency on International Development (USAID) during the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and assigned to their Response Management Team to lead the agencies donations management activity. Jono served as the Advocacy Committee chair for the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD) from 2012-2015. Jono graduated from Creighton University with a BA in Political Science, the University of Nebraska with an MS in Economics, a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Nebraska, and the Harvard School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, and has earned the International Association of Emergency Management Certified Emergency Manager (CEM®) credential.
“CERF+ is filling a critical mission space for both preparing artists before a disaster strikes, as well as ensuring a safety net is visible for artists impacted by disasters. Time and time again, I have seen firsthand how disaster impacted artists struggle, like many nonartists, to navigate the complex disaster assistance ecosystem. With the impacts of climate change having more negative impacts on vulnerable communities, the role of CERF+ is even more important.” – Jono Anzalone