The future of innovation

The American Red Cross is one of the most well known charities in the whole of the United States and is immeasurable in helping thousands of people in hundreds of disasters. Steve Cooper the Senior Vice President and CIO for the American Red Cross talks to EHM’s Rebecca Goozee about his past, present and future.

Starting his professional career in Washington, D.C. on the heels of graduate work for a consulting firm, Steve Cooper, Senior Vice President and CIO for the American Red Cross, smiles at the memories it brings back, “I thought I knew everything about everything and wanted to let everyone know what I knew - fortunately I had some good mentors and they helped me figure out that I didn’t know as much as I thought!” This led to a decision to go into the corporate world and was how he ended up in the pharmaceutical firm, Eli Lilly. He spent seven years at Lilly getting his healthcare education before being recruited to join Corning Incorporated.

After the unfortunate events of 9/11, Cooper was very upset and after networking with colleagues to explore supporting government efforts, he spent a year in the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Senior Director for Information Integration in the White House Office of Homeland Security. Cooper was subsequently appointed to be the first Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Following the initial stand up of the Department, and Tom Ridge’s departure as Secretary of DHS, Cooper joined the American Red Cross - 60 days before hurricane Katrina, where he weathered the storm both literally and figuratively. His current role as Senior Vice President and CIO means he has responsibility for all American Red Cross information technology assets – the people, the equipment, the hardware, the software, the infrastructure – as well as advising the CEO and the board of governors on all matters relating to information technology.

Past to present

Asked about the differences and similarities of working for the Department of Homeland Security and the American Red Cross, Cooper states, “One thing I could carry forward from the Department of Homeland Security is the importance of the message and the mission, and that is what I have found really similar at the American Red Cross.” Cooper goes on to point out some differences between the two roles. One major difference is a law for all federal agencies that mandates they follow a framework for IT initiatives and projects which is the total opposite from a non-governmental organization like the American Red Cross. Another difference to consider is that since the organization is not a government agency no appropriations are received from Congress meaning the American Red Cross is dependant upon the people’s generosity for much of its financial support.

Emerging technologies

Emerging technologies constantly affect an array of businesses and organizations. Cooper points to blood banking when explaining how the American Red Cross is using new technology. Blood collection is done frequently by van or ‘blood-mobile’ which means that mobile technology has to be available to capture information. Every blood donor has to be compared to the National Deferred Donor List, which keeps a record of people who are not eligible to give blood. People who have visited a malaria-infested country in the past year, for example, are among those not eligible to donate. The American Red Cross is exploring the use of satellite and wireless technologies, so it no longer has to rely on a CD-Rom carried with each van, and can instead access real time data. Cooper also highlights the enhanced use of international bar coding standards as a way the American Red Cross is leveraging new technologies, and he believes that it will improve the safety and reliability of the labeling of blood products.

On the disaster side of the American Red Cross, telecommunications technology is being improved all the time. “Most of the critical infrastructure within states along the Gulf Coast was impacted by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and then Wilma which meant the loss of telecommunications infrastructure – phone systems went out, towers went down and our ability to rapidly deploy telecommunications technology became very critical.” Cooper goes on to explain that the American Red Cross recently began an even closer working relationship with communications and satellite service providers to enable them to use “hastily deployed networks”. These basic networks are deployed in transportable, hardened cases containing a mobile server preloaded with Red Cross disaster management software, satellite transmitters and receivers. The wireless technology enables rapid and effective communication with disaster team members in the field during the loss of normal communications and cellular infrastructure.

Cooper also mentions the importance of cell phones or PDA devices that have the ability to connect to the internet allowing users to download maps and other software. When combined with GPS technology, disaster teams can navigate the difficult terrains associated with disaster to bring supplies and assistance to shelters or needy communities. “It is a pretty exciting advance where we are working with many technology providers to improve some mapping applications, adding overlays to basic maps to find medical facilities, police stations, fire stations and so on. We can therefore provide more and more electronic information to our disaster volunteers and staff. We are taking advantage of new technology for sure.”

Innovation

Cooper defines innovation in two ways. The first is something ‘new’, the second is applying existing technology that may not have been used at the American Red Cross before. “We bring new ways to apply existing technologies to our business problems and deliver solutions.”

Cooper believes that the disaster response side of the American Red Cross is in most need of innovation after completing an extensive lessons learned review. He says that although they did a marvelous job of helping more than 4.1 million individuals, “we realized that our disaster response capacity needed to be improved. Since Katrina, we have leveraged information technologies to significantly increase the capacity and capability of our Client Assistance System to provide services to those affected by disasters.” He also points to blood manufacturing and product delivery as areas that are being enhanced through the adoption of technology.

In terms of advice, Cooper suggests that other organizations, “make certain that the lines of business and the business itself is involved from the beginning in any ideas or discussions regarding the use of new technology or innovation.” He also recommends leaving room for mistakes. “What we learned, particularly with the adoption or the use of innovative applications of existing technologies, was that the first time we introduced anything new into the Red Cross it isn’t going to work exactly as you think it will work.”

Identity management

Cooper has previously mentioned identity management as a problem that the American Red Cross desperately want to solve. There are two issues around identity management that are important to Cooper. The first concerns log on IDs and passwords for the 35,000 paid staff and one million volunteers. The second is about background checks. When a disaster happens volunteers show up, some are certified, trained and equipped with a Red Cross ID card and others aren’t. “We need to ensure that those working on behalf of the Red Cross have been screened and trained to do the jobs we assign them to do, and don’t have improper or criminal histories.” Cooper goes on to say the American Red Cross is working with the Emergency Responder Community in order to figure out a way to identify people and provide them with credentials, both staff and volunteers, so Red Crossers can be verified and put to work immediately.

Hurricane Katrina

It has been more than 18 months since hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and wreaked devastation across the city. Cooper returned from a trip to New Orleans about a month ago and says, “There are parts that were badly damaged by hurricane Katrina and with the exception of the water being gone it doesn’t look like anything has been touched. Homes are total shambles and in disarray. New Orleans should be in a better state than it is.” Cooper also mentions the amount of good work that has happened in other parts of the city where communities are back up and running, although he suggests that looking at the economic figures from the various parts of the city, there is a direct correlation in the amount of work done and the amount of wealth in that area.

Cooper explains that when Katrina happened it was difficult to help all the communities that were affected. This was mainly because the American Red Cross had no visibility or recognition in these communities and instead the people typically turned to churches or other humanitarian groups. Since the disaster Cooper says, “we now have almost a hundred new partnerships in place with other organizations so that when there is another catastrophic disaster, the American Red Cross will not always need to take the lead. We will be able to supply material and personnel to support other organizations when they have the lead and are well known to the local community. We are very proud we put these partnerships in place.”

Future

Asked about the future, Cooper outlines what he calls “probably the largest transformational initiative in the 125 year history of the American Red Cross”. Called “ARC-One,” the acronym stands for both American Red Cross and “Achieving Revolutionary Change through One Red Cross.” Cooper outlines the thoughts behind the initiative, “We have different lines of business and they all contribute to the mission of the American Red Cross – be it disaster services or in training and education. We are working to ensure we operate everyday as one Red Cross. We’ve launched this initiative to focus on the most efficient ways of delivering services to the communities and people of America who need our help.” Cooper believes by reorganizing the various chapters at the American Red Cross into Regional (usually larger chapters) and Community chapters, the Red Cross chapters will become more focused and efficient. He stresses that regional chapters will take on and support most back office functions so they and the more numerous community chapters can more freely concentrate on helping the American people.

Another part of the ARC-One initiative is focused on strategic fundraising. “The American Red Cross is probably the best organization in the world at raising money around catastrophic disasters to support those in need. We can’t stop disasters from occurring but we are focusing on better delivery of our message and mission to make sure people contribute all year round, every year.” Cooper adds the American Red Cross responds to more than 72,000 disasters a year, most of them single family fires, and every time there is a fire or other disaster, a member of the American Red Cross will be there to make sure families have shelter, clothing and food.

Cooper’s personal mission is clear – he wants to help people, and he wants to help people in the most efficient way possible. He demonstrated this when he joined the White House after 9/11 and continues to pursue his personal mission at the American Red Cross, by helping to make systems more efficient and introducing emerging technology to get help to people faster.

“We are working to ensure we operate everyday as one Red Cross”

“We bring new ways to apply existing technologies to our business problems and deliver solutions”

“We can’t stop disasters from occurring but we are focusing on better delivery of our message and mission to make sure people contribute all year round, every year”

“Since Katrina, we have leveraged information technologies to significantly increase the capacity and capability of our Client Assistance System to provide services to those affected by disasters”

“We need to ensure that those working on behalf of the Red Cross have been screened and trained to do the jobs we assign them to do, and don’t have improper or criminal histories”