Building Resilience from the House of Mouse to Wally World
Risk, Collaboration, and Leadership in Emergency Management
Dec. 7, 2025
Andrew Boyarsky, MSM, PMP, CBCP, cABC, President of Pinnacle Performance Management
This article is based on a podcast interview and presentations by Andrea Davis, CEO and President of the Resiliency Initiative.
When Andrea Davis stepped into the role of Director for Global Crisis Management and Business Continuity at the Walt Disney Company in September 2012, little did she know that less than two months later she would be coordinating the company’s response and recovery efforts to Superstorm Sandy. This historic late-fall hurricane would significantly impact the New York City area and several of Disney’s media operations. Less than 10 years later, Davis would find herself in a similar role, except this time at the world’s largest retailer, Walmart, starting in January 2020 at the very start of the COVID Pandemic.
Emergency management as a profession is often defined by its response to crises, but the most successful practitioners know that real resilience begins long before disaster strikes. In her interview on Riding the Wave: Project Management for Emergency Managers, Andrea Davis—former leader in Emergency Management at both Disney and Walmart, at FEMA before that, and now CEO of The Resiliency Initiative—shared insights shaped across two decades in government and Fortune 100 companies, and now with small businesses.
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