Annie Searle

Annie Searle | The Risk Detective

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Annie Searle is a full time faculty lecturer at the University of Washington’s School of Information, where she teaches graduate courses on risk management, on the foundations of information management, as well as a course on ethics, policy and law with respect to information management. She is a lifetime member of The Institute of American Entrepreneurs, and a 2011 inductee into The Hall of Fame for Women in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Since 2007, she has been an invited participant at New York University’s Global Roundtable on Public-Private Preparedness; and a member of RPCFIRST, the Regional Partnership Council, an umbrella organization formed in 2005 to foster collaboration on on homeland security and emergency management issues with the public sector...

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Latest Posts in Annie Searle

Tone, Culture, and Conflicts of Interest

In 2016, I was asked to write a chapter for a new British book titled Conduct Risk: A Practitioner’s Guide, on the root causes of conduct risk and how it manifests itself.  I was writing primarily about financial institutions from an operational risk perspective, but my conclusions about those questions apply equally to governance issues in both the public and private sectors.  Here, I want to identify what I saw as the root causes in 2015-2016 and provide several current examples that are destabilizing our country.


Remember and Compare

I’ve used the September column most of the past 15 years to recall 9/11 and provide a brief analysis of progress made on the last of the 9/11 Commission recommendations.  As we near a quarter century since those tragic events, one wonders if there are lessons we have not yet learned that are applicable to chaotic world conditions today.  Here are a few observations that come to mind. 


MAY 2025 Magazine

May is the month we feature Do Gooders—those amazing individuals who set shining examples of how we can make a difference in the world. Yonkers Historian Mary Hoar is a Woman For All Seasons. She shows us how the essence of true community building is working with both children and their parents. “When kids see their parents valuing education, it helps kids overcome some of their own obstacles.” For a complete list of Mary’s accomplishments, her official bio is included, but know this: her handiwork is both visible and invisible. There are things she has accomplished from behind the scenes to benefit the community that will never garner an award or a mention. Barbara Lloyd McMichael writes about Carol Hosler, a retired Episcopal priest, who felt called by the Holy Spirit to counter social and political injustice with compassion, justice, and joy. She along with other like-minded people of conscience have formed the group “Seniors for the Constitution.” Annie Searle’s reflective essay Beyond the Pale reminds us that the times we are living in are far from normal. It’s time to step up! How do we choose good over evil? Think about it! Some of this month’s book suggestions might inspire you. –Patricia Vaccarino


January 2025 Magazine

In our cover story this month, Barbara Lloyd McMichael writes about H. Morgan Hicks, the owner of a yarn shop in Des Moines, Washington. In Toward a New Social Contract for Our Endangered Species, Dr. Peter A. Corning argues that we are on a road to collective self-destruction unless we make a radical course change. Annie Searle takes a look at all of the fires that are burning in her article The Fire This Time. My essay, It’s Too Bad, Tommy Wooten, is about a Yonkers teen who died long ago, tragically and foolishly. Profound, heroic, or tragic, there is more than one way to make your mark in life. – Patricia Vaccarino


December 2024 Magazine

It’s up to us to create our own light during these dark times. In Let the Bells Ring OutBarbara Lloyd McMichael writes about the National Bell Festival and the noble act of bell restoration. Why does humanity make the same mistakes over and over? We posed this question when we interviewed Dr. Peter Corning. In this age of anxiety, there is a way to flourish. Take a lesson from my essay “The Renaissance Belongs to You.” I wish you many blessings and much joy during this holiday season! – Patricia Vaccarino