Dr. Edward J. Blakely is the Professor of Urban Policy at the United States Studies Centre, Sydney, Australia. He was named by Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans in 2007 as the Mayor’s Executive Director for Recovery. His post includes coordinating all aspects of the City and Parish’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina. He reported directly to the Mayor and has coordinating responsibilities for the use of all City resources to accomplish this task. Dr. Blakely is currently Professor of Urban Planning and Chair at the University of Sydney He, has been an advisor or directly involved in major disasters in Oakland Earthquake, 1989 and Fire 1991; LA Earthquake and Rodney King riots as well as New York 9-11. His work in disaster assistance includes work in Kobe, Japan, Turkey, Chile and Honduras earthquakes as well as Indonesia Tsunami. He is working with key policymakers in Australia on international response to local and Pacific disasters. His work includes Chairing the Reference Panel for the Sydney Metropolitan Plan. He has been featured in several Australian periodical for his planning work and most recently in the Australian 2026 forecast for the nation. Prior to this post he was Dean of the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, New School University He was Dean and Lusk Professor of Planning and Development in the School Urban Planning and Development at the University of Southern California (1994-1999). Previously he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley (1986-1994). In 2003, the University of California Riverside dedicated a new Center for Suburban Sustainable Development in honor of Professor Blakely