Anastacia Visneski

My background consists of making huge changes to organizations that are resistant, even allergic, to change — finding that middle ground to get to the solution without anyone feeling completely left behind. From the Coast Guard, to AWS, to Oracle.

I’ve literally written the book on unconventional leadership (Publishing Spring 2024) and believe that if you plan for everything to be a crisis, then you can avoid things becoming a crisis. With over a decade of service in the US Coast Guard, I was a qualified Type 1 Public Information Officer, overseeing crisis communication responses for major disasters from Hurricane Katrina to the BP Oil Spill. I also proudly launched the first mobile app for the Coast Guard (now, that’s a story!), as well as the social media program for the service.

I credit my success in the military to my unusual ability to think differently and try things. I bring a unique brand of honesty to problems, cutting through the noise to the central issue to address it and I live to build flexible adaptable resilient people systems in order to fix the unfixable.

Previously as Head of Launch, Blog, and Podcast operations for Amazon Web Services, I built their Critical Event Protocol, a comprehensive crisis response plan including internal and external communication operations. Then as Principal for Global Disaster Response I oversaw the technical operations for applying AWS technology to disasters including Hurricane Dorian and the COVID19 pandemic, developing a comprehensive crisis management plan.

I currently run a crisis management firm, Merewif, where I have have worked with Wizards of the Coast, Bungie, and more. I also teach Crisis Communications at my alma mater, the University of Washington in Seattle for the Communications Leadership Graduate School.