Christopher J. Furlow

Chris Furlow is President of Ridge Global, the international security and risk management consulting firm founded by Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania. Mr. Furlow manages Ridge Global’s staff and business operations, helping clients strengthen business-to-government and business-to-business relationships, with a particular emphasis on meeting global challenges in the areas of security, preparedness and cyber security. Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Mr. Furlow was named Director for State Affairs in the White House Office of Homeland Security (OHS) where he served as homeland security liaison to U.S. Governors and state officials. In that role, he led development of the network of state homeland security advisors, supported the establishment of new threat/warning protocols and was a member of the OHS Incident Support Group providing intergovernmental coordination support on “incidents of national significance.” During the historic stand-up of the Department of Homeland Security, he was appointed Executive Director of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), the department’s principal advisory board composed of committees for state & local government officials, first responders, the private sector and academia. While leading HSAC operations, the Council addressed issues from operational information sharing, lexicon and training gaps to grant funding challenges. Mr. Furlow was previously appointed U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and worked with states to promote international trade and economic development initiatives. In the 1990s, he served on Capitol Hill as a senior staff member to U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Furlow is a graduate of Louisiana State University and is a former Senior Fellow of the Homeland Security Policy Institute of The George Washington University. He is currently a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Security Task Force and its Cyber Security Working Group, promoting policies to support more robust public-private collaboration on cyber security. He serves as Vice Chair of the Private Sector Committee of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House, London).