LOCATION:
Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel
Jacksonville, Florida
We’ve entered a new era. Many challenges associated with macro socio-economic and climate related issues previously addressed by the federal government are being shifted to local jurisdictions. Agencies in Washington are being redirected necessitating increased problem-solving and financial capacity at the regional, state, city, and community level. But how will this be accomplished? Who or what institutions will lead? And what unconventional resources can be tapped to drive bold, innovative solutions?
The 10X Convergence will engage these urgent questions at a time when extreme weather is becoming more frequent and destructive, critical infrastructure is aging, access to insurance cannot be assumed, and even the data which must inform decision-making is becoming contentious. The primary objective of Convergence is to leverage the emerging points of common interest among cities, resilience experts, community foundations, the public sector, the private sector, and those building innovative resilience and insurability models into actionable solutions with greater impact.
Come to gain new insights, make strategic connections, and bring innovative solutions back to your community.
The critical challenges we work to address benefit greatly from collective wisdom and resolve to find the solutions we all seek. Come to add your voice to the discussions, network, and discover new approaches. Leave with new ideas for impactful solutions and opportunities for collaboration and strategic partnerships.
Who should attend:
- Civic, governmental, and non-profit leaders
- Chief resilience, sustainability and heat officers
- Community foundation and philanthropic leaders
- Insurability experts and innovators
- Private sector companies forecasting their futures
- Topic-oriented research professionals
- Educators building agency in the next generation
- Journalists and communicators
Join us for an inspiring peer to peer, outcomes-focused convening.
PROGRAM AGENDA
DAY 1: Wednesday, October 22
Meeting the Moment
The many signals and decisions coming out of Washington, DC indicate a transference of key responsibilities from the federal to the regional or local level. To effectively address these shifting conditions, it will be necessary to respond with purpose-driven partnerships and collaborations across sectors. Recognizing this need, Ten Across has shifted from its typical Summit format to a special event—a convergence—that is expressly about co-joining the interests and expertise of sectors that can accomplish things that could not be achieved independently. We hope you will join us in what will sure to be an engaging two days of lively discussion, knowledge sharing, and innovative problem solving.
MORNING PROGRAM
7:30 AM – Coffee + Networking
8:00 AM – A Conversation with Mayor Donna Deegan, City of Jacksonville, Florida
Mayor Donna Deegan is the 45th mayor of the City of Jacksonville, Florida, and the 9th mayor since the City’s consolidation in 1968. She is a fifth-generation Jacksonville native who loves the city with all her heart. Mayor Deegan was an award-winning local television news anchor who shared the stories of people living in every corner of Jacksonville. As mayor, she is focused on infrastructure, public health, and economic development to build a city that works for all its citizens.
8:20 AM – Level Setting: Wellington “Duke” Reiter, Executive Director, Ten Across
Wellington “Duke” Reiter, FAIA, is the Senior Advisor to the President of Arizona State University and the Executive Director of the University City Exchange, a unit dedicated to the establishment of mutually beneficial relationships between the university and surrounding municipalities and other American cities. In keeping with ASU’s New American University concept, he established Ten Across (10X), a nationally recognized initiative addressing the major issues of our time as they are revealed along the I-10 corridor.
8:30 AM – OPENING KEYNOTE
What is community? What is a city? What is a democracy? Thoughts from the Frontline.
James Fallows is a veteran journalist and author, who has been chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, the editor of U.S. News and World Report, and a longtime correspondent for The Atlantic. His work on topics from the environment to democracy has received the National Book Award and National Magazine award. He and his wife, Deborah, co-authored the book Our Towns about local renewal in America, and were featured in the resulting HBO documentary. He now writes the popular “Breaking the News” site on Substack.
Deborah Fallows is a linguist and writer. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Monthly, Slate, The Atlantic, and many other publications. After living in China she wrote Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language. After publishing Our Towns, she and her husband created the Our Towns Civic Foundation, to connect innovators around the country.
9:15 AM – BREAK
CONVERGENCE: Collective Conversations
During this morning session three groups dedicated to resilience, community well-being, and insurability planning respectively, will share their deep understanding of place, and how they are converging around new definitions of community resilience, sustainability and vitality.
9:30 a.m. – On the Front Lines of Community Resilience: Strategies That Work
The critical issues of our time come into their sharpest focus in cities. Given that socio-economic and climate challenges cannot be ignored in urban settings, cities have created leadership positions expressly dedicated to matters of housing, heat mitigation, and overall resilience. Jacksonville’s American Planning Association award-winning plan, Resilient Jacksonville, will help to jumpstart a conversation sharing successful strategies with resilience, sustainability and extreme heat leaders framing a broader group discussion about how to meet the knowable challenges on the horizon.
Featured discussants:
Anne Coglianese
Chief Resilience Officer
City of Jacksonville
Mark Coudert
Climate Adaptation & Resilience Manager in the City of Austin, Texas
Ali Frazzini
Policy Director, LA County
Chief Sustainability Office
Fara Ilami
Regional Resiliency Manager
Northeast Florida Regional Council
Fatima Luna
Chief Resilience Officer
City of Tucson, Arizona
Colleen McHugh – Moderator
Senior Planner
Water Institute
10:30 a.m. – Community Foundations Meet the Moment: Expanding Agendas and Impact
By definition, community foundations know their constituencies and their needs. Invariably, they have portfolios of work addressing education, health, homelessness, and services related to place. In the Ten Across geography, climate change is presenting risks to communities at an increasing rate. Community Foundation CEOs and administrators will discuss how the situation requires an expansion of mission and staff—and cross-sector collaboration—with the necessary expertise to shape programs dedicated to equitable mitigation and adaptation strategies. Time will be allotted for group discussion to explore explore potential opportunities for regional funding.
Featured discussants:
Andy Kopplin
CEO and President, Greater New Orleans Community Foundation
Chris Meyer
CEO and President, Baton Rouge Area Foundation
Taylor Pineda
VP Community Engagement and Impact
Arizona Community Foundation
Sarina Beges – Moderator
Assoc. Dir., Philanthropy and Social Innovation, Aspen Institute
11:30 a.m. – Is the Future Insurable? Current Landscape, New Models and Strategies
Several of the states in the Ten Across geography including Florida, Louisiana, and California are experiencing insurance crises resulting from a more volatile climate, frequent disasters, corresponding rate increases, and even the unavailability of insurance as providers retreat from high-risk areas. This discussion will level set the current state of insurance and highlight some new strategies being implemented to creatively meet the moment. Time will be allotted for a group discussion on this topic to help set the stage for the next day’s “Building Insurable Communities” full-day, cross-sector workshop.
Charlie Sidoti
Executive Director
Innsure
Steve Bowen
Chief Science Officer
Gallagher Re
Dean Staples – Moderator
VP Innovative Business Opportunities Stantec
12:15 PM – Lunch + Networking
AFTERNOON PROGRAM
1:00 PM – CONVERGENCE: Working Sessions
- 10X Resilience Network – Extreme Heat Strategies (CRO’s/CSO’s/CHO’s) – by invitation only
In this working session, members of the Ten Across Resilience Network will continue their important collaborative work on extreme heat. This session will focus on identifying and prioritizing key projects, action items, and next steps to support recommendations and findings identified from the recent 10X Extreme Heat convening held in April 2025. - Building Resilience Capacity – 10X Community Foundation CEO’s/Executives – by invitation only
Community Foundations (CF) have played an essential role in the conceptualization, launch, and advancement of Ten Across since 2018. In a response to climate change, many are now expanding their missions to include resilience as a strategic initiative. This gathering of CF leaders will be an opportunity to exchange ideas, identify ways to collaborate on shared challenges, build a more robust 10X/CF network, and dialogue with the authors of the Aspen Institute report: Evolving the Community Foundation Business Model of the Future: A Path Towards Sustainability and Impact. - Ten Across Curriculum/Partnerships – 10X Collegiate Network – by invitation only
The 10X Resilient American Futures courses have inspired students and proven effective in tackling contemporary challenges and college success. Building on this, we will host an education workshop where interdisciplinary educators will co-create tools to boost learner agency and goal setting, while exploring ways to engage students with urgent regional issues and inspire meaningful action. - Climate Communication Workshop with Sadie Babits – open to all
A majority of Americans are concerned about the impacts of a changing climate. How can the stories we tell help transform that concern into action? How do we debunk misinformation, avoid bias, and support the growth of scientific and socioeconomic solutions? Join veteran journalist Sadie Babits to explore how to communicate about these big questions, both in our communities and for ourselves.
Sadie Babits is the senior supervising climate editor for National Public Radio and author of “Hot Takes: Every Journalist’s Guide to Covering Climate Change.” She was previously professor of practice and the sustainability director for the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Sadie was a freelance journalist, editor, and consultant for many years and is a former board president of the Society of Environmental Journalists.
3:00 PM – Break
CONVERGENCE: Collective Conversations
3:15 PM – How Big Can a City Be?
Jacksonville is the largest city in the contiguous 48 U.S. states by land mass. It is also expected to nearly double its population in the coming decades while at the same time being pressured by climate change. Accordingly, it is the ideal location to pose the question: how big can a city be? And by extension, can growth and resiliency be reconciled? Some recent studies suggest there is the possibility of doing so when housing, jobs, transportation, and services operate in balance…but that is a tall order. This workshop will interrogate this rhetorical question of urban scale along with related environmental, social, infrastructural, technical, and governance matters. The conversation will be guided by those with experience in these sectors but is open to all.
Fred Jones
Director, Planning & Design Collaborative
Haskell
Benjamin S. Kennedy
VP, Programs
Kresge Foundation
Eric Shullman
VP, Development
Gateway JAX
Marilynn Davis – Moderator
Senior Advisor
HR&A
4:15 PM – Journalists Address Climate Change: Models for Productive Engagement
In this session we bring together talented journalist working at local and national scales to discuss strategies for effective messaging and how their work is received by the public and decision-makers at a time when there is a of lack consensus about fundamental facts and evidence.
The presenters will share what stories are resonating with their respective audiences, how they communicate about complex and multifaceted subjects, and the expectation of deep dives into existential topics.
Panel guests include:
Sadie Babits
Senior Supervising Climate Editor
National Public Radio
Elise Hu
Multiple-award winning journalist, author and writer; VICE News on HBO, NPR
Miles O’Brien
National Science Correspondent PBS NewsHour
Battinto Batts
Dean, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
5:00 PM – Adjourn
EVENING PROGRAM
5:30 – 7:30 PM – Networking + Keynote
EVENING KEYNOTE WITH VANN R. NEWKIRK II: Addressing Risk in a Post Katrina World
Vann R. Newkirk II is a senior editor at The Atlantic and the host and co-creator of the podcast series “Holy Week” and “Floodlines,” an audio documentary about Hurricane Katrina which won the Peabody Award in 2021. He is also an ASU Future Security Senior Fellow, Fellow of the New America Political Reform Program, and 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. In 2024, Vann was named Journalist of the Year by the Washington Association of Black Journalists.
DAY 2: Thursday, October 23
FULL-DAY WORKING SESSION: Building Insurable Communities
Insurability is a critical concern for the 10X region, with increasing catastrophic events and decreasing infrastructure investment the financial stability of our nation’s most vulnerable communities is increasingly at risk. Without viable insurance options, communities are facing mounting uncertainty, and entire neighborhoods may become un-investable. By coming together across sectors to address these challenges we can unlock new opportunities for resilience, equity, and sustainable growth throughout the region. This full-day workshop will engage all participants in an immersive and collaborative experience focused on developing cross-sector resilience pathways towards insurable Ten Across communities.
MORNING PROGRAM
8:00 AM – Coffee + Networking
8:30 AM – Part 1: UNDERSTANDING INSURABILITY PLANNING AND ROLES
- Gain better understanding of what insurability planning is, what needs to be considered, its advantages, and what actions can be owned in participants respective roles
10:00 AM – Break
10:30 AM – Part 2: IDEATING + MAPPING
- In this segment cross-sector participants will share collective expertise, explore and collaboratively work towards identifying new and creative approaches to insurability for potential 10X communities
12:00 PM – Lunch
AFTERNOON PROGRAM
1:00 PM – PART 3: ALIGNING + PRIORITIZING
- Participants will align on and prioritize identified approaches; identify actionable and scalable solutions
2:30 PM – Break
3:00 PM – Part 4: OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION + NEXT STEPS
- Based on identified projects/pilots, discuss where there is opportunity to work collaboratively at local, state and regional levels; prioritize and identify next steps
4:30 PM – Summarization + Group Reflections
5:00 PM – Adjourn
Join us in beautiful Jacksonville, Florida!
Jacksonville is home to 22 miles of beautiful beaches, great restaurants, world-class museums, and so much more! Learn more about all the fun things you can do and see when you Visit Jacksonville and Downtown Jacksonville.
Registration and Hotel Information
HOTEL: The 10X Convergence event will be held at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel. A limited number of $189 per night discounted hotel rooms have been secured for all 10X Convergence participants. This discount rate is only available until September 29!
REGISTRATION: Registration for the two-day event is $350 per person and covers all meals for each day including beverages and heavy appetizers for the first night keynote and networking reception. Special registration rates available for Ten Across Resilience and Education Networks. Please email Rae Ulrich for more information. Space is limited so register early!
Here is just a sample of what past Ten Across summit attendees have told us when asked what they liked most about our convenings.
The problems discussed are THE interesting, intractable problems facing us today.
2023 Los Angeles Summit Attendee
The program is amazing. The topics of discussion are current, important, and engaging and you have experts presenting and interacting with the audience. The attendees are passionate about solving complex issues that we are facing and they represent the groups who will be doing much of that important work. The summit is built in a way to encourage meeting others and building a network which can work together to improve the future.
2023 Los Angeles Summit Attendee
The quality of the presenters was high. The smaller size of the conference allowed for more networking. The narrower focus allowed for a greater concentration and depth of ideas.
2023 Los Angeles Summit Attendee
I met so many people that were working towards similar goals. I was able to get a much better idea of everything that is going on in the country regarding climate and infrastructure. The venues were easy to get to, the food was excellent, and the seminar and panelists were of great interest to me. I plan to come back for the summit in Florida next year.
2023 Los Angeles Summit Attendee
The people in the room were keen on action and discussion and had critical and impactful roles. Loved how they were spread across sectors and geography too!
2023 Los Angeles Summit Attendee
Diversity of expertise among speakers and attendees, candid and thought-provoking content across program, extremely well-organized and executed.
2023 Los Angeles Summit Attendee
The eclectic mix of typically unconnected topics that are actually connected and relevant when looking to contribute to a resilient country and world. The provocative nature of the speakers – we need to be challenged, civilly discuss differing opinions, and still be colleagues. This is the dialogue paradigm at 10X.
2023 Los Angeles Summit Attendee
A special thank you to our sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
In-Kind Sponsors
Interested in becoming a sponsor ?
Contact Jacob Lipp for more information.
