Colleen Adler is the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for West Pierce Fire & Rescue which serves the cities of Lakewood and University Place in Washington State. Colleen has a 21-year...
Champions of Change: Community Preparedness And Resilience
The White House honors eighteen individuals who are preparing communities for disasters and helping them respond and recover, bringing members of the whole community together – private businesses, local government, community and faith-based organizations, and individual citizens – to make a difference.
Matt Brisbois is the Life Safety Specialist responsible for the CERT Program and its volunteers for the City of Newport Beach, CA. Since taking leadership of this program in 2006, Matt has...
Lou Casciano joined the Hoboken Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in April 2010 and during his tenure was instrumental in managing the response to Hurricane Irene which led to his...
Ginny Lewis serves as the Associate Director and General Council of the Texas Association of Regional Councils (TARC) in Austin, Texas. The TARC team oversees the Texas Citizen Corps program, a...
Mohamed Ali, MPH is the co-chair of the King County Somali Health Board, an organization he helped establish to improve communications between the Somali immigrant community, health care providers...
Scott Ellis is the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator of the Progressive Center for Independent Living. He has trained hundreds of people with disabilities in New Jersey to be prepared for...
Rev. Norman Fong is the Executive Director of San Francisco’s Chinatown Community Development Center (Chinatown CDC). Founded in 1977, Chinatown CDC is an award winning community development...
Michelle Hanneken is the Homeland Security Program Manager for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA). In this capacity she oversees a variety of homeland security programs and grants and...
As Community Preparedness Program Coordinator for the City of Austin, Linda Haynie served in many capacities, including Regional Citizen Corps Coordinator for a 10-county planning region and CERT...
JoAnn Jordan is the Public Education Coordinator for the Seattle Office of Emergency Management. For the past two years, she has been the project manager for a regional public education effort...
Captain/Paramedic Stacy Gerlich, MA, served as the Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) Program administrator and manager, providing both organization and leadership to the continual...
Becky Koch is the Agriculture Communication Director at North Dakota State University. Ag Communication worked with Myriad Devices, a mobile development company, to create two NDSU Extension...
Joe McKenna is a Research Specialist and the Youth Preparedness Camp Coordinator for the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC), which is part of Texas State University. He is responsible for the...
Ira Tannenbaum is the Director of Public/Private Initiatives for the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM). Serving as the primary liaison between the City and businesses and private...
Gail Toscano, Preparedness and Resiliency Manager for the American Red Cross, Northeast PA Region, has been with the Red Cross for 6 years. She began her Red Cross career as the Disaster...
As Regional Director of Preparedness for the American Red Cross Gateway to the Golden State Region, Emily oversees a team that delivers free disaster preparedness training to diverse Bay Area...
Boyce Wilson is an Emergency Preparedness Planner for the Heart of Texas Council of Governments in Waco, Texas. As a former Marine and emergency medical technician, he has dedicated his 10 year...
With the rapid advances in social media and instant communications, Captain Mike Parker saw the opportunity for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) to improve public safety through...