Mark Benthien is Director for Communication, Education and Outreach for the Southern California Earthquake Center, a research center funded by the National Science Foundation and U.S. Geological...
Champions of Change: Disaster Preparedness
On Thursday, January 19th, sixteen local leaders who prepare their communities for disaster and build a more resilient nation were honored as Champions of Change. These men and women have demonstrated significant innovation and creativity in working to get their communities ready for the unexpected and embraced the approach of involving all members of their communities in emergency preparedness and response, reaching out to faith-based, tribal, non-profit, private sector and community-based organizations, as well as individual citizens.
Carolyn H Bluhm is the Community Relations Specialist for the City and County of Denver, Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. For the last five years Carolyn has been the driving...
Brian Blake serves as Earthquake Program Coordinator with the Central U.S Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC), which was established under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. Since its...
As Director of Communications for Cobb & Douglas Public Health (District 3-1), Master Sgt Darlene M. Foote, U.S. Air Force (retired) is responsible for developing and launching the district’s...
Wendy Freitag is the External Affairs Manager for the Washington State Military Department’s Emergency Management Division. In this role, she oversees statewide emergency management outreach...
Brenda Gormley has been volunteering as the Denton County, Texas, Cert Coordinator for more than 6 years. During this time she has grown the program from 11 members to over 500 back ground checked...
David Maack is the Racine County Emergency Management Coordinator where he is responsible for emergency planning, training, outreach/education, exercises and response. He has written numerous...
As Director of Development & Community Relations, Venus Majeski spearheads the advocacy, public relations and development initiatives of the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities. One of the...
Martin Makowski has spent four and a half years with the American Red Cross and currently serves as Outreach Coordinator responsible for programming in 13 counties in Illinois and Northwestern...
Tod Pritchard is the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for Wisconsin Emergency Management. Tod is in charge of ReadyWisconsin, a program helping people across the state get ready for emergencies...
Michael Ripley is the Disaster Response Manager for NBCUniversal located in Universal City, California. In his position, he is responsible for overseeing the studio’s Emergency Plans, Disaster...
Herman Schaffer is the Director of Community Outreach for the New York City Office of Emergency Management. He oversees the Citizen Corps Council, a collaborative network of non-profits,...
Jodi Simpson is a Homeland Security Planner for the St. Clair County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. She serves on the Michigan Region 2 North Citizen Corps Committee and is...
Michael J. Smith serves as the fire chief for the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, an American Indian Nation located in southern California. Chief Smith joined San Manuel to aid in the...
John D. Solomon was an accomplished journalist on homeland security and other public policy topics. John’s blog, “In Case of Emergency, Read Blog: A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness” (...
Chad Stover is the Deputy Branch Chief for Homeland Security and the State Citizen Corps Coordinator at the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. He manages the agency’s community...
Greg Strader serves as the Founding Executive Director of the Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (BRACE). He works with the 450 Partners of BRACE to make his community the most...