SPEAKERS
Dexter Accardo
Director of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
Dexter Accardo came to St. Tammany Parish Government after nearly 33 years of service with Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s office. He has served as the St. Tammany Parish Government’s Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness for the last (10) years.
As a retired Colonel from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, he developed many unique skills. He was assigned to the Patrol Division, 11 years in Narcotics Division, and 18 years as Commander of the Special Operations Division. As Commander of Special Operations this division included; Underwater Diving Unit, Mounted Division, Search and Rescue (Marine Patrol), Arson Squad, Bomb Squad, K-9 Division, Aviation Unit and Airport Police.
He also provides as Chairman of the Southeast Hurricane Task Force which consists of 18 local parishes in the State of Louisiana.
He is a past President of the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Association which consists of statewide emergency management business and emergency management.
Participates as a member of the following : South East Hurricane Task Force, Local Emergency Planning Committee, La. Emergency Preparedness Association, Coordinate Community Outreach with the Business, Law Enforcement, Fire, EMS, Faith Base, Municipal, Home Owners Association, and other Parish Organizations read daily Intelligence Bulletins, and monitors all weather events daily in the Parish and send out updates as needed.
Responsible for development of emergency operations plans; coordinate procedures to minimize the effects of disasters upon the population; conduct periodic test exercises updating of the plans as necessary; confer with local officials, volunteer groups, etc. in the preparation and updating of the plans and other emergency management programs; conduct meetings, conferences and training sessions relative to the technical programs of the agency; implementation of Federal and local budget requests; maintain records and reports on expenditures, personnel and supply activities; assist local officials in the development of a hazard mitigation program; maintain inventory of manpower and material resources of governmental and private sector sources available in an emergency; identify resource deficiencies and formulate measures to correct; maintain an Emergency Operating Center (EOC); develop and maintain emergency communication system; maintain emergency public information system; maintain a shelter reception and care system; develop a public education program; establish a mutual aid or cooperative assistance agreement to provide needed services, equipment or other resources in the event of an emergency; coordinate with industry to develop industrial emergency plans and capabilities in support of local government plans; secure technical and financial assistance available through State and Federal programs.
Albert Ashwood was appointed Director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) in August 1997. He joined the state in 1988 and has served the department in various positions including Deputy Director from 1995 to 1997.
In his tenure with OEM, Albert has overseen the distribution and administration of over $1 billion in federal and state aid following dozens of presidentially declared disasters, including the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Following the bombing, he was first on the scene for the department, arriving approximately 25 minutes after the explosion. He led the department’s forward operations for the first three days of the incident before turning his attention to the administration of recovery efforts.
Because of his experience with the Oklahoma City bombing and at the request of New York Governor George Pataki, Albert spent two weeks at ground zero helping establish and implement debris removal operations related to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Albert was selected by former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to serve as a member of the National Response Plan/National Incident Management System (NRP/NIMS) State and Local Working Group. He represented emergency management officials nationwide as the group worked to enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents and emergencies.
Albert completed the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security. He was one of 27 graduates to complete the program that brought together officials from across the nation and from all levels of government and the private sector to explore strategies and policies for homeland security.
Albert served on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Advisory Council (NAC). The Council advises the FEMA Administrator on preparedness and emergency management issues. It was developed after passage of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 and instituted to ensure effective and ongoing coordination of the federal preparedness, protection, response, recovery and mitigation for natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters. Albert also served as President of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). He has received numerous awards and accolades, including a Commendation from President Bill Clinton for his work in the Oklahoma City bombing. Albert was the first recipient of the Governor’s Humanitarian Award for efforts following the May 1999 tornadoes and has received numerous citations for developing the “Oklahomans Can Survive” Safe Room Rebate Program. He also served as contributing author of the Heritage Foundation’s report to Congress on the issue of Homeland Security.
Oklahoma City Police Lt. Franklin N. Barnes, CEM
Emergency Manager, Oklahoma City Office of Emergency Management
Frank Barnes is older than he looks and has over 37 years of public safety experience. He is the Emergency Manager for the City of Oklahoma City. He is responsible for coordinating Oklahoma City’s comprehensive emergency management program. He has been involved in the response to and recovery from numerous major incidents and disasters some that resulted in either a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration or a Small Business Administration Disaster Declaration. Currently, he is coordinating the City’s disaster recovery from the May 2013 and May 2015 storms and tornadoes.He received his Associate of Science Degree in Law Enforcement from Moorpark College, Moorpark, California and his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada-Reno. He is currently enrolled in a graduate program at Columbia Southern University studying Emergency Services Management.
He is a graduate of FEMA’s National Emergency Manager Basic Academy at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He has completed FEMA’s Professional Development Series, Advanced Professional Series, and Professional Continuity Practitioner Level 1.
He is a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and Oklahoma Emergency Management Association (OEMA).
He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM®) through IAEM. He is an Oklahoma Certified Emergency Manager (OCEM) through OEMA.
He serves on a variety of committees including the Mayor’s Committee for Disability Concerns, State Hazard Mitigation Team representing the Oklahoma Municipal League, IAEM Disaster Cost Recovery Caucus, IAEM Special Needs Caucus and the OEMA Training Committee.
When not working or studying he enjoys watching Major League Baseball (NY Yankees), the Oklahoma City Dodgers, the OKC Thunder, and classic movies.
Scott Bass is the Response and Recovery Division Director with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, North Little Rock.
As the Response and Recovery Division Director, he has oversight of the Arkansas Response and Coordination Center (ARCC), Area Coordination Branch, Operations Branch, Recovery Branch, and the Arkansas Disaster Assistance Team (ADAT). He is also responsible for the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) and other critical response and recovery operations during Gubernatorial and Presidential declared disasters. He has served as the State Coordinating Officer and Deputy State Coordinating Officer for 20 federally declared disasters and has experience with more than 26 federal disasters and numerous state disasters to include the host-state sheltering operations during Hurricane Katrina, 2009 Ice Storm, and 2014 Central Arkansas tornadoes.
Mr. Bass started with ADEM in September 2001 as an Information Specialist in the Information Control Center (ICC). Since 2002 he has worked as the Individual Assistance Officer and Public Assistance Officer in the recovery branch and in 2006 he was promoted to the Recovery Branch Manager. In August 2010 he accepted the position as the Response and Recovery Division Director.
Mr. Bass has served as the ADEM representative on the executive board of the Arkansas Emergency Management Association from 2002-2016. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Emergency Administration and Management from Arkansas Tech University and is currently attending the Executive Leadership Program at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
He and his wife Laura live in Little Rock, Arkansas.
James Bell, CSI, CDT, is Windstorm Coordinator for ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions. James’s position requires him to travel the country educating architects, building owners, government officials and different segments of the construction industry about the complex subject of windstorm codes and the role doors, hardware and protective systems play in protecting buildings from the destructive forces of hurricanes and tornados. He is also on the ICC-500 2014 commentary committee. He is a vocal advocate of instituting strong windstorm codes and consistent product testing requirements in areas of the country prone to hurricanes and tornados.
Jeremy Boak, Ph.D.
Director, Oklahoma Geological Survey, Mewbourne College of Earth & Energy, University of Oklahoma
Jeremy Boak started as Director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey in July 2015. He was Director of the Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research at the Colorado School of Mines from 2008-2015. Before that, he was a project manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory and manager for performance assessment of Yucca Mountain at the U. S. Department of Energy. Dr. Boak was an exploration geologist at ARCO Oil and Gas, Inc., in Anchorage, Denver, and Bakersfield. He received BA and MS degrees, and his doctorate in Geological Sciences from Harvard University. He also received an MS degree from the University of Washington in Geological Sciences. Dr. Boak is married to Anna Stafford, a petroleum geologist and oil finder, and has a stepson Chris.
Stephen Boaz is President of Boaz & Associates, P.C. in Oklahoma City. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oklahoma State University; a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Oklahoma City University; and, a Juris Doctor degree from the University Of Oklahoma College Of Law. Since 1991, when he received his initial mediation training from the American Arbitration Association, the focus of Mr. Boaz’s practice has moved steadily from an AV Pre-Eminent rated civil trial practice to the sole focus of providing ADR services on a statewide basis. He has conducted more than 5,000 mediations during that time.
Mr. Boaz has served on the Mediation panel for the Western District of the United States District Court and the Mediator panel for Resolute Systems, Inc. He has served as an Administrative Hearing Officer for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. He has also served as a REDRESS mediator for the United States Postal Service and as a contract mediator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Mr. Boaz is a member of the ADR Committees of the Oklahoma County and Oklahoma Bar Associations, and, the Association of Attorney-Mediators (Charter Member and Past President, Oklahoma Chapter; Advanced Mediator Certification – 2000). He is admitted to practice in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals; the United States Eastern, Northern and Western District Courts; and, the Chickasaw Nation Bar Association.
He is Editor and Publisher of The Boaz Report, a monthly verdict summary newsletter.
Chief James W. Brann started his fire and EMS career in 1983 as a volunteer firefighter at Cople District Volunteer Fire department before moving his membership to Callao Volunteer Fire Department in VA. In 2002 he transitioned to the career fire and EMS service with Chesterfield Fire and EMS located in Chesterfield, VA. In 2011 Chief Brann was hired as the Chief of Emergency Medical Services for Essex County, VA and was promoted to Chief of Emergency services in 2016.
Chief Brann has an Associates Degree in Applied Science with a major in Emergency Medical Services- Paramedic. He is also in the process of completing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fire Administration.
Chief Brann is Virginia Department of Fire Programs Instructor, a member of Virginia Emergency Management Association, Virginia Fire Chief’s Association, past president of the Rappahannock Regional Fire Training Center and a member of the Columbia Southern University Honor Society.
During his 33-year career, Chief Brann has taken advantage of multiple training opportunities offered by the National Fire Academy, Virginia Department of Fire Program, Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services, Virginia Department of Emergency Management and FEMA.
Sam Brody
George P. Mitchell '40 Chair in Sustainable Coasts, Director, Center for Texas Beaches and Shores, Director, Institute for Sustainable Coastal Communities at Texas A&M; University at Galveston
Samuel D. Brody is a Professor and holder of the George P. Mitchell ’40 Chair in Sustainable Coasts in the Departments of Marine Sciences and Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M; University. He is the Director of Center for Texas Beaches and Shores and the Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Coastal Communities.
Dr. Brody’s research focuses on coastal environmental planning, spatial analysis, flood mitigation, climate change policy, and natural hazards mitigation. He has published numerous scientific articles on flood risk and mitigation, and recently authored the book, Rising Waters: The causes and consequences of flooding in the United States published by Cambridge University Press. Dr. Brody teaches graduate courses in environmental planning and sustainable/resilient coastal development. He has also worked in both the public and private sectors to help local coastal communities to environmental and flood mitigation plans. For more information, please visit www.tamug.edu/ctbs or www.tamug.edu/ISCC.
Tanya Brown-Giammanco, Ph.D.
Lead Research Engineer and Director of Hail Research at the Research Center, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
Tanya Brown-Giammanco joined IBHS in 2010 and is a Lead Research Engineer and Director of Hail Research at the Research Center. She is the South Carolina High Wind and Hail Underwriting Association hail chair at the lab. Her responsibilities include providing engineering leadership on hail, the wind, water, and roofing-related research projects. Her research focus is on hailstone formation, hail impact testing, wind-flow characterization and testing, instrumentation, and field measurement and damage assessment studies. Dr. Brown-Giammanco serves the IBHS representative to the RICOWI Board of Directors. Prior to joining IBHS full-time, Dr. Brown-Giammanco was an engineering consultant for IBHS and LNSS & Associates.
Tanya Brown-Giammanco was a National Science Foundation – Integrative Graduate Education Training Fellow while completing her Ph.D. in Wind Science and Engineering at Texas Tech University. Her dissertation topic was “Development of a Statistical Relationship between Ground-Based and Remotely-Sensed Damage in Windstorms.” While at Texas Tech, she was an instrumental member of their field research teams, leading a team in thunderstorm and tornado intercepts during VORTEX 2, participating in hurricane intercepts with the Texas Tech University Hurricane Research Team, and conducting numerous post-disaster damage assessments. Tanya Brown-Giammanco also holds a master’s degree in Water Resources Science and a bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Kansas and served as a teaching assistant and academic advisor while at KU. She is currently appointed as a Faculty Associate at Texas Tech University to continue serving with the Texas Tech University Hurricane Research Team.
Mr. Warren E. Byrd graduated from Louisiana State University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in Finance. He received his Juris Doctorate in 1978 from the Louisiana State University Law School. After serving as a federal Law Clerk for United States District Judge E. Gordon West, and working in the private practice for four years, Mr. Byrd served as an Assistant Attorney General with the Louisiana Department of Justice from 1983 to 1988 in the Environmental Enforcement Section. Mr. Byrd was the chief attorney in suits involving the CWA, RCRA, CERCLA, and LEQA, and assisted local District Attorneys with grand proceedings and criminal prosecution for environmental crimes. Mr. Byrd then joined the law firm of Adams & Reese, LLP, where he worked from 1988 through 2003. His practice included regulatory proceedings before the LDEQ and the USEPA, as well as the defense of enforcement actions brought pursuant to CERCLA, RCRA, CWA, CAA, EPCRA, NORM, OPA-90 and the LEQA. His practice evolved to include the defense of the Commissioner of Insurance and the Louisiana Department of Insurance (LDI) in suits involving financial solvency, fiduciary matters, and other insurance related claims.
Mr. Byrd joined the LDI in 2004 and worked primarily with the Office of Property & Casualty Insurance. In January 2006, Commissioner Donelon appointed Mr. Byrd to the position of Executive Counsel where he supervised the LDI Legal Division, the LDI Fraud Section and the Louisiana Theft & Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority. The LDI Legal Division took legal action against insurers and producers, drafted legislation, provided legal opinions to the LDI and promulgated Regulations, Directives, Bulletins, and Advisory Letters that regulated insurance in Louisiana. In November 2013, Commissioner Donelon appointed Mr. Byrd to the position of Deputy Commissioner, Office of Property & Casualty, where he now oversees the OP&C; Rating Division, OP&C; Forms Division, and the P&C; Insurance Commission for of the LDI.
Buddy Combs is Deputy Commissioner at the Oklahoma Insurance Department. He earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Oklahoma in 2008 and his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2011 where he was a member of the Dean’s Honor Roll and Note Editor of the American Indian Law Review.
Buddy started working for Insurance Commissioner Doak in 2011 and has since worked on a broad range of regulatory issues. As Deputy Commissioner he supervises the Operations Division of the Oklahoma Insurance Department, which includes the Comptroller and Information Technology functions of the Department. As the Department's Legislative Liaison Buddy interacts with members of the Oklahoma State Legislature and legislative staff where he advocates for the passage of legislation and provides expert advice on all matters of insurance regulation and state agency functions.
Buddy serves as a contact for insurance industry representatives on legislative and general matters and provides advice to the Insurance Commissioner on a wide range of insurance regulatory and legal issues. Additionally, he makes public speeches on legal and insurance topics, including giving continuing education presentations to attorneys, bail bondsmen, agents, brokers, and adjusters.
Buddy currently resides in Edmond with his wife Cara and their daughter Abigail.
Sally Combs
Technical Director for Professional Liability Claims, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty
Sally is Technical Director for Professional Liability Claims, currently focusing on Insurance Agents’ E & O (including P & C and Life Agents and Brokers), Securities Dealers and Registered Reps Professional Liability, Employment Practices, D & O and miscellaneous E &O.; In that capacity, she is engaged in oversight of high exposure, unusually complex or “trend” claims, training and developing claims personnel, and working closely with business partners on product and coverage from development.
Michael F. Consedine serves as the NAIC's Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, he principally focuses on strategic planning, policy development and implementation in the areas of state, federal and international affairs and relations. He advocates for NAIC members and represents their interests before federal and international policymakers, state government associations, and consumer and industry groups. Mr. Consedine is also responsible for management of the NAIC's Executive Office and staff.
Before joining the NAIC in January 2017, Mr. Consedine served as the Global Head of Government and Policy Affairs at Aegon, one of the world's largest financial services companies with operations in 20 countries serving more than 30 million customers. At Aegon, he led government relations in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Concurrently, Mr. Consedine was Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Executive Director of Government Affairs of Aegon's U.S. subsidiary, Transamerica. In this role, he oversaw all aspects of the company's state and federal government relations activities.
Mr. Consedine has spent his entire career in the insurance industry as an attorney, regulator, and executive. Most notably, he served as the Insurance Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. While Commissioner, he was elected by his peers to serve as an officer of the NAIC as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice-President, and President-Elect. He served on a number of NAIC committees focused on both international and domestic matters, including as Chair of the International Insurance Relations (G) Committee, the Reinsurance (E) Task Force and the Health Care Reform Alternatives Working Group. In November 2011, the U.S. Treasury Department named him as one of the first members of the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance, which advises the Federal Insurance Office on domestic and international policy. Mr. Consedine was also the NAIC's representative to the EU–U.S. Insurance Dialogue Steering Committee and was active in the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), where he served on their Executive Committee.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Consedine was a Partner at Saul Ewing LLP and was Vice-Chair of its Insurance Practice Group.
Thomas B. Considine is a proven insurance & healthcare c-suite executive, as well as a former NJ state financial services & managed care commissioner with a broad
understanding of issues from the business, legal and regulatory perspectives.
The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) established the new position of
Chief Executive Officer and named Considine to it effective January 1, 2016.
Considine also serves as Principal and Managing Member of Gravilaur Solutions, LLC, an
organization that provides strategic, operational and regulatory consulting to a number of
business associations, health plans, hospital systems, insurance companies and others.
Prior to Gravilaur, Considine served Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center as its President
and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In that position, he was responsible for the overall
operation and oversight of the facility and sat on the hospital’s board of directors.
He joined Meadowlands following a successful tenure at MagnaCare, a regional health
plan where he served as Chief Operating Officer (COO). While at MagnaCare, he also
instilled a culture of accountability and improved performance management across the
entire organization that prepared the company for sale to a major investment bank at a
remarkable return to the prior ownership group.
Considine also served as the New Jersey Commissioner of Banking and Insurance under
Governor Chris Christie. In addition to serving as the primary advisor to the Governor on
issues related to banking, insurance, real estate and managed care, Considine brought
about seismic change in the 527-member department while fostering a regulatory culture
that promoted growth all in the face of budgetary adversity. He repealed 21 burdensome
regulations while improving efficiency across operating units. He championed a sweeping
reform of the state’s PIP system, and successfully led the state through reaccreditation
by State Banking (CSBS) and Insurance (NAIC) organizations. Considine’s NAIC peers
elected him to the organization’s Board of Directors, as well as a member of its Executive
Committee and as Chair of its Northeast Zone.
Prior to his service to New Jersey, Considine spent 17 years at MetLife in positions of
increasing responsibility. At the time he departed to join the NJ Cabinet, he served as
Vice President & Government Relations Counsel responsible for state government
relations and public policy throughout the US.
Considine holds a JD cum laude from the Seton Hall University School of Law, and a BS
magna cum laude degree from the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University,
where he received the Outstanding Alumni Service Award in 2012. He also holds
postgraduate certificates from Northeastern and the Harvard Business School.
In 2013, he was recognized as one of the top 100 lawyers of Irish-American descent in the United States, as well as named to “Who’s Who in the World”. PolitickerNJ.com
ranked him No. 28 on its “Health Care Power List 2014” and NJBIZ magazine named him
#3 of the Most Powerful People in New Jersey Healthcare in 2011, and #10 in 2010. It
also recognized him as the #10 Most Powerful Person in New Jersey Banking in 2010. A
Hudson County, NJ native, he resides in Monmouth County, NJ, with his wife, Anne, and
their two children.
Don Cox, a 35 year, award-winning, Farmers Insurance Group Agency Owner, has 17 years involvement in the evolution of the Oklahoma "Agent Catastrophe Action Team". (ACAT)
Don believes an ACAT style program gives companies a way to positively impact insured’s lives, adjuster’s workloads, and insurance company’s reputations by putting in place simple, sustainable processes using collaboration to better handle catastrophic events.
Starting as a volunteer, then team leader to board member, Don knows the challenges and issues in creating and maintaining a program that hopefully sees little use, but when needed can prove life changing for our clients.
In January 2011, John D. Doak was sworn into office as the 12th Insurance Commissioner of Oklahoma. In 2014, voters awarded Commissioner Doak’s unparalleled performance with a second term and a record 77 percent of the vote.
Under Commissioner Doak's leadership, the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) has been transformed into a proactive consumer-oriented governmental body that is physically present to provide consumer assistance to those who have been impacted by catastrophic events such as tornadoes, wildfires, and earthquakes.
Commissioner Doak is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science who, shortly after college, launched a successful insurance business in Tulsa. As his career thrived, Doak worked in numerous roles within the insurance industry. He served as an executive for several risk and insurance service companies including Marsh, Aon, HNI and Ascension.
Doak and his wife Debby live in Tulsa with their children, Zack and Kasey.
David Donchin’s litigation practice involves Insurance Law, Complex Litigation, Personal Injury Law, Products Liability, Employment Law, Environmental Law and Medical Malpractice. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Donchin has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law for Trial Practice, and as a member of the Faculty of the Southern Region of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.
Mr. Donchin was elected into the American College of Trial Lawyers, which is limited to the top one percent of a State’s total attorneys. He has been a perennial selection by his peers for inclusion in Super Lawyers since its inception in 2006, for Personal Injury Defense. He has been recognized by Oklahoma Magazine and Super Lawyers Magazine as one of the State's top 50 lawyers in 2010, 2011, and 2013; and recognized as one of the State's Top 10 lawyers in 2014 and 2015. He was selected for inclusion by Benchmark Litigation in 2013, 2014 and 2015 for insurance law and medical malpractice; and, inclusion in Best Lawyers of American for Insurance Defense in 2015.
He is a frequent lecturer on trial practice and matters involving insurance law, pretrial litigation, and trial techniques.
Rowan is CEO Capital, Science & Policy Practice at Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory, broker, and solutions company. The Practice supports public-private solutions in the management and transfer of complex and large-scale risks . Previously, he served on the Board of the Group's reinsurance division, Willis Re, as CEO Global Analytics.
He is a member of the UK Prime Minister's Council for Science & Technology; the Royal Society's Working Group on Resilience to Climate Risk and Extreme Weather, Chairs the Willis Research Network and serves on the Executive Committee of the International Insurance Society (IIS), New York from which he received the Kenneth R Black Award in 2014. In 2013-15 he led the creation of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) of industry, governments, and international institutions to harness the role of re/insurance capabilities to meet the Global Goals and wider Post-2015 Agenda and was appointed to lead the Implementation Group of the IDF in May 2016. He has held various appointments within the UN and other international organizations and was made CBE in the 2016 UK New Year's Honours List for services to the economy through risk, insurance, and sustainable growth.
Dan Dyce, CPCU RPA is a consultant specializing in residential earthquake claim handling. His forte is the ability to train claim adjusters on earthquake policy coverage and claim to handle in a humorous and memorable way.
For 14 years prior to 2015, he was the Claim Manager for the California Earthquake Authority (CEA), the largest residential earthquake insurance company in the USA. www.earthquakeauthority.com In that capacity, he oversaw the earthquake claim handling of the 17 member insurance companies who take and process CEA residential earthquake claims.
He was previously a claim manager with CIGNA insurance company where he supervised property claims in seven Western states.
Dan is on the board of directors for The California Residential Mitigation Program (CRMP). CRMP was established to assist California homeowners who wish to seismically retrofit their houses with grants and incentives. https://www.californiaresidentialmitigationprogram.com/
He is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University and has worked in the insurance industry his whole career. He has held positions in underwriting, insurance operations, and claims.
He is a CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter) and a past president of Sacramento Valley Chapter of CPCU. He has also earned the RPA (Registered Professional Adjuster) designation.
He has written articles for Claims Magazine as well as CPCU News. He is an accomplished public speaker and has given a keynote speech on the topic of how to use your lunch hour to turbocharge your career. This is a motivational talk on personal self-development. He is a regular part of the earthquake coverage panel at PLRB’s (Property Loss Research Bureau) Annual Claims Conference and has presented at the CPCU Annual Meeting and Seminars.
Holly has worked for MDD Forensic Accountants for over eleven years. She was promoted to supervisor in 2009. Holly is passionate about providing the best service possible to her clients.
Holly has collaborated with various technical experts in the fields of research, science, medicine, law, building consulting and engineering to complete many projects. Over the years, she has worked on a variety of engagements involving the quantification of economic damages, including business interruption, lost profits, extra expenses, physical damage, stock and contents, fidelity losses, product liability and recalls, bordereaux reviews, and lost wages.
Holly gained catastrophe experience having worked on assignments ensuing from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike and from the 2010 floods in Australia.
Holly received her Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Kyle Falwell is the third generation of a family of Aviators; he started flying at the age of nine and has taken to the skies ever since. By the time he was seventeen years old he had received his pilot's license and at the age of nineteen he purchased his first aircraft a Piper PA-28 Warrior. Kyle holds his Commercial, ATP, Multi-engine licenses and his instrument ratings; he is also type rated in several aircraft with over 6,000 flying hours to date. He is currently the owner of Bon Air Jet and Bon Air Drone, both companies based out of Lynchburg, Virginia.
Mark Fox earned his meteorology degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1989, after growing up fascinated by the weather in north central Oklahoma. Mark has experience across the entire integrated warning team, starting his career working for a private meteorology company in college. He then worked for ten years as a broadcast meteorologist, mostly a KFDX-TV in Wichita Falls, Texas before moving to the National Weather Service in 1999. Since moving to the NWS, he has worked in the Fort Worth, Amarillo, and Lubbock offices, and served four years at Southern Region Headquarters as the Regional Training Officer. In 2009, he became the Warning & Coordination Meteorologist at WFO Dallas/Fort Worth.
Randy Frank is a Certified Emergency Manager in both Kansas and Iowa; Certified as a FEMA Master Continuity Practitioner and is presently the Director of Emergency Management for Marion County, Kansas, and a licensed sUAS Pilot. He has been serving in Emergency Management since the turn of the century filling numerous position in Kansas, Iowa, and Utah to include; South Central Kansas Incident Management Team, Public Information Officer; Iowa Incident Management Team Intelligence and Information Officer, Iowa Emergency Management Association Region II Alternate Committee Member and Preparedness Group Member, Iowa Region VI Homeland Security and Emergency Management Planner plus State of Utah Department of Homeland Security Emergency Services Advisory Board Member.
Frank also currently works as the Emergency Response Coordinator for FEMA Region VII, HHS, NDMS, DMORT. In this assignment, he provides expertise in functional areas at the disaster site, and supporting Incident Response Coordination Teams during the initial assessment, and provides expertise to State and Local government Emergency Management Officials during major emergencies.
Starting his Emergency Management career with the American Red Cross as the Director of Emergency Services in Utah deploying with Bureau of Land Management for wildland fires. Frank’s various other assignments include being assigned as the Analysis for Hurricane Ivan in Montgomery, Alabama, Job Director for Hurricane Katrina in Hattiesburg Mississippi, plus the Job Director for the 2005 Spring Flash Flood affecting Utah, Arizona, and Nevada.
Frank completed his career in law enforcement filing positions of Gang Enforcement Officer, Major Crimes Task Force Member, and as a Chief of Police.
Frank honorably served in the United States Army from 1980 until 1994. He began his service with the American Legion 11 years ago and is currently holding the position as the District IV Commander Kansas American Legion.
Victor Gensini is an Associate Professor of meteorology at College of DuPage outside of Chicago, IL. His research interests are primarily rooted in severe convective storms, synoptic meteorology, and applied climatology. His recent research surrounding climate change and severe weather, along with extended range prediction of tornado activity, has gained global attention. Along with teaching and research, Dr. Gensini helps maintain the popular "NEXLAB" weather website at College of DuPage (weather.cod.edu).
Mark has worked for the Oklahoma Dept. of Agriculture, Food and Forestry - Forestry Services Division for thirty-two years. He currently serves as the Assistant Director/Fire Management Chief for the Agency.
Mark began fighting wildland fire with the U.S. Forest Service in 1980. He has served as an Incident Commander (Type 3 and Type 4) on hundreds of multi-agency, multijurisdictional wildfires. His career also included duties as an Operations Section Chief, Type 2 on the Arkansas/Oklahoma Interagency Incident Management Team and Incident Commander Oklahoma Forestry Services’ State Incident Management Team. From 2002 through 2004, he functioned on Wally Bennett’s Northern Rockies Type I Incident Management Team as an Operations Branch Director. Mark is a primary Operations Section Chief, having served on Northern Rockies Type I Incident Management Teams from 2005 to present. His incident management experience has been gained from wildfire and all-hazards assignments in twenty-one states. He also is a member of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group Risk Management Committee.
In addition to wildland fire experience, Mark has a total of eighteen years of structural firefighting experience for the City of Jay Fire Department and Keys Volunteer Fire Department. He also is the current Chairman of Oklahoma’s All-Hazards Standards, Qualifications and Training Committee for Incident Management Teams and a member of the Oklahoma Incident Management Team Advisory Committee.
Jared L. Guyer is a national severe weather forecaster at the NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, OK. His primary responsibilities are the issuance of nationwide Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Watches and severe weather outlooks. Jared is heavily involved in SPC outreach, science-sharing activities, and operationally oriented applied research. Prior to arriving at the SPC in 2003, he spent time at National Weather Service offices in Hastings, Nebraska (2000-2003) and La Crosse, Wisconsin (1999-2000). He earned a B.S. degree in Meteorology and Communications from Valparaiso University in 1999 and an M.B.A. from Oklahoma Christian University in 2014.
Susan A. Jasko, Ph.D.
Professor, Communication, Design, and Culture, California University of Pennsylvania
Susan Jasko currently serves as a member of the AMS executive committee and as a counselor. She also serves as a member of the AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange advisory board. Her work within the weather enterprise includes serving on two NWS service assessment teams, membership in the Pittsburgh Integrated Warning Team, co-planner on various conference sessions, work as a Center for Advanced Public Safety Research Fellow (University of Alabama), a guest on WeatherBrains and WeatherGeeks, and a facilitator of IWT launches. Teaching at the California University of PA in the Communication Studies Department, she often advises Earth Science students about communication and social science course options and consults on student research projects. Dr. Jasko is keenly interested in several aspects of the larger weather enterprise, including the communication dimensions of weather warnings and other forecast messages, the organizational and enterprise-wide coordination challenges, and in the communication of weather and scientific information within the larger social/political sphere. These interests have led to a developing focus on the communication of science, especially in the context of developing information strategies enhancing the capacity of non-scientists to understand science and scientific research and findings in applied contexts (such as policy decision making, addressing local, community-based problems, raising public scientific literacy, and encouraging curiosity). Currently, she is working with two campus colleagues (Dr. Chad Kauffman, Meteorology, and Dr. Paul Hettler, Economics) to develop a weather/natural hazard specific version of the DoSPERT scale.
Darrel Kingfield is a CIMMS Warning Research Associate within the Severe Weather Warning Applications and Technology Transfer team at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL). In this role, Mr. Kingfield is a severe weather researcher and serves as a science transition leader in the evaluation of new technologies and applications within the Experimental Warning Program at NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT), where he develops severe weather algorithms for NWS operations. He currently is working on several multi-year climatologies exploring 1) patterns in storm dynamics and their interactions with cities, 2) the detection of tornadic debris via radar for use as guidance during nighttime or low visibility thunderstorm events, and 3) radar-based severe weather thresholds that can aid forecasters in the warning decision-making process and serve as inputs into future probabilistic guidance products. He received his B.S. in Synoptic Meteorology from Purdue University and M.S. in Geoinformatics from the University of Oklahoma. Mr. Kingfield is a doctoral candidate in Geography at the University of Oklahoma studying terrestrial and spaceborne applications of remote sensing on thunderstorms and its associated hazards.
Kevin Kloesel, Ph.D.
University Meteorologist, OU Office of Emergency Preparedness, National Weather Center
Kevin is the University Meteorologist for the Office of Emergency Preparedness at the University of Oklahoma. He is responsible for weather forecasting and decision-making for every outdoor event on the OU campus and serves as an advisor to OU President Boren on all weather matters, including campus closure and event emergency planning. Kevin has also co-authored the University’s weather and communications annexes to the OU Emergency Operations Plan and is responsible for authoring/reviewing the weather plan for every event at OU. In addition, Kevin chairs the Weather Advisory Board for the Event Safety Alliance and is a contributing writer for Campus Safety Magazine, Protocol - The Journal of the Entertainment Technology Industry, and Event Safety Insights Magazine. He has appeared on numerous national, regional and local media programs including The Weather Channel’s WXGeeks, SXSW Eco, WeatherBrains, and the National Academies of Sciences Distinctive Voices. Kevin is a certified Oklahoma Emergency Manager, the Director of the Oklahoma Climate Survey, and an associate professor in the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at OU.
Lt. Knight is a lifelong resident of Oklahoma and has over 20 years of public safety experience. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Central Oklahoma in 1995 and began his law enforcement career in 1996 with the Yukon Police Department.
In May of 2000, he joined the Oklahoma City Police Department where he spent seven years in operations and was a member of the Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team.
In 2007 he was assigned to the Oklahoma City Office of Emergency Management where he currently serves as the Police Liaison Officer. He is responsible for the prevention and protection missions of Oklahoma City’s comprehensive emergency management program and manages the emergency management training and exercise program.
Lt. Knight is the recipient of the Police Department’s Certificate of Achievement and Medal for Meritorious Service Awards and has served as a Negotiator for the Police Department’s Crisis- Hostage Negotiations Team. He received his Advanced Law Enforcement Certification as well as the Basic Law Enforcement Terrorism Certification from the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training and is certified in Infrastructure Protection.
Michael Koziara
Science and Operations Officer, National Weather Service, New Orleans/Baton Rouge Region
Michael Koziara is a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service (NWS) New Orleans Area Forecast Office located in Slidell, LA. He studied meteorology at St Louis University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1974. In 1979, he was awarded a Master of Science degree in Meteorology from the Naval Post Graduate School. Mr. Koziara is a member of American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.
Michael Koziara has over 40 years of professional meteorological experience. He began his career as an intern at the NWS office in Columbia, South Carolina before being promoted to a forecaster at the New Orleans Area Forecast Office in 1983. In 1994, Mr. Koziara was promoted to the position of Science and Operations Officer. His current duties include integrating new science and technology into daily operations and training his staff on the latest forecast techniques.
Matthew Kumjian, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Matthew Kumjian is an assistant professor of meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University's Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, where he has been since January 2014. Prior to that, he was an Advanced Study Program Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. At Penn State, Matt leads a research group that uses a combination of advanced radar analysis techniques and numerical modeling to better understand precipitation processes in high-impact weather events, such as Nor'Easters and blizzards, tornadic storms, and hailstorms. He has authored or co-authored over 40 journal articles on these and other topics. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State on topics including Atmospheric Chemistry and Cloud Physics, Mesoscale Meteorology, Radar Meteorology, and Snow and Ice Physics. In addition to his academic pursuits, Matt is the principal violist in the Nittany Valley Symphony Orchestra and enjoys traveling and trying exotic food and drink.
Daphne LaDue, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, University of Oklahoma Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms
Daphne S. LaDue is a Research Scientist at the University of Oklahoma's Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms. Her B.A. is in physics (Anderson University, 1990), M.S. in Atmospheric Science (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992), and Ph.D. in Adult & Higher Education (University of Oklahoma, 2011). She is a social scientist with several ongoing projects including studies of how emergency managers currently make decisions under the inherent uncertainties in severe weather forecasts and warnings, and a multi-year research and development project in NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Testbed that aims to improve the National Weather Service’s decision support services for Integrated Warning Team partners.
Damon Lane is Chief Meteorologist for KOCO 5 First Alert Weather.
Lane is the only Chief Meteorologist in Oklahoma City who holds a degree in Atmospheric Sciences/Meteorology. He is also the only Chief Meteorologist in Oklahoma City to hold the CBM seal of approval from The American Meteorological Society, the highest level certification from the nation’s top association for broadcast meteorologists. Lane and the KOCO 5 First Alert Weather team are independently certified as delivering the most accurate forecast in Oklahoma City by WeatheRate, an independent scientific organization that measures accuracy in weather forecasts across the country.
Lane has served as a guest meteorologist for ABC’s Good Morning America and is a frequently featured speaker at weather conferences around the country, where he shares his experience forecasting one of the nation’s most active weather regions.
In 2016, Lane was featured in the nationally televised ABC 20/20 primetime special “In An Instant” about the 2013 tornado outbreak that impacted Moore, Oklahoma. He shared his personal experiences covering the 2013 tornado outbreak that impacted his hometown of Moore. The massive tornado struck his own neighborhood as he covered it live on-air. His wife rode out the storm in their shelter with the family dogs while many nearby homes were damaged or destroyed. Lane has been active in community recovery efforts ever since. Lane’s coverage of the Tornado Outbreak was nominated for an Emmy award.
Previously, Lane served as Chief Meteorologist at KTXS-TV in Abilene, TX, forecasting severe weather on the southern edge of “Tornado Alley.” While there, he was named “Abilene’s Favorite Meteorologist” three years in a row.
Lane was born and raised in Northern Virginia and was drawn to science and weather from a young age. Lane earned two bachelor degrees in college. After graduating in less than four years in Communications/Mass Media from Old Dominion University, Lane earned his Bachelor of Science in Atmospheric Sciences/Meteorology from The University of North Carolina, Asheville.
While he takes his weather science seriously, during his free time Lane is just as serious about having fun out in the elements. An avid outdoorsman, he loves to hike in summer and snow ski in winter. He shares his love of the outdoors and traveling with his wife Melissa. Being new parents hasn’t slowed them down and they love to share their travel adventures with their daughter.
When he’s not exploring the outdoors with his family, he enjoys firing up the barbecue at home and is convinced that he makes the world’s best "jalapeno poppers."
Jodi Lee is the State Disaster Recovery Manager with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) at Camp Joseph T. Robinson in North Little Rock.
As the Disaster Recovery Manager, Jodi has oversight of both the state and federal Public Assistance and Individual Assistance programs. She has assisted in Recovery on numerous state disasters and 20 federally declared disasters for Arkansas and acts as the Deputy State Coordinating Officer for federal disasters.
Ms. Lee started at ADEM in January 2008. In 2009, she began working as a Public Assistance Officer and in 2012 she was promoted to State Disaster Recovery Manager. Ms. Lee is assigned to several positions in the State Emergency Operations Center and is a member of Arkansas’s Emergency Management Assistance Compact Advance Team. In 2012, Jodi and her A-Team teammates deployed to Albany, NY, to facilitate interstate mutual aid after Hurricane Sandy.
Ms. Lee has been an active member of the Arkansas Emergency Management Association since 2008 and served as an advisor to its executive board for 4 years. She acts as an ADEM representative to the Arkansas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster and also serves as a member of its executive committee. In August 2016, Jodi was voted State Employee of the Year by the Arkansas Emergency Management Association.
Marc Levitan, Ph.D.
Acting Director, National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP), National Institute of Standards and Technology
Marc Levitan leads the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP), a multiagency program whose purpose is to achieve major measurable reductions in the losses of life and property from windstorms. He also leads the wind engineering and coastal inundation R&D; efforts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He served as Team Leader for NIST Technical Investigation of the 2011 Joplin Tornado and for the NIST study of the 2013 Newcastle-Moore Oklahoma tornado. Before coming to NIST, Dr. Levitan was an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Louisiana State University and the founding Director of the LSU Hurricane Center. Prior to joining LSU, he spent five years as the Managing Director of the Wind Engineering Research Field Laboratory at Texas Tech University, studying wind effects on full-scale buildings. Dr. Levitan co-chairs the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) committee currently developing a national standard for wind speed estimation in tornadoes, which will include major improvements to the EF Scale. He chaired the committee that wrote the first edition of the ICC/NSSA Standard on the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters (ICC 500-2008) and the Committee that wrote the ASCE Guidelines for Wind Loads on Petrochemical and Other Industrial Facilities. Dr. Levitan has served as President of the American Association for Wind Engineering (AAWE) and Vice-President of the Applied Technology Council (ATC).
For nearly two decades John Madden has been making a name for himself in the construction and home building industry. As the owner of J. Madden Homes and Madden Construction, John specializes in sustainable design, energy efficiency, and disaster mitigation projects. John is deeply involved in the home building community by serving as the 2017 Chair for the Home Builders Association (HBA) Greater Tulsa Home & Garden Show and the 2017 Director of the National Association of Home Builders Board of Directors. He’s been named the Journal Record 2016 Achievers Under 40 and the Erosion Control Builder 4Q15 Designee by the City of Tulsa Storm Water and Land Management. In 2012, John was chair of the Home Builders GreenBlitz Tulsa Habitat for Humanity Project. His team built a house in just 5 days, and it was the first home in the nation to be built to ICC 700 National Green Building Standard and ENERGY STAR Version 3 certification requirements. John continues his commitment to green living and his community through his partnerships with Habitat for Humanity, Tulsa Partners, Sustainable Tulsa and Health Outreach Prevention Education, Inc. (H.O.P.E.).
Fred Malik is the Director of FORTIFIED Programs at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. He is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the FORTIFIED suite of programs, which seek to improve property resilience to natural disasters on a local, regional and national level. Since taking over the program in 2009, Fred has led FORTIFIED’s expansion to include existing residential, new residential and light commercial building standards. Under his leadership, FORTIFIED has quickly become the national building standard for resilience. With more than 20 years of construction experience and an M.B.A. from Virginia Tech, Fred has established himself as a recognized mitigation expert. He is a featured speaker on resilience and its value and practicality at conferences across the country. Fred is married and lives with his family in Florida.
Tim Marshall is a meteorologist and civil engineer who makes his living surveying and assessing damage in the wake of tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and hailstorms. Tim graduated Northern Illinois University in 1978 majoring in meteorology, earned a master’s degree in Atmospheric Science from Texas Tech University in 1980, and a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Texas Tech University in 1983. Tim is a registered professional engineer in Texas and has worked with Haag Engineering Company, a failure and damage consulting firm based in Dallas, since 1983.
Tim has chased hundreds of tornadoes and witnessed dozens of hurricanes. He has been part of several government-sponsored scientific projects including VORTEX 2, ROTATE and TWIRL where his task has been to deploy instrumented pods in the paths of tornadoes. Tim has conducted hundreds of damage surveys throughout the U.S. in the wake of natural disasters, has written numerous publications on building damage, and has appeared on dozens of radio and television programs. He is the principle trainer in how to conduct damage surveys for the National Weather Service (NWS) since the 1990s and serves on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Quick Response Team. Tim is currently chair of an American Society of Civil Engineers sub-committee whose task is to write a standard on how to use the Enhanced Fujita Scale to rate damage to structures.
Brad McMullan is an Emmy Award Winning Journalist, turned Award Winning CEO. McMullan is the founder and CEO of bfac.com, an international mobile technology company, that focuses on mobile app development & mass texting for businesses and organizations. Today, bfac.com has 47 U-S states as clients (the actual states themselves are clients of bfac.com) and also the territories of Guam & Puerto Rico. The award-winning technology company is currently used by more than a million people and more than 900 companies around the world. Some clients include Toyota, Pepsi, Michelin Tires, Ozarka Water, Dell, The Girl Scouts, The Salvation Army, United Way, 7-Eleven, Buffalo Wild Wings, PGA Events, The National Guard, MGM Park, Sta-Home, AMR, and Remington Park. The company currently operates in more than 50 markets and owns or operates more than 120 websites/domains including WeddingTexting.com, ResumeApps.org, YourOwnCustomApps.com, and CollegeGarageSale.com.
McMullan is an active volunteer, serving on multiple boards including the Salvation Army's National Advisory Board. He also serves as the chairman of the Jackson, Mississippi Salvation Army Advisory Board and he is a member of the Oklahoma City Chapter of YPO. McMullan was recognized as the Community Advocate of the Year by New Horizon Church International and was named to the 2016 Tech 21 List by the Business Journal. McMullan was also elected to a four-year term by his peers, to serve on the Madison County Business League Board of Directors.
When he is not running his company or working in the community, McMullan can usually be found on the speaking circuit. He was invited to speak at more than 70 events and conventions over the last few years including the 2016 Young Bankers Association Annual Conference, The 2016 Manufactured Housing Association Conference, The 2016 Marketing Association of Oklahoma's Luncheon, 2016 Germantown Tennessee's Chamber of Commerce Annual Luncheon, The Independent Insurance Association of Oklahoma's Annual Conference, The eTech Conference sponsored by FedEx, The Oklahoma Association of Associations Annual Conference, The 65th Mississippi Economic Council Annual Meeting, The Furniture Marketing Group's Annual Symposium at the Venetian in Las Vegas, The North American Rental Car Association's Convention at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and at the Better Business Bureau Regional Conference in Asheville, North Carolina. McMullan was also the keynote speaker for the Baptist Convention's Witnessing Through Media Awards.
McMullan is also known by many as an Award-Winning Broadcast Journalist. McMullan won two Emmy Awards and has five Emmy nominations to his credit. He also has won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and received multiple honors from the Associated Press.
McMullan has interviewed a number of newsmakers including President Obama, Former President George W. Bush, Former Vice President Dick Cheney, Former President George H. Bush, Sen. John McCain, J.C. Watts, Oliver North, Kelly Ripa and Rudy Giuliani. McMullan’s work has been featured on Real Sports with Bryant Gumble (HBO), The History Channel, CNN, and in a number of newspapers around the world including the Washington Post.
Major Greg Merrell has served as Company Officer with the Technical Rescue Team at Oklahoma City Fire Department. His duties include responding to all technical rescue incidents in the Oklahoma City Metro Area, to include: Rope, Trench, Confined Space, Structural Collapse, Vehicle Extrication and Swift Water Rescues and SCUBA Dive Rescue/Recovery incidents. He is a Task Force Leader with the OK-TF 1, US&R; Task Force. He was the Rescue Team Manager during OK-TF 1 Deployment to the May 2013 Tornadoes. He is responsible for both initial and continuation training of members of OK-TF 1 and Technical Rescue Training of OKC Rescue personnel. He instructs Technical Rescue Training for Oklahoma State University - Fire Service Training and Mid-America Rescue Company. He trains the Emergency Response Team with Oklahoma Highway Patrol in Swift Water Rescue. He has trained U.S. National Guard soldiers throughout the United States, in Urban Search and Rescue Operations in preparation for disaster response. Major Merrell served on Active Duty in the U.S. Army as a UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter Pilot in Command, Unit Trainer, and Aviation Safety Officer.
Patrick Merrick has 27 years of insurance industry experience, all with Farmers Insurance. He began his career in 1991 in field claims and eventually rose to the position of Oklahoma’s auto claims manager. In that position, he managed a team of 9 supervisors and 55 field claims representatives.
In 2008, he moved over to distribution (agency management). Within a year, he achieved the position of Division Marketing Manager and began managing 9 District Managers and 250 agents. It was while he was in that role that he helped expand the structure and work of the "Agent Catastrophe Action Team (ACAT)," including forming the first ACAT board. Pat considers the ACAT program as one of his greatest accomplishments during his tenure with Farmers.
In June 2016, Pat purchased an agency is now a proud agent representative on the ACAT team.
Zoe Midyett is a rancher and a computer nerd who came to Oklahoma for a tech job and ended up buying her favorite feed store, Red Earth Feed & Tack in 2006, which she has built it into a full-service clothing, gift, tack, and feed operation. During the 2013 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak, Zoe, and her staff worked tirelessly to solicit and coordinate volunteer help and donated supplies and funds for tornado victims, both directly and to veterinary hospitals. She gained extensive first-hand knowledge of what tornado victims - particularly rural tornado victims -need and where we often fall short in our response. Zoe continues to coordinate volunteer rescue and response efforts during various types of disasters.
Cindi Miles brings 25 years of claims management experience with an emphasis in Catastrophe management, Fraud Investigation, and Vendor management. Her expertise has been in the Property claims, with experience in Auto and Casualty aspects of claims handling.
Having been a trainer for 25 years in all facets of property claims, she continues to train even after retiring from Shelter Insurance. She presently is a Continuing Education Provider for the Oklahoma Insurance Dept., as well as an instructor with Francis Tuttle Vo-Tech. Cindi has been a mediator for the Oklahoma Alternative Dispute Resolution System for the last two years as well.
As a Property Specialist for Shelter Insurance Companies, a Super Regional Property & Casualty Carrier, Cindi’s focus was in bringing new technology to the company and developing processes and proving the Return on Investment for the implementation of those technologies. As a trainer for the company Cindi has been instrumental in developing the property claims training track used by the company today. As a Catastrophe Manager for over 23 years, she has been deployed to almost every Cat event in the Midwest, Colorado and Louisiana.
She has previously served on the board of the Oklahoma chapters of the IAAI and AISIU. She is also a member of the American Agri-Women organization and an advocate for Habitat for Humanity.
Cindi is a Graduate of the University of Florida with a Degree in Criminal Justice. She holds the designation of the Fraud Claim Law Specialist from the American Educational Institute as well as her Associate in Insurance Claims Degree.
As chief industry strategist at EagleView Technology Corporation and the Property Drone Consortium, Charles Mondello is active with unmanned aerial system research and strategy for property inspections with a special emphasis on regulatory and standards development. Within the business development team at EagleView Technology Corporation, Mondello is actively involved in all elements of the organization and focuses on shaping client requirements into viable corporate initiatives.
Mondello’s career has encompassed multiple leadership roles including his most recent as executive vice president of corporate development at Pictometry International Corp. He was involved in the creation of many new business lines and sales models supporting clients worldwide. Mondello has a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Imaging Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is certified as a Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) and holds multiple patents in remote sensing/photogrammetry in oblique and real-time data processing.
Glen Mulready is a Republican member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, representing District 68. He was first elected to the chamber in 2010. He previously served as Assistant Majority Whip.
Mulready’s professional experience includes working in the insurance industry for 26 years. He became a top executive at several large insurance corporations before opening his own company.
In May 2011, Governing Magazine named Mulready one of 17 “GOP Legislators to Watch.” Each of the legislators was selected on the basis of qualities like leadership, ambition and political potential.
Mulready is currently serving as chair of the Insurance committee and serves on the Administrative Rules and public health committee.
Governor Scott Walker appointed Ted Nickel as Commissioner of Insurance for the state of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011. The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance regulates the business of insurance in Wisconsin. The office has a staff of 153 and is responsible for examining industry financial solvency and market conduct, licensing agents, reviewing policy forms for compliance with state legislation, investigating consumer complaints, and providing consumer information. In addition to its regulatory duties, the office administers the State Life Insurance Fund, the Local Government Property Insurance Fund, and the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund.
Prior to his appointment, Nickel worked for almost 18 years as director of governmental and regulatory affairs for Church Mutual Insurance Company in Merrill, WI. Nickel has been actively engaged in insurance industry affairs in Wisconsin. He has served on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance, including having served as chair. Nickel served on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund and the Oklahoma Property Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association, as well as having served as a member of the Legal and Government Affairs Committee of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). Nickel also worked in the administration of former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson. Nickel served on the Northcentral Technical College District Board of Trustees for six years. While there, he served as secretary/treasurer and participated on a CEO recruiting committee. He chaired the Merrill, WI, Parks and Recreation Committee and was vice chair of the Merrill, WI, and City Plan Commission.
Nickel was elected Vice President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in November 2015. He currently serves on the Executive (EX) Committee, Cybersecurity (EX) Task Force, Governance Review (EX) Task Force, Government Relations (EX) Leadership Council, International Insurance Relations (EX) Leadership Group, Audit Committee and the Internal Administration (EX1) Subcommittee. He chairs the NAIC/Industry Liaison Committee and is vice chair of the Consumer Participation Board of Trustees. He is a member of the NAIC American Indian and Alaska Native Liaison Committee and serves on several other NAIC task forces and committees. In addition, he chairs the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance (E) Working Group, and the Health Care Reform Regulatory Alternatives (B) Working Group.
In August 2014, Nickel was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee on Insurance, which serves as an advisory committee to the Federal Insurance Office (FIO).
Nickel earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance from Valparaiso University.
Eric C. Nordman, CPCU, CIE, MCM
Director, Regulatory Services Division and Center for Insurance Policy and Research (CIPR), National Association of Insurance Commissioners
Eric C. Nordman, CPCU, CIE, MCM is currently serving the needs of the state insurance regulatory community in his capacity as Director of the Regulatory Services Division and Director of the Center for Insurance Policy and Research (CIPR) with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The Division includes three departments—the Research Actuarial Department, the Data Coordination and Statistical Analysis Department and the Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs Department. Collectively they are engaged in a wide range of insurance research and in support of NAIC initiatives, committees, task forces and working groups. He previously held the positions of Director of Research and Senior Regulatory Specialist with the NAIC prior to his appointment as Director of Regulatory Services. He has been with the NAIC since 1991.
In his position, Mr. Nordman supports the Property and Casualty Insurance (C) Committee and the Cybersecurity (EX) Task Force. He provides expertise on property and casualty insurance, financial and market regulation, cybersecurity, loss costs, electronic commerce, speed to market, terrorism insurance, medical malpractice, risk retention groups and other regulatory issues. He frequently represents insurance regulators speaking before a wide variety of audiences on a number insurance regulatory topics.
Mr. Nordman was employed by the Michigan Insurance Bureau for thirteen years. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Michigan State University. He earned his CPCU from the American Institute for Property and Liability Underwriters, Inc. The Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society (IRES) has granted Mr. Nordman its highest designation, that of Certified Insurance Examiner. He has also attained the Market Conduct Management designation from IRES. He has served on the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Workers’ Compensation Health Initiative and was a member of the National Insurance Task Force of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. He recently completed a three-year term as a national director of the CPCU Society Leadership Council and a two-year term as a director for the Insurance Regulatory Examiners Society. He served as newsletter editor of the CPCU Society’s Regulatory and Legislative Interest Section. He serves on the Study Panel on National Data on Workers’ Compensation with the National Academy of Social Insurance. He currently serves on the Johnson County Community College Insurance Industry Advisory Board and Business Administration Advisory Board.
Mr. Nordman was the 2011 recipient of the IRES Al Greer award. The award is presented annually to an insurance regulator and IRES member who not only embodies the dedication, knowledge, and tenacity of a professional regulator but who exceeds those standards. In 2013 the IRES Foundation recognized Mr. Nordman with the Paul L. DeAngelo Memorial Teaching Award in recognition of his contributions to insurance education.
Glenn Overcash has over fifteen years of experience performing residential structural design, plans review, field observations, and providing technical support for FEMA’s Building Science Branch through codes and standards monitoring and the development and review of design and construction publications and training. He managed the project to update FEMA P-361, Safe Rooms for Tornadoes and Hurricanes, Guidance for Community and Residential Safe Rooms (2015) and provides ongoing support for FEMA’s Safe Room Helpline.
Mr. Parker is a 1998 engineering graduate of Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. After finishing college, his work focused on performing forensic evaluations of buildings, preparing structural engineering designs, providing roofing consultant services, and providing building envelope consulting services. Mr. Parker’s expertise includes the evaluation of low- to mid-rise buildings of all types, including (but not limited to) assembly (e.g., churches and restaurants), business, educational, factory (e.g. manufacturing facilities), institutional (e.g. hospitals, nursing homes, etc), mercantile, residential (e.g. single family, multi-family, and hotels), storage (e.g. aircraft hangars and warehouses), and miscellaneous facilities (e.g. retaining wall, fences, barns). Building components investigated include (but are not limited to) foundations, concrete (cast-in-place and post-tensioned), structural steel, masonry, light wood framing, light steel framing, timber framing, building envelope (roofing, weather barriers, waterproofing, sealants, coatings, and veneers), and interior finishes.
Mr. Parker has performed work on assignments involving building code compliance, construction defects, foundation movement, construction contractual disputes, structural failures, building envelope water intrusion, post-fire structural issues, vibration effects resulting from blasting, earthquakes, and construction equipment, storm and flood damage, hail damage, damage from high winds, vehicle impact to buildings, and plumbing leaks. Mr. Parker has performed thermal imaging to investigate moisture and air intrusion of the building envelope and has provided expert witness testimony.
In addition to Mr. Parker’s forensic/investigative experience, he also has extensive experience in the preparation of construction and bidding documents necessary for the restoration and/or rehabilitation of existing properties. These services also include providing construction administration services (supervising bidding phase, reviewing bids, recommending a contractor, organizing regular project meetings, providing construction quality assurance observations & associated reports, and presiding of the project close-out). Mr. Parker also has experience in Building Enclosure Commissioning (BECx) which includes providing technical review of the building envelope construction plans, providing construction quality assurance observations and associated reports, and field performance testing of installed building envelope components. Finally, Mr. Parker has served as a roofing consultant for over 16 years and has extensive experience in shingle, metal, spray polyurethane foam, shake, slate, tile, built-up, and single-ply (EPDM, TPO, PVC) roofing systems
David Petermann, a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist (CITRMS), is an Executive Director with LegalShield and IDShield. He closed the doors of his 22-year General Contracting business where he had extensive experience in Storm Damage Restoration and has spent the past 18-years educating and protecting individuals and businesses with LegalShield and 13-years with IDShield services. David is a sought-after speaker and educator in Identity Theft and Risk Management.
Glenn Pomeroy has been the CEO of the not-for-profit CEA—the largest earthquake insurance provider in the United States, and one of the largest in the world—since 2008. Under Glenn’s leadership, CEA has been able to significantly lower its rates and dramatically increase its coverage options—increasing the number of homes protected by over 130,000 over the last eight years.
Glenn is originally from North Dakota, where he previously served his native state as a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives (he was first elected at age 22), county prosecutor and North Dakota Insurance Commissioner. He was selected by his peers from around the country to serve as President of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. He later worked in the private reinsurance industry in Kansas City.
As part of CEA's strategic plan to Educate, Mitigate, and Ensure, Glenn has been crisscrossing the state in 2016 to spread the news about the new, affordable options now available from CEA.
Lars Powell, Ph.D.
Director, Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research, University of Alabama
Lars Powell is Executive Director of the Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research (ACIIR) at the University of Alabama. ACIIR identifies and solves insurance problems with research and education. Dr. Powell has previously worked in both academic and industry roles.
Lars’ primary research interests include loss mitigation, insurer capitalization, and the effects of regulation on insurance markets. His work appears in several top academic and practitioner journals. Lars is a past President of the Risk Theory Society, and former Editor of the Journal of Insurance Regulation. He is a founding board member of Arkansas Mutual Insurance Company and a recipient of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies’ NAMIC Service Award. He earned undergraduate degrees from the University of South Carolina, and a Ph.D. in Risk Management and Insurance from the University of Georgia.
Effrin Reeder
Spokesman for IDShield & Director of the Identity Theft & Breach Notification practice, Kroll
Effrin Reeder, a spokesperson for IDShield, is a Director of the Identity Theft & Breach Notification (ITBN) practice in Nashville, TN. He’s been in this field for nearly 10 years leading teams that facilitate the response to nearly 1,500 data breaches across North America. He works for Kroll, the country’s top a risk management company that provides the monitoring and restoration service to IDShield.
Jenifer Reynolds is proud to be a third-generation Oklahoman and a second-generation journalist. She spent twenty years in radio and TV news, finishing her career at KWTV in Oklahoma City, where she was capitol reporter and then six and ten anchors. Winner of the DuPont-Columbia Award, the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, and the American Women in Radio and Television Lifetime Achievement award, Jenifer joined her father as a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2015..
Drew Riley is a skilled electrical engineer and Senior Technical Consultant for Envista Forensics, based in Dallas, TX. As an expert consultant, Drew provides damage assessment, failure analysis, origin, and cause determination following claims involving equipment and machinery. Mr. Riley’s engineering experience includes investigating damage causation and performing maintenance on complex mechanical, electrical, and electronic equipment. As a consulting expert, he frequently provides assistance to the insurance and legal communities in matters of equipment losses, equipment valuation, damage assessment, and causation analysis.
Chris is the founder of TornadoTitans.com, creator of Titan U, and a filmmaker based in Bethany, Oklahoma. A native Oklahoman from Velma and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma in 2014, Chris has created award winning weather content on the web and helped create the largest visual content library of storm education content available in Titan U. With over a million total views, the Tornado Titans Web Series has delivered viewing audiences the experience of storm chasing across the web multiple web platforms.
Chris’ video has also been featured in multiple documentaries and new networks around the world. Specializing in communications, especially in social media, Chris hopes to help continue to improve the public’s understanding of how to be more ready for severe weather as well as how to more effectively communicate messages to large audiences.
Outside of weather, Chris also has worked on multiple films and photography projects is a communications/marketing consultant and lives with his wife and two pugs in the OKC metro area.
Byron Schick is a 1987 graduate of the Oklahoma State university college of veterinary medicine. He joined USDA Veterinary Services in 2003 as a field veterinary medical officer and became the Area Veterinarian in charge in 2006. He was the incident commander for one of four veterinary services teams from 2010-2015. He has served on deployments to hurricane Katrina and Gustav, two BSE responses, three bovine tuberculosis responses, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and three rotations for the avian influenza outbreak of 2015.
He currently serves as the Director for Service Center Four managing international animal movement for six states in the south central United States.
Lori Schultz, M.S.
Research Associate II, Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama; NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT)
Lori Schultz is a research associate with the Earth Systems Science Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville/NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Training Center (SPoRT). Lori served twelve years in the U.S. Army as a CH-47D Chinook mechanic/Flight Engineer and Quality Control inspector before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with minors in mathematics and photography from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville TN. Plans to become a mechanical engineer were quickly superseded by the opportunity to study all the weather she once spent time flying through, resulting in a Master of Science degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Lori is currently a member of NASA SPoRT (https://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/sport/) responsible for transitioning unique satellite applications to the National Weather Service (NWS) operational community while working to better understand their specific forecast challenges. As a member of the Disasters team, she specifically works to expand the use of satellite remote sensing imagery and derived products to support tornado damage surveys after severe weather events. This is accomplished by tailoring satellite products based on the feedback received as well as developing comprehensive training tools to ensure that the imagery products are being utilized correctly.
Rick Smith is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Norman Forecast Office. He manages NWS Norman’s hazardous weather preparedness, outreach and decision support services activities for the office’s 56 county area of responsibility. Rick and the NWS Norman staff work closely with the media, emergency managers, other states, counties, tribal and local government officials to ensure that communities in central and western Oklahoma and western north Texas are ready when hazardous weather threatens.
Rick has been recognized for his work with several awards, including the National Weather Association’s Individual Operational Achievement Award in 2013, and the American Meteorological Society’s Francis W. Reichelderfer Award in 2015. Rick was also awarded the Department of Commerce’s Bronze Medal Award in 2015 for his vision and application to social media to advance the goals for a Weather-Ready Nation. Rick is a member of the National Weather Association, the American Meteorological Society, and the Oklahoma Emergency Management Association.
Rick has been a meteorologist with the National Weather Service since 1992 and worked in Memphis, Tennessee, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Fort Worth, Texas before assuming his position in Norman in January of 2002. Rick and his wife Christina live in Norman with their four children.
Jeannette Sutton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Director, Risk and Disaster Communications Center, University of Kentucky
Jeannette Sutton, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and the Director of the Risk and Disaster Communication Center at the University of Kentucky. Sutton specializes in disaster and risk, with a primary focus on online informal communications, and public alerts and warnings disseminated via terse messaging channels. Much of her research investigates the evolving role of information and communication technology, including social media and mobile devices, for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
Sutton has held numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Naval Research. Her research has been published in the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the Proceedings of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management; Information, Communication, and Society; Health Communication, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Jeannette holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder and completed her postdoctoral training at the Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Terri Talley, Business Development Officer, has worked at the Allegiance Credit Union (formerly Federal Employees Credit Union) for 28 years and is a survivor of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Terri has worked in various departments throughout her career at ACU including the teller area, consumer loans, mortgages, and marketing. Over the past several years she has been presenting seminars on Credit Score and Identity Theft to various federal agencies and businesses and groups throughout the Oklahoma City metro.
Lisa Teel has a Master’s degree from OU in Administration, is an Oklahoma Certified Emergency Manager and instructor for CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), NIMS (National Incident Management System), Recognizing and investigating bomb threats on college campuses, as well as several other emergency preparedness topics. I am a member of Central Oklahoma Emergency Management Association, Campus Safety Health and Environmental Association where I serve as the Chair for the Emergency Management COP and International Association of Emergency Managers. She has worked in higher education since 2001 and has been an emergency manager in higher education since 2007.
George joined MDD Forensic Accountants’ Philadelphia office in 1998. He also worked in MDD Washington DC and Parsippany, New Jersey offices prior to moving to the firm’s Dallas location in 2011. He is a Partner at the firm and is the Managing Partner of the southwest region.
George specializes in business interruption losses, physical damages, employee fraud, extra expenses, construction claims, stock and contents, fidelity losses and third party matters. He also has experience quantifying catastrophe service losses.
George has been involved in numerous cases across a wide range of industries.
He has served as both a fact and expert witness and has assisted counsel in the preparation and response to interrogatories and requests for documents. In addition, he has prepared expert reports and provided analysis and testimony in support of his findings and on opposing expert’s findings.
George has co-authored articles on subjects such as occupational fraud that have appeared on websites such as uslaw.org and he has presented seminars to insurance clients on topics such as builders’ risk, business interruption, extra expense and insurable values.
George received his Masters of Business Administration from Philadelphia University. He also graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.
Eric Waage is the Emergency Management Director for Hennepin County, Minnesota. He is responsible for managing county-wide disaster readiness, response and recovery efforts, and for providing emergency management support and assistance to municipal and special jurisdictions. Some of his recent initiatives have included forging public-private partnerships to improve emergency capabilities; increasing emergency manager and responder situational awareness through both sensor technology and process innovation; and improving the capability and clarity of public warning.
Waage retired from active military service in 2011 as a Lieutenant Colonel. A recurring focus during his military career was disaster operations. He has held diverse roles ranging from a search and rescue helicopter pilot; to the command of a special team to detect and identify weapons of mass destruction (WMD); to leading the disaster response program of the Minnesota National Guard. During the Iraq War, he was commander of an Army aviation support battalion operating throughout central and southern Iraq. Waage holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography and a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College.
Lisa Waterman, an Independent Insurance Broker since 2000, I added LegalShield and IDShield services to my portfolio after nearly losing my Securities and Insurance licenses due to an identity theft event in my life. “I am amazed by the number of people who still carry their social security card in their wallet or who ignore and deny their risks and vulnerabilities they face daily.” I have made it my life’s mission to educate everyone I meet about risks and ways to reduce vulnerability. If you don’t need it in your wallet…secure it at home!
Major Brian Weatherford is a Training Officer, Special Operations Coordinator and Paramedic with Norman Fire Department. He is a member of OK-TF 1 and serves as Rescue Specialist and Medical Specialist. He has been on several deployments with OK-TF 1 to include the May 2013 Moore, OK tornado. He is certified as a Technician in all Rescue Disciplines. He instructs Technical Rescue Training for Oklahoma State University - Fire Service Training and Mid-America Rescue Company. He trains the Emergency Response Team with Oklahoma Highway Patrol in Swift Water Rescue. He has trained U.S. National Guard soldiers throughout the United States, in Urban Search and Rescue Operations in preparation for disaster response. Major Weatherford is also a Swift/Flood Water rescue boat instructor and has trained Fire Departments throughout the state of Oklahoma on proper boat operations. He is responsible for the training of all Norman Fire Dept. active personnel and the initial fire and rescue training of the Norman Fire Dept. Recruit Academy.
Dr. Michael J. Wiley, owner of Equi-Center Veterinary Hospital in Norman, Oklahoma has been a practicing veterinarian for over thirty years. A 1980 graduate of Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He treated equine victims of two large, long-track tornadoes that struck near his practice in 1999 and again in 2013, giving him extensive experience in treating large-scale traumatic injuries. His dedication to his profession, particularly under very adverse conditions, has been honored with the governor's humanitarian award in 1999 and with the Dr. Michael J. Wiley Endowed Scholarship in Large Animal Medicine by an anonymous donor from 2013.
Just two years into his insurance career with Farmers Insurance, Pepper Williams experienced his first tornado. It was an F1 storm in 1975. When he went into the damaged area to check on his friends and clients, he found people shocked and wondering what to do. In that moment, Williams reassured the victims and tasked them with preparing lists to expedite the claims process. That’s when he realized his job as an insurance professional was to fill the gap between the event and the time clients contact their claims representative. Post-event contact with clients has been Williams’ passion ever since that tornado.
The concept of a catastrophe response team for Farmers Insurance developed from that point. By the time a major tornado struck Moore, OK in 1999, Williams and the Farmers Catastrophe Action Team were able to move through the community, offering immediate support to victims regardless of their insurer and quickly marking the properties insured by Farmers to prevent adjusters from being delayed by wandering unfamiliar, devastated neighborhoods.
Apart from Williams’ expertise and interest in catastrophe response, he has served Farmers as District Manager for more than 43 years. He recruits and trains new agents as well as supervises and manages compliance issues. Williams has been instrumental in teaching Farmers agents in his district how best to serve the customer.
A native Oklahoman, Williams is a graduate of Northwestern State College in Alva with degrees in Biology and Chemistry. He currently lives in the Oklahoma City metro area.
Arn Womble is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at West Texas A&M; University in Canyon, TX. He is a graduate of the wind engineering programs at Colorado State University and Texas Tech University, and he has examined the effects of high winds on structures since 1989. His consulting engineering background includes structural design, wind-tunnel testing of structures, and failure analysis. He worked extensively in engineering expert witness investigations for wind/water damage causation studies in the unprecedented insurance litigation following Hurricane Katrina. His academic research emphasizes the use of remote-sensing technologies for visual and automated wind damage assessment. He chairs the Remote Sensing Subcommittee of the ASCE Standards Committee for Wind Speed Estimation in Tornadoes and is a member of the ASCE Enhanced Fujita Scale Committee, which is responsible for future updates of the EF Scale.
Richard Wood, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska- Lincoln
Dr. Wood has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2013, after completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. He received his B.S. (2006) in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Structures from Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY, and his M.S. (2009) and Ph.D. (2012) in Structural Engineering from UC San Diego in La Jolla, CA. His research interests lie within structural dynamics, the response of structures to extreme loads, and the remote sensing and nondestructive assessment of various structures and civil infrastructure networks.
