Sr. Program Specialist, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Risk Reduction Division
DHS/FEMA/Federal Insurance and Mitigation
USA
Wendy is a Sr. Program Specialist with the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program at DHS/FEMA HQ in the Building Science Branch of the Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration. Her job as part of the Implementation and Outreach section is to coordinate, manage, and provide leadership to FEMA’ s 8 Earthquake Consortia and Partners (Central United States Earthquake Consortia -CUSEC, Western States Seismic Policy Council -WSSPC, Northeast States Emergency Consortia – NESEC, Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup – CREW, Applied Technology Council – ATC, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute – EERI, Southern California Earthquake Center – SCEC and the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes – FLASH) with a focus on life safety and property resiliency through Mitigation efforts. These eight partners help provide assistance to the 33 states and territories with moderate to high risk of earthquake in the U.S. Part of Wendy’s job is also to provide awareness and education on Building Science and seismic design by speaking to audiences of all types and sizes. In addition, Wendy joins other NEHRP HQ staff by providing strategic direction and coordination to the 10 FEMA Regional NEHRP Earthquake Program Managers.
Wendy has been working at FEMA HQ in Washington, DC since 2010 and has been instrumental in coordinating the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program with the 10 FEMA Regions and the 33 states and territories at moderate to high risk of earthquake hazards. Wendy works daily at maintaining a high level of interaction among many federal, state, private and non-profit agencies, and other FEMA offices and Directorates. Wendy interacts daily with the Sr. Leadership within these organizations to coordinate policy development, program planning, and assists in furthering the development of partnerships with mutual goals of promoting earthquake risk reduction activities.
In her position in Washington, DC, Wendy uses her communication skills and strategic outreach to plan and attend workshops, numerous committee meetings and conferences, with a goal of sharing information as well as capturing feedback. The information obtained through these important interactions serves as a continuing effort for developing and improving strategic portions of FEMA’s National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program.
FEMA’s Role in Communicating During Crisis Events