Meet Our Staff
There are currently 14 staff members working in the King County Office of Emergency Management at the Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center. These include the administration, program managers, limited-term positions funded by Homeland Security grants, and special volunteer/work study program employees. Check out the employee profiles to learn more about who does what in our office and how to contact them.
Quick Contact Information
A list of all staff and contact information for King County Office of
Emergency Management.
Administration
Jeff Bowers |
|
Jeff oversees the administrative functions of the Office of Emergency Management, including budget, human resources, payroll, finance and procurement, and homeland security grants administration. He also serves as the Acting Director in Eric's absence. Jeff started with King County in 2003. Prior to that he worked for eight years as a Hazard Mitigation Program Manager at FEMA, then started his own independent consulting business providing assistance to local and state agencies in disaster planning, grant writing, and project management. A problem-solver by nature, Jeff enjoys the challenges presented by the ever-changing field of emergency management, and he believes that teamwork and effective coordination can help public officials anticipate and often prevent problems before they occur.
"I try to follow the words of President Harry Truman: 'It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.'" |
Mary Ann Hale |
Mary Ann assists Melody and all other staff with a variety of administrative duties. She is likely the first voice you will hear on the phone and the first smile you will see when you arrive at our office. She came to our office in February 2004. Before venturing into the emergency management field (a new experience), she worked for the Department of Natural Resources, Solid Waste Division as an administrative specialist. She has an extensive educational background and graduated from college (with honors), receiving two business degrees. Mary Ann will tell you she is resistant to having her photo taken, so it is quite an accomplishment that her picture actually appears on our Web site! "I work with a great group of people." |
Melody Hall |
| Melody oversees office functions for OEM and performs specialized
administrative functions for the Director, Assistant Director, and five
program staff. She began working for our office in 1997. She came from the Washington State Military Disaster Field Office (DFO) in
the Disaster Recovery Section where she worked as a grant processor
specializing in individual and family grant resources. Melody's calm demeanor
helps to keep the staff grounded and on an even keel.
"This job has afforded me the opportunity and knowledge to set the platform to help individuals and families prepare for the unknown and unseen disasters that can and will occur." |
Mung Nguyen |
| Mung is our finance person. She's responsible for handling our finances,
payroll, accounts payable, and accounts receivable - basically numbers!
She came to emergency management in 1996 from the King County Department of
Natural Resources. In 1990 she started with the County as a work training
participant while she was in high school. Mung is extremely diligent in
her efforts to ensure that our staff remains cost conscious
and follows County policies and procedures.
"I like working with numbers." |
Emergency Management
The following individuals are program managers and staff who are responsible for coordinating a wide range of emergency management related projects and efforts.
Shad Burcham |
| Shad is responsible for evacuation and pandemic flu planning, public sector recovery, homeland security equipment, and critical infrastructure protection grants. These entail planning for the response to a disaster, the homeland security objective of providing appropriate equipment to the response community, and assisting jurisdictions in acquiring funding after a disaster. Shad has worked for King County Emergency Management for the past 14 years. He has a Baccalaureate in Education and Masters in Business Administration. Before joining our office, he worked with an environmental consulting firm specializing in remediation of leaking underground storage tanks. Prior to that he was a United States Army Corps of Engineers Officer for twenty years where he was involved in combat engineering, construction management and personnel administration. He's received a number of military awards including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Meritorious Service Medals.
"I like being able to work with diverse groups of professionals for the greater good of our citizens." |
Timothy
Doyle |
|
Timothy came to our office in 2002 with the assignment of developing our first regional hazard mitigation plan. His is currently focusing on public education, management of the CERT and Citizen Corps programs, and mitigation. Prior to coming to King County, Timothy worked 20 years for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA} and was involved in human services, community relations, public assistance and mediation. "I've always liked helping others in times of challenge. Working in emergency management gives me a chance to help others learn about how they can contribute to community response and recovery efforts." |
Kathryn Howard |
| Kathryn is a long-time King County employee that transferred from the Solid Waste Division to our department in the Spring of 2003. She initially worked with all King County disciplines and jurisdictions as the Region 6 (King County) Homeland Security Coordinator and liaison to the State of Washington and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on grants and funding needs for the region. Now Kathryn works with our regional partners, disciplines, tribes and jurisdictions on the Regional Disaster Plan for Private and Public Organizations, which is a unique "mutual aid agreement" and operational framework that provides public, private and nonprofit organizations an avenue to efficiently assist one another during a disaster. Also included in her current tasks are resource management and logistics, and overseeing the general training and exercises programs that are not ODP/DHS grant related. Prior to her work in public service with King County, she had the opportunity to work on the other side of the fence as a private consultant.
"I enjoy working with people, and helping to prepare, respond and recover from all types of incidents." |
Heather Kelly |
Heather is responsible for developing the Emergency Management Plan, as well as developing training courses and planning exercises. Additionally, she will be contributing to work on Pandemic Flu issues. Heather comes to OEM from the private sector where she oversaw the safety, planning, and response procedures for a national corporation with 10,000 employees and over 850 Volunteer responders. She also has 15 years of pre-hospital emergency response, training, and planning experience as an EMT and has been a volunteer here at the ECC for several years. Heather also volunteers in local schools, as well as the Boy and Girl Scouts. "Plan for the worst case scenario and anything else will seem minor." |
Rich Tokarzewski |
| Rich came to OEM in 1992 as the Hazardous Materials Program Coordinator.
He was initially assigned to coordinate hazardous materials planning,
training, exercises and public education as well as manage business
inventory compliance reporting under the Community Right to Know Act.
Since then, his assignments have expanded to include training exercises
conducted or sponsored by King County Office of Emergency Management and
specialty trainings. He is currently working on the Regional Hazard
Mitigation Plan. Rich came to our office with 10 years prior experience as
a chemist in the private sector. Like others in the office, he devotes a considerable
amount of time to homeland security issues and continues to be the office point of contact for Community Right to Know
topics. "The most appealing part of my job is the diversity of assignments and the opportunity to directly help responders and the public." |