Avoiding Risk with Disaster Resiliency Planning

Bio: Currently work for the City of Rockford as the Engineering Operations Manager. I am the City's floodplain manager as well as the Public Works Department's emergency manager. I oversee permitting and development along with all grant related construction projects. I am responsible for all administration duties for the Engineering Division. I am a member of APWA, NHMA, NAPW, LEPC and ASFPM.

Education: I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with a degree in Civil Engineering ephasizing in construction management and business management.

Bio: Sarah Bowen is an Urban Planner with 13 years of experience concentrating on disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery planning. She is the Manager of the Planning Department for Michael Baker Corporation’s Philadelphia Office. Currently, she is the Project Manager to update the Pennsylvania State Standard All-Hazard Mitigation Plan. She has also worked on projects for clients including FEMA, PEMA, Regional Counterterrorism Task Forces, and city and county planning and emergency management departments.

Education: She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Art History from Rutgers University and a M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

Key Publications: Ms. Bowen worked with Edward Thomas, Esq. to co-author the Natural Hazards Observer cover story Preventing Human-Caused Disasters and The Patchwork Quilt- A Creative Strategy for Safe and Long Term Post-Disaster Rebuilding.

Other Publications: Edited book titled Careers in International Planning published by American Planning Association in 2001.

Past Assignments: Ms. Bowen presented The Patchwork Quilt- A Creative Strategy for Safe and Long Term Post-Disaster Rebuilding at the National Floodproofing Conference and the Association of State Floodplain Managers Annual Conference. Ms. Bowen also moderated National American Planning Association Conference panel on careers in international planning.

Bio: Aaron is a Hazard Mitigation Planner with RBF Consulting, a company of Michael Baker Corporation. He is currently assisting several communities throughout California with updates to their Local Hazard Mitigation Plans and General Plan Safety Elements. He regularly assists public and private sector clients in meeting their environmental, climate adaptation, and hazard mitigation needs, which have become more prevalent over the last decade.

Education: Masters in Urban and Regional Planning, Cal Poly Pomona, 2005 Bachelor of Science, Geology, University of California Santa Barbara, 2001 Bachelor of Arts, Environmental Studies, University of California Santa Barbara, 2001

Bio: Darrin Punchard is an urban planner and floodplain manager who has spent his entire career working with local communities to become more resilient to disaster. He has 17 years of experience in hazard mitigation planning with specialized expertise in GIS-based risk assessment, benefit-cost analysis, and the development of actionable mitigation strategies to include structural and non-structural measures for risk reduction. Since 2001 he has served as a consultant to federal, state, regional, tribal and local government agencies across the United States to assess and reduce their jurisdiction’s vulnerability to natural and technological hazards. He prepared some of the nation’s first FEMA-approved local hazard mitigation plans and has assisted more than 500 communities gain compliance with the federal Stafford Act as amended by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000). He has also helped communities prepare local floodplain management plans that have achieved among the highest credit scores in the nation under FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS). Darrin’s public service career includes serving as state hazard mitigation officer for North Carolina where he coordinated FEMA’s Project Impact program and launched the State’s Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative, a statewide effort to promote the voluntary development of local hazard mitigation plans prior to DMA 2000. His career began in Florida where he worked as a local hazard mitigation planner for Alachua County, and later as a state mitigation planner for the Florida Division of Emergency Management where he helped launch the Local Mitigation Strategy initiative, the first statewide program requiring the preparation of community-based hazard mitigation plans.

Education: Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida. Bachelor of Arts in Marine Affairs/Coastal Zone Management, University of Rhode Island.