Barbara Parker, Principal, Emergency Management Systems, Shell Emergency Management.
Over 30 years of All-Hazards emergency response experience including hands on response to hundreds of oil spills, hazardous materials releases and business continuity incidents with roles varying from: Front line responder; Response team leader; Incident Commander; Deputy Incident Commander; Planning Section Chief; and liaison with executive level leadership. Deep technical expertise in developing assurance and training & exercise programs to improve emergency response preparedness. With a focus on clear communications to enable success, Barbara leads a variety of programs for Shell including: ER Assurance; Training and Competency; Learning from Response Incidents and coordinates Shell's global Tier 3 exercise program.
Current chair of APIs Oil Spill Emergency Preparedness and Response Subcommittee and API's Spills Advisory Group.
Barbara began her emergency response career as a field level oil and hazardous materials emergency responder at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and progressed through the agency to the Director for Maine's Oil and Hazardous Materials Response Team, in this capacity she was the co-chair of the Maine/New Hampshire Area Committee and a member of RRT 1. In 2010 I she was selected by the US Coast Guard to be a member of the BP Deepwater Horizon Incident Specific Preparedness Review (ISPR) team. In 2012 Barbara joined Shell's Emergency Management Team in Houston.

Paul is the Director of External Affairs (Americas) for Oil Spill Response Limited. He has over 25 years in oil spill preparedness and response including 23 years as President/CEO of Clean Caribbean & Americas.

Ed Landgraf, Chairman, CAMO Pipeline Group and Director, Texas 811 Marine Damage Prevention

Ed is the founder of CAMO "Coastal And Marine Operators" Pipeline industry group and serves as Chairman of the Board. Ed is employed by Texas 811 as Director of Marine Damage Prevention.

Ed has worked in the oil and gas industry for 32 years. A native of Oklahoma and graduate of Oklahoma State Univ., his first industry assignments started in West Texas. He spent 4 years in various locations throughout Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. The following 26 years have been dedicated to Gulf Coast Region. His assignments included further managing infrastructure protection, risks management, pipeline damage prevention, pipeline safety processes, CSR sustainability and innovative project initiatives. Ed is also an expert witness for marine pipeline accidents.

Ed has 17 years of volunteer service to the community as Vice- Chairman of Coastal Zone Management, Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, member of the National Estuary Program's Management Conference, and Coastal Conservation Assn. Board of Directors.

Ed founded CAMO "Coastal And Marine Operators" group in 2009. CAMO now has over 25 participating companies, NGO's and agencies, all working to enhance pipeline infrastructure integrity, environmental protection, public safety, coastal and marine damage prevention by designing and implementing new innovative solutions.

From the moment a workplace experiences a major accident, Greg Dillard is there to direct the legal response. He provides on-site support after accidents, managing the full spectrum of regulatory and legal obligations and focusing on all sectors of the upstream, midstream and downstream energy and chemical industries. Greg also leads internal investigations and litigates enforcement actions brought by government agencies such as BSEE, EPA, OSHA, and state environmental agencies.

D'Anne began her state career at the Texas Capitol in 1995, coordinating legislation and developing policy in both the Texas Senate and House of Representatives. After leaving the capitol, she worked in Governmental Relations for the Texas Dept. of Agriculture, focusing on rural economic development, commodity regulation and ag marketing. In 2007, she moved to the General Land Office, starting in Communications and moving to Oil Spill Prevention and Response, where she coordinates Oil Spill's compliance and enforcement efforts as well as contributes to the program's communications and policy development.

D'Anne has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Public Administration from Texas State University.

Elmer joined CCA/OSRL in 2012. Prior to OSRL, Elmer served in the U.S. Coast Guard for twenty years where he acquired experience in numerous aspects of the Marine Safety Program. These include crisis management, all-hazards preparedness and response, and vessel and facilities safety and security inspections to name a few. Some of his more notable experiences with the Coast Guard include responding to the grounding of the Tank Barge Morris J Berman which spilled 750, 000 gallons of heavy grade oil in San Juan, PR; deploying on-scene to the approximately 8 million gallons oil spilled throughout the shorelines and waterways of Louisiana and Alabama following Hurricane Katrina; and responding from 2010 to 2012 to the various offshore and shoreline efforts following the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Elmer is currently assigned to OSRL's US base in Fort Lauderdale as Duty Manager where his primary role is to provide remote technical advice for actual or threating oil spills and, if needed, to deploy at a moment's notice anywhere in the world to lead a coordinated effort with all available on-scene resources. During deployments, Elmer serves as OSRL's in-country lead giving technical advice and supervising clean-up operations on behalf of our clients. Because of the complexity of oil spills and Elmer's recognized response acumen, he is frequently called upon to also interface with local regulatory agencies that have in interest in the response. In keeping with OSRL's core values, Elmer's actions and directions are always guided by an overarching emphasis on safety.

Elmer also actively delivers external preparedness courses and undertakes external preparedness assessments to assist industry members to close their response gaps. Towards this effort, Elmer has facilitated numerous in-country Tier II capability reviews, led IMO 2 and IMS 100, 200, 220, 300, 401 courses and has overseen numerous practical exercises across the Americas and Africa. He has participated in the U.S. mandated PREP exercises (Preparedness for Response Exercise Programs) where he has been able to exercise all components of an oil company's response plan.

When not deployed, Elmer is internally responsible for the day-to-day management of OSRL's U.S. based response team; this includes overseeing their professional development and competence maintenance. Elmer Emeric is completely fluent in Spanish and English and holds an MBA.

• Retired Marine with the rank of Lieutenant Commander of the Uruguayan Navy.
• Environmental specialist. Degree in Geography (University of the Republic - Uruguay). Masters in Environmental Economic Geography and Transport (Catholic University of Leuven and Free University of Brussels - Belgium).
• Since 2021 he is the Representant of the International Spill Control Organization (ISCO) for Latin America (www.spillcontrol.org)
• He has worked on operational issues of security and management of maritime and port environmental disasters with activities in Central America (IMO, RAC/REMPEICT, COCATRAM, IDB, UNEP, UNDP, CIP-OEA) since 2002.
• Port and transport advisor in the public and private sectors in maritime, engineering and oil companies in Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Belize, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and the USA (1995-2022).
• Chief of Operations of the company OPC for Spill Control (Panama) between the years 2002-2008. Until 2010 he collaborated with OPC in the expansion of its operations throughout the Central American region.

http://mtcconsult.org/EN_CV_CS-Sept_2016.pdf

KC Sullivan is a Crisis Manager with the bp Crisis & Continuity Management Team. She has a master's degree in Environmental Science and brings over 20 years of oil spill response and emergency management experience. She started in spill response as a Response Officer with the Texas General Land Office. She then moved to O'Brien's as a consultant and Manager of Response Services. KC transitioned to industry, joining Shell as an Emergency Response Specialist within the Americas Emergency Management Team. KC has been with bp since 2020 and is now responsible for crisis management support for US Terminals & Pipelines.

As Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager, Nick
is charged with development and implementation of the
organization's multi-year Integrated Preparedness Plan. Nick
also places deep focus on educating members on Marine Well
Containment Company's (MWCC) Containment System and
response model and on oversight of the organization's Member
Response Network. In addition to his daily responsibilities,
Nick serves as part of MWCC's Advisor Unit, a small team of
subject matter experts (SME) dispatched to work closely with
the Responsible Party upon activation. Specifically, he acts as
MWCC's advisor on subsea dispersant injection.
Nick brings more than a decade of diverse emergency
preparedness and response expertise to his role at MWCC. He
began his career as a law enforcement officer before identifying
his true passion for emergency preparedness and pivoting to
more focused roles. He served under the United States Senate
Sergeant at Arms for the Battelle Memorial Institute supporting
the training of U.S. Senators on specific emergency action plans
and serving in the Emergency Operations Center for high-profile
events such as the annual State of the Union Address and
presidential inaugurations.
Nick went on to serve as the top administrator for the City of
Santa Monica Office of Emergency Management where he
was charged with stakeholder management, training, and
communications strategies related to emergency preparedness.
Nick holds a Master's in Engineering Management from George
Washington University's Institute for Crisis, Disaster & Risk
Management. He also received his Bachelor's in Criminal Justice
from George Washington University. His additional professional
accreditations include Certified Emergency Manager (CEM)
from the International Association of Emergency Managers
and Certified Business Continuity Professional

With over a quarter-century of experience in the maritime industry, Martin (Marty) Majewski is currently Shell's Regional Marine Manager for Upstream operations in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Before joining Shell in 2012, Marty served on a wide variety of support vessels for the upstream industry and sailed to the rank of Master. In addition to his current duties, Marty also sits on Shell's Americas Response team, taking part in a number of real and simulated emergency response events, and serving as Operations Section Chief. At the conference, his presentation will bring to bear his impressive experience managing SIMOPS for both project work and emergency response involvement.

Joe Bowles, Vice President of the Pacific Region, is a veteran responder who started working for the oil industry in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in 1985, starting his spill response career in Valdez Alaska in 1989. Joe joined MSRC in 1993 as a Responder and was quickly promoted through various operations leadership positions in the Pacific Region. He has led complex spill responses including the Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the Waiu Pipeline Spill, Pearl Harbor 1996, the Deep Water Horizon Mobile Command Post and the Huntington Beach responses in 2021. During Joe's tenure in MSRC's Pacific Region, he has developed strong cooperative relationships with state regulatory agencies in the most ecologically conscious regions of the U.S.

Captain Nicole Rodriguez assumed command of MSU Lake Charles in June 2021 where she serves as Field Commander representing MSU Port Arthur in execution of Captain of the Port, Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection, Federal On-Scene Coordinator, and Federal Maritime Security Coordinator authorities. Captain Rodriguez oversees maritime operations over an 8,400 square mile area of responsibility in Southwest Louisiana including Cameron Parish Port, Harbor & Terminal District, West Calcasieu Port, and the Port of the Lake Charles, the 11th busiest tonnage port in the nation.

Prior to assuming command of Marine Safety Unit Lake Charles, Captain Rodriguez served as Chief of Prevention for Sector Houston-Galveston where she oversaw foreign and domestic vessel compliance, port facility safety and security, ports and waterways management, aids to navigation, and marine causality investigations for the largest petro-chemical port in the United States.

Other tours include: Commanding Officer of Marine Safety Unit Baton Rouge; Chief of Inspections and Investigations for the Eighth Coast Guard District headquartered in New Orleans; Program Reviewer for the Coast Guard's Human Resources directorate, the Offices of Shore and Boat Forces, and Search and Rescue Directorate while assigned to the Office of Budget and Programs at Coast Guard Headquarters; Chief of the Investigations Division for Sector Baltimore; and, as a marine inspector and port operations officer for Group/Marine Safety Office Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Captain Rodriguez is a prior recipient of the Congressman James Sener Award for Excellence in Marine Investigations and is certified as a Maritime Port Executive. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from James Madison University and a Masters in Public Administration from The George Washington University.

Carleen Lyden Walker is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of NAMEPA (North American Marine Environment Protection Association) leveraging off her experience as a marketing and communications professional in the commercial maritime industry with over 40 years of experience. She specializes in identifying, developing and implementing strategic marketing and communications programs that increase the visibility and effectiveness of NAMEPA as well as the development of educational resources promoting marine environment protection. She works to develop strategic alliances between industry, regulators, conservation groups and educators to "Save Our Seas".

In 2015, Ms. Lyden Walker was appointed an Ambassador by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). She is a member of WISTA (Women's International Shipping and Trading Association), the Connecticut Maritime Association, the Marine Society of the City of New York, The National Press Club, WIMAC (Women in Maritime Association, Caribbean) and is a Past-President of the Propeller Club Chapter of the Port of NY/NJ. She was also elected to the Board of Trustees of the Coast Guard Foundation, the Tall Ships America Foundation, New York Harbor Foundation and the New Era Academy Transportation Technologies Program in Baltimore. She was recently named one of the top 100 women in shipping globally.

Ms. Lyden Walker is also Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Marketing & Communications, is Chief Evolution Officer of SHIPPINGInsight, Founder of CARIBMEPA and the Co-Founder/Executive Director of the Consortium for International Maritime Heritage. In 2010, she was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the United States Coast Guard and in 2014 a Public Service Commendation for her work on World Maritime Day and AMVER, respectively. Ms. Lyden Walker graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in Political Science and History (minor in Economics), studied Accounting at Cornell School of Business Administration and is a trained facilitator and media trainer. She held a USCG Captain's license.

Val Garner has served as the Senior Vice President of Operations of HEPACO since July of 2018. In this role he is responsible for leading a team who support customers throughout the United States and Canada to respond to and mitigate the consequences associated materials released into the environment. Prior to working in this capacity Mr. Garner served for 18 years for a national environmental services provider in various roles associated with project management, organizational risk and business management. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational, Safety and Health Management from the University of Findlay and Master of Business Administration Degree from Auburn University. Furthermore, Mr. Garner has been credentialed as a Hazardous Materials Manager by the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management and identified as a Certified Industrial Hygienist by American Board of Industrial Hygiene.
Mr. Garner is a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and is the past chairman of the associations committee on Protective Clothing and Equipment. Mr. Garner is also a member of the Spill Control Association of America where has served as an alternate board member and chairman of the association's health and safety and future environmental leaders committees.

The Texas General Land Office Oil Spill Prevention and Response Division's Prevention and Preparedness Coordinator. In charge of the Training, Exercise, Compliance, Discharge Cleanup Organization, and Small Spill Prevention programs. 16 years of experience with the agency previously serving a senior response officer. 8 years of experience as Marine Science Technician with the United States Coast Guard Reserves. Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

Jared Angelle assumed the duties as the Emergency Response Team Leader for Phillips 66 in 2014. He previously served from 2005 to 2014 as a Port Security Specialist for the Coast Guard on the Great Lakes and Western Rivers. He retired from the Coast Guard in 2021 after 23 years of honorable service.

Prior experience includes Port Security support to the 9/11 attacks, Salvage Operations oversight for Hurricane Rita, Coast Guard District 8 Joint Field Office (JFO) representative for Hurricane Ike, Coast Guard support to the I-35W Bridge Collapse lead, Multiple Mid-West flooding operations, Planning Section Chief for the Texas Y Oil Spill, and Coast Guard Agency Representative for Fort Bend and Wharton Counties in Texas during Hurricane Harvey.

A native of Louisiana, Jared graduated from The University of Louisiana in 2000, earning a Bachelor's Degree. In 2005, he was awarded a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice from the Loyola University New Orleans, and in 2017, completed the Federal Emergency Management Agencies (FEMA) National Emergency Management Advance Academy. He and his wife, Heather, have two children - Caden and Julianne.

Dr. Harry Juneau is a Senior Preparedness Analyst within the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's Oil Spill Preparedness Division. He is responsible for providing expert advice regarding oil spill planning, preparedness, and response matters including containment, cleanup strategies and equipment, related to drilling, production, storage and transportation operations for BSEE regulated offshore facilities.

He is a retired Naval Officer with 34 years of service. During the enlisted portion of his career, he served on two nuclear powered warships and completed two instructor tours. After commissioning, he served as a Naval Reactors field representative providing regulatory oversight of Engineering, Safety, Environmental, and Emergency Planning programs at nuclear powered warship homeports and maintenance facilities. After retiring from the Navy, he worked as a Senior Systems Engineer at Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, spearheading improvement initiatives in radiological emergency planning in the Pacific Fleet Area of Responsibility.

Adam has worked the last seven years at Polaris Sensor Technologies supporting development of advanced optical sensors and systems. He has been deeply involved in the development of the Pyxis camera for environmental applications and is lead engineer for the PODS system in integration and deployment. Before attending the University of Alabama in Huntsville where he received his mechanical engineering degree, Adam worked for several years in the Gulf of Mexico oil field supporting dive operations and spill response. This work included burning oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill as part of In-Situ burn operations.

Dr. Gopal Bera is an associate research scientist at Texas A&M University, College Station. He has a
bachelor's degree in chemistry and master's degree and a Ph.D. in Marine Science. He joined Texas A&M
as a postdoc and worked on several DWH projects including Deep-Sea Toxicology (DETOX) and
ADDOMEx. His interests were to investigate the impacts of DWH spill on the deep-sea ecosystems. He
also collaborated with Exxon-Mobil to do research on different toxicity dosing techniques and use of
dispersants during an oil spill. Recently, he was funded by TGLO to investigate background oil signature
along the Texas coasts.

Dee Oos currently serves as the Area Contingency Plan (ACP) Program Manager on the Eighth Coast Guard District's Response Advisory Team, and works closely with Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Oil Spill Preparedness Division (OSPD) to ensure ACP consistency with Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil Spill Response Plans (OSRPs).

She is also the RRT6 Preparedness Committee Vice-Chair responsible for promoting enhanced preparedness capabilities established by the NCP, promoting the utilization of state-of-the-art methods and technologies for planning and preparedness for oil and hazardous materials spills and releases, and stimulating preparedness activities within the Area Committees of Region 6.

Sharon Schmalz is the Executive Director of The Wildlife Center of Texas (WCT) located in Houston, Texas. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University with B.S. degrees in Computer Science/Mathematics. As one of the largest wildlife centers in the nation, WCT cares for over 10,000 wild animals each year and over 350 different species. WCT also educates over 50,000 adults and children about wildlife, conservation and the environment. The center is actively involved in wildlife emergency response including wildfires, hurricanes, and oil spills. Currently, Sharon works with senior fourth-year veterinary students from Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine that are required to participate in a two-week, graded rotation on the Houston SPCA campus including The Wildlife Center of Texas.

For over 30 years, Ms. Schmalz has maintained the multiple state and federal permits necessary to care for injured, orphaned, endangered, educational and oiled wildlife. A founding member of the Wildlife Center of Texas Oiled Wildlife Response Team, she has acted as the director for 30 years and has responded to over 70 oil spills. The team responds to oiled wildlife in both inland and coastal areas.
She was involved in the development of the "Best Practices for Migratory Bird Care During Oil Spill Response" document in Anchorage, Alaska in 2001. For over 18 years, Ms. Schmalz has coordinated oiled wildlife response workshops for the Texas General Land Office and for industry and maintained the resulting database of potential volunteers for response.

Joyce Riesinger received her Bachelors of Science in Marine Biology in 1992 from the University of West Florida. After graduation she worked for several Environmental Consultants and State Agencies in various areas of biology including aquaculture, field biology, aquatic toxicity testing and coastal habitat restoration as well as oil spill response. She has worked within the field of biology for over 25 years, and within the realm of spill response for over 10 years.
Joyce has experience with both, large and small scale spill response and has worked in various capacities as related to spill response and wildlife capture and rehabilitation. She has served in positions within the ICP, Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and in the field, in such positions as the Wildlife Response Manager, Wildlife Rehabilitation Center Manager and Wildlife Recovery Group Supervisor. Joyce has also been an active SCAT Team member, conducting beach oiling surveys.

A native Texan, Jennifer Jill Heatley graduated from Texas A&M University with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1995 and then practiced privately for three years as a small and exotic animal and emergency veterinarian. She completed an internship in wildlife, zoo and exotic medicine at Louisiana State University in 1999 and completed a combined residency in zoological medicine and a master of science degree program in Louisiana State University in 2002. Her master's Thesis was based on antipredator conditioning of Mississippi Sandhill Cranes for reintroduction. She served as clinical assistant professor of zoological medicine and attending veterinarian of the Southeastern Raptor Center at Auburn University from 2002-2006. She is currently associate professor of zoological medicine at Texas A&M University. Her veterinary medical research interests include application of emergency and critical care techniques, clinical pathology of zoological species and ecosystem health monitoring through native species with special emphasis on avian, reptilian and amphibian species. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, Certified in Avian practice as well as a Diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine. She has served as Liason of Board of Directors of the Association of Avian Veterinarians to the American association of Zoo Veterinarians, Treasurer for the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians and President of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society. Her current research topics include lipid metabolism and health monitoring of wild populations of monk parakeets, investigation of avian bornavirus in free-living avian species and electrolyte comparisons of multiple species of free-living birds in the US and Peru.

J.T. Newman is the President of E3 Environmental taking the company from its founding in 2014 to one of the largest and most capable environmental companies in the Southeast. Mr. Newman has over 17 years of experience in the Environmental Response Industry and has worked on numerous projects over his career including hurricane responses, train derailments, hazardous waste facility fires, tank battery demolitions, oil spills both on land and water, and numerous responses to petroleum releases, orphaned containers, leaking containers, and material transfers for both private entities and government agencies. Mr. Newman has a Bachelors Degree in Biology and a Master's Degree in Chemistry and extensive experience in RCRA, OSHA, and many other governmental regulations.

Gordon Staples received the M.Sc. degree in ocean physics and the B.Sc. degree in honours physics and oceanography from the University of British Columbia. Gordon is a Senior Radar Applications Scientist and Project Manager with MDA. In this role he is a technical director for development of radar applications, manages projects, develops and delivers radar training, and provides scientific expertise for business development. He has extensive experience in radar polarimetry and the development of maritime and terrestrial radar applications.

Dr. Fuller is the Chief Operations Officer at Research, Applied, Technology, Education Services, Inc., a 501C3 not-for-profit with offices in Edinburg, TX and Potsdam, NY. As manager of the former Shoreline Environmental Research Facility in Corpus Christi, he conducted research involving: oil spill fate-and-effects, real-time environmental observatories, and in-situ detection technologies. He spent ~2 years as a commercial oceanographer, and is currently involved in multiple projects to characterize hydrodynamics in Texas bay systems using various technologies including: High Frequency Radar, ADCP, and water-quality instrumentation.

Dr. Angie Perez is a Senior Toxicologist and Certified Industrial Hygienist for CTEH, an emergency response and disaster recovery firm. Dr. Perez earned her doctorate in Toxicology from Oregon State University and conducted postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco. She has over 19 years of experience in the field of toxicology, chemical exposure assessment, and human health risk assessment. Her focal research and field experience includes evaluation of exposures and potential health risks of airborne contaminants, evaluation of impairment with drugs and alcohol, and exposure and health risk assessment of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Most recently in 2022, Dr. Perez was invited to present on the topic of PFAS at the National Ground Water Association meeting and was an invited panelist for Waste Water Digest. Dr. Perez and her family are based in Portland, Oregon.

Captain Trey Wirth (he/him/his) currently oversees the Office of Marine Environmental Response Policy at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. He leads a team that administers, develops, and maintains the Coast Guard's marine environmental response program and provides guidance to operational field units. He also serves as the Vice Chair for the National Response Team and Chairs the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research.

Previously, he was the Deputy Sector Commander at Sector North Carolina, where he served as the Alternate Captain of the Port, Officer-in-Charge Marine Inspection, Federal Maritime Security Coordinator, and Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the state of North Carolina.

Prior to this, Captain Wirth served as the Sector North Carolina Response Department Head, where he was responsible for command and control activities associated with Search and Rescue (SAR), Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security, Marine Environmental Protection, Incident Management, and Law Enforcement in the navigable waters of the State of North Carolina. H served at the Operations Section Chief for both hurricanes FLORENCE and DORIAN, where he oversaw the pre-staging of response assets, directed rescue resources, and facilitated the restoration of the Sector's field units to normal operations following the catastrophic storms.

Captain Wirth has served in the U.S. Coast Guard for over 22 years, spending the majority of his career in high optempo All-Hazard incident management and crisis management roles. He is a NIMS ICS Type 1 Operations Section Chief, Type 2 Planning Section Chief, and Type 3 Incident Commander. His other major operational responses include: September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, Baltimore Tunnel Fire of 2001, Hurricane Isabel in 2003, BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Super Storm SANDY, Paulsboro, NJ Train Derailment, two DoD helicopter crashes in Honolulu, HI, and Hurricane MARIA as the Deputy Planning Section Chief at the Area Command level.

Captain Wirth is a native of Schnecksville, Pennsylvania and has three children, Austie, Colbie, and Crosby.

Emergency Management Specialist for U. S. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston. Has served over 20 years with the U. S. Coast Guard conducting emergency response and preparedness missions throughout the Gulf Coast.

Jeff is the Regional Director for Upper Texas Coast of the Texas General Land Office-Oil Spill Prevention and Response Division. Jeff's path to the oil spill response world was not a direct one. He graduated from Texas A&M University at Galveston with a degree in Marine Biology in 1991. Jeff spent his early career working as a fisheries biologist in the Galveston Lab for the National Marine Fisheries Service and then several years working at the Seabrook Marine Lab for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in the Coastal Fisheries Division. In 2000, Jeff began his career with the Texas General Land Office as a coastal biologist in the Professional Services Division. He went on to serve 5 years as the Regional Manager of the La Porte Field Office for the GLO. Jeff moved over to the Oil Spill Division of the GLO and now has 13 years with Oil Spill. During that time, Jeff worked the Texas City Y Spill, the Bayport Channel Collision Spill, the San Jacinto River Fleet Incident, Pelican Island Bridge Allision, and the responses to Hurricane's Harvey and Beryl.

Kristi McKinney is with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's Oil Spill Preparedness Division. She manages a research portfolio of projects related to mechanical containment and recovery of spilled oil to support BSEE's mission to promote safety, protect the environment, and conserve resources offshore through vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement. She has been with the agency for 10 years. Prior to accepting her appointment to BSEE she worked for defense contractors as a mechanical design engineer and as a packaging engineer for a pharmaceutical company. She was also a secondary educator teaching math and science. She holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. degree in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University.

Nicolle Rutherford is a response biologist in NOAA's Emergency Response Division, where she manages the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) program, the Chemical Aquatic Fate and Effects (CAFE) Database software program, and responds to spills. Nicolle has a broad background in biology and marine science, wetlands ecology, and environmental policy and permitting. Nicolle received a bachelor's degree in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina, and a Master of Science in biology with a concentration in marine and estuarine science from Western Washington University. After completing graduate school, she and her husband served in the Peace Corps in the Republic of Vanuatu. Upon her return to the States, Nicolle worked as a wetland ecologist for several years before taking a position as a biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She started at NOAA in 2008.

Nimish's research focuses primarily on identifying and addressing threats to birds and their environments

LT Erin Woods reported to the USCG Gulf Strike Team (GST) in 2021, assuming the duties of Deck Officer. He was responsible for oversight of the Boat Forces mission within the GST, to include Critical Incident Search and Rescue (CISAR), management of eight small boats, a $55K annual budget, and $1.3M in equipment. In 2022, LT Woods relinquished the duties of Deck Officer and assumed the role as the Unit Training Officer. Currently, he is responsible for development of unit training plans, facilitating unit instruction, and the individual National Strike Force (NSF) qualifications for 44 Active Duty personnel and 34 Reservists.

LT Woods' previous assignments include Enforcement Division Sector Key West, FL, Incident Management Division Sector North Carolina, Incident Management Division Sector New Orleans, LA, and Station South Padre Island, TX.

LT Woods graduated USCG Basic Training in 2006 and Officer Candidate School in 2018, following 12 years of enlistment and attainment of Marine Science Technician First Class. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Ashford University. He is a well-rounded Response Officer with qualifications in Search and Rescue (Command Duty Officer), Law Enforcement (Boarding Officer), and Marine Environmental Response (Federal On-Scene Coordinator's Representative) with 14 years of environmental response case experience.

His personal awards include the Coast Guard Commendation Medal (two awards), Coast Guard Achievement Medal (three awards), Letter of Commendation (three awards), and Good Conduct Medal (three awards), Meritorious Team Commendation (eight awards), and Special Operations Service Ribbon. He is married to Autumn Woods, and they have two children: Elena (4) and EJ (2).

Mr. Rhame is the Chief Information Officer at The Response Group and possesses more than 23 years of experience in emergency response specializing in information management and geographic information systems (GIS). Kenny provides technical leadership and is responsible for all software development, data management and information systems within The Response Group. His background includes delivering enterprise software solutions for geographic information systems and emergency response.

Ron Cantin is the President of Emergency Management Services International, Inc. (EMSI). Ron is a 27 year Coast Guard veteran who has over 25 years experience in major incident and event management, and served two tours of duty as a senior member of the Coast Guard's National Strike Force. From 2005 - 2007, he served as the Commanding Officer of the Gulf Strike Team. He has extensive experience in a wide range of local, regional, and national level incidents including COVID response, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, John F. Kennedy Jr. Search and Recovery, Capitol Hill Anthrax, Typhoons in the Western Pacific, numerous other natural disasters, major maritime incidents, oil spills, National Security Special Events, and chemical releases. Ron served as the Incident Specific Federal On Scene Coordinator and Incident Commander following the impact of hurricane Katrina, leading 2000+ responders in mitigating the effects of over 8 million gallons of spilled crude oil from nine simultaneous medium and major spills, and recovering tens of thousands of hazardous materials containers from the highly environmentally sensitive areas of coastal Louisiana.

Ron has taught ICS around the world and has coached thousands of personnel on response teams in carrying out their ICS responsibilities during incidents and exercises, and advised the Unified Commands at ICP Mobile, ICP Houma, as well as the Area Command during the Deepwater Horizon response. He has served as Incident Commander on both of the Coast Guard's (Pacific Area and Atlantic Area) Incident Management Assist Teams (IMAT), and holds certifications for numerous Type I, and Type II ICS positions. He is the first person in the history of the Coast Guard to certify as a Type I Incident Commander.

Director, Geochemical and Environmental Research Group
College of Arts and Sciences, Professor of Oceanography
College of Engineering Professor of Ocean Engineering
James R. Whatley Endowed Chair of Geosciences