Appendix I. Commissioner Biographies
Ernest E. Allen, J.D.
Appointed to the Commission by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Mr. Allen is Co-Founder, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
(NCMEC). He guided NCMEC's role in the recovery of 151,000 children, with NCMEC's
recovery rate climbing from 62 percent in 1990 to 97 percent today. Mr. Allen also built a
global missing children's network that includes 17 nations. He came to NCMEC after
serving as Chief Administrative Officer of Jefferson County, Director of Public Health and
Safety for the City of Louisville, KY, and Director of the Louisville-Jefferson County Crime
Commission. He is a graduate of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law.
Michael R. Anderson, M.D., FAAP
Vice-Chairperson
Appointed to the Commission by President George W. Bush, Dr. Anderson is Vice President and Associate Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals and Associate Professor of
Pediatric Critical Care at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, OH. As a
pediatric specialist, Dr. Anderson has been active at the local, State, and national level in
pediatric disaster readiness and response. Currently he is pooling the talent of Ohio's six
children's hospitals to form a disaster response team to serve as a State and Federal asset in
the wake of future disasters. His research and clinical interests include national physician
workforce, pediatric critical care transport, and national health policy issues for children.
Merry Carlson, MPP
Appointed to the Commission by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ms. Carlson is
the Preparedness Manager for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency
Management for the State of Alaska. She is the deputy State Coordinating Officer and was
previously the State Individual Assistance Officer and chaired the Alaska Disaster Housing
Task Force. Ms. Carlson has served as Alaska's Suicide Prevention Council Coordinator, and
as Director of Health for the North Slope Borough in Barrow, AK, where she both provided
direct service and administered 17 programs in physical and behavioral health. She also
held roles in Barrow's Local Emergency Planning Committee and Emergency Operations
Center.
Honorable Sheila Leslie
Appointed to the Commission by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Ms. Leslie is a Member of the Nevada General Assembly and the Specialty Courts Coordinator for the 2nd
Judicial District Court, running the criminal, family, and juvenile drug courts and the State's
first mental health court. Ms. Leslie has worked on behalf of Nevada children, youth, and
families for more than 25 years. She served as Executive Director of the Children's Cabinet,
where she created innovative, award-winning programs including Family Preservation, the
Child Care Resource Council, Homeless Youth Advocacy, Parent Education Network, and
Nevada's first comprehensive Adolescent Health Care program. She was also founding
director of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. As owner of a small consulting business,
Ms. Leslie provided comprehensive consulting services through contracts with public and
private nonprofit human service organizations, specializing in developing and
implementing public/private partnerships addressing the needs of children and their
families.
Bruce A. Lockwood, CEM
Appointed to the Commission by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Lockwood is the Public Health
Emergency Response Coordinator for the Bristol-Burlington Health District in Connecticut.
Mr. Lockwood has 28 years experience in emergency management, emergency medical
services and public safety, with extensive planning at the local, regional, and State levels for
children's needs in disaster situations. He served as the Canton Schools All Hazard
Planning Chair and as a member of the Governor's Prevention Partnership School Safety
Portal Committee and the Child Safety and Crisis Response, State of Connecticut, Daycare
and Child Care Subcommittee; he also served on the Connecticut Public Health Emergency
Preparedness Advisory Committee.
Graydon "Gregg" Lord, MS, NREMT-P
Appointed to the Commission by President George W. Bush, Chief Lord is Associate
Director of the Grants & Training Division and Senior Policy Analyst at the Office of
Homeland Security at George Washington University Medical Center. His career in public
safety and emergency management has encompassed roles in rural and urban jurisdictions.
He became a paramedic in the early 1980s, subsequently achieving promotion to EMS
Operations Chief of the second largest EMS system in New England at Worcester Emergency
Medical Services. Chief Lord lectures nationally and internationally on emergency and
disaster systems management, leadership, and operations. He is an adjunct faculty member
for various institutions and agencies, including the Institute for International Disaster
Emergency Medicine, Texas A&M University, U.S. Department of Justice and the
Copenhagen Fire Department. Prior to his role at George Washington University Medical
Center, Chief Lord served as Division Chief of Emergency Medical Services for Cherokee
County Fire Department in Cherokee County, GA.
Irwin Redlener, M.D., FAAP
Appointed to the Commission by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Dr. Redlener is President and cofounder
of The Children's Health Fund and is Director of the National Center for Disaster
Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Redlener
worked extensively in the Gulf region following Hurricane Katrina, where he helped
establish ongoing medical and public health programs, as well as a research program
providing insights regarding the impact of disaster trauma on children and families. Dr.
Redlener speaks and writes widely about challenges regarding large-scale disaster recovery.
He also organized medical response teams in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade
Center attacks in 2001 and has national and international disaster management leadership
experience. Dr. Redlener served as Director of Grants and Medical Director of USA for
Africa and Hands Across America. He also developed one of the country's largest health
care programs for homeless children and their families. Currently, Dr. Redlener is
developing clinical and public health programs in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
David J. Schonfeld, M.D., FAAP
Appointed to the Commission by House Minority Leader John Boehner, Dr. Schonfeld,
FAAP, is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and the Thelma and Jack Rubinstein
Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, where he directs
the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement and the Division of Developmental
and Behavioral Pediatrics. Dr. Schonfeld is a member of the Disaster Mental Health
Subcommittee of the National Biodefense Science Board Federal Advisory Committee and
the American Academy of Pediatrics Disaster Preparedness Advisory Council; he is also a
Past President of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. For more than
two decades, he has provided consultation and training on school crisis and pediatric
bereavement in the aftermath of a number of school crises (e.g., school shootings) and
disasters within the United States and abroad, including flooding from Hurricane Katrina in
New Orleans and Hurricane Ike in Galveston and the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China.
He coordinated the training of school crisis teams for New York City Public Schools after
9/11. Dr. Schonfeld is actively engaged in school-based research involving children's
understanding of and adjustment to serious illness and death and school-based
interventions to promote adjustment and risk prevention.
Honorable Mark K. Shriver, MPA
Chairperson
Appointed to the Commission by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Mr. Shriver is Senior
Vice President for U.S. Programs at Save the Children. Before joining Save the Children, Mr.
Shriver served as a Member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Among his many
leadership roles as an elected official, he served as Maryland's first-ever Chair of the Joint
Committee on Children, Youth and Families, where he spearheaded an early childhood
education initiative resulting in more than 37 million new dollars for early education.
Before being elected, Mr. Shriver created and served as Executive Director of the innovative
Choice Program, a public/private partnership serving at-risk youth through intensive
community-based counseling and job training services. The Choice Program has expanded
to include The Choice Jobs Program and The Choice Middle School Program, and has been
replicated nationwide. Mr. Shriver has served on a number of boards and commissions,
including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the FEMA National Advisory Commission,
the Cal Ripken, Sr., Foundation, and the Living Proof Project. He was a member of the
Maryland Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Council and the Governor's Task Force on
Alternative Sanctions to Incarceration.
Lawrence E. Tan, J.D., NREMT-P
Appointed to the Commission by House Minority Leader John Boehner, Mr. Tan is Chief of
Emergency Medical Services at the New Castle County, DE, Department of Public Safety.
He started his career as a volunteer firefighter/EMT during high school. He has served as a
paramedic, EMS Lieutenant, Emergency Services Assistant Manager, Assistant Chief and
Deputy Chief during his 28 years service with New Castle County, DE. Mr. Tan's
assignments have included commander of both the Administrative and Operations
components of the service, in addition to a special Homeland Operations detail within the
Office of the County Executive. Mr. Tan was a member of the National Faculty for the
Counter Narcotics and Terrorism Operations Medical Support Program conducted by the
Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security Federal
Protective Service, and United States Park Police. He also serves on the Federal Interagency
Board for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability as a member of the Health
and Medical Responder subgroup, and serves on the executive committee of the FEMA
Region III Regional Advisory Council. Mr. Tan is a graduate of the Widener University
School of Law and has been admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the
United States District Court of New Jersey.
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