TIEMS

K. Harald Drager is one of the founders of TIEMS. Since 2002 he is the President of TIEMS and has contributed significantly to the development of the society.

He has a Master's degree in control engineering from the Norwegian Technical University in 1966, and a Master's degree from Purdue University in USA in industrial engineering in 1973.

His specializations are risk, safety and emergency management, chemical hazards and project management.

He is among others TIEMS responsible for "Consensus Building and Forum" in the EU initiative project "Public Safety Communication Forum Europe", which is a forum to facilitate communication and global consensus between all stakeholders on key public safety communication and information management issues.

He has published numerous papers internationally on emergency, disaster and risk management.

He is married and have 5 children, and enjoys cross-country skiing in winter-time (Wasa race (90 km) in 2000 and 1004 km in the winter season 2006), and bicycling walking and golfing in summer-time. In 2010, his total was 2631 km, with 576 km skiing, 325 km walking and 1730 km bicyling. The goal for 2011 was 3600 km total, which is just achieved with 3004 km, with 414 km skiing, 512 km walking and 2678 km bicyling. The new goal for 2012 is 4200 km, or 350 km per month.

Qu Guosheng is TIEMS Vice President.

He is Dr. and Professor of Earth Sciences,  and he is Deputy Director and Chief Engineer of National Earthquake Response Support Service (NERSS), China Earthquake Administration (CEA).

He has a B.Sc. Structural Geology, Department of Geology, Peking University1983, and M. Sc. Structural Geology and Tectonics, Institute of Geology, the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS), 1986 and Ph.D. Structural Geology and Tectonics, Department of Geology, Peking University, 1989.

His current specializations are structural geology, seismic risk assessment, earthquake disaster emergency response and management as well as the application of ICT, global seimo-tectonics and earthquake disaster assessment and management. He supervised more than 10 master and doctoral students.

He is an expert of China International Search and Rescue Team (CISAR), Disaster Mitigation Group of IAP and Comprehensive Disaster Research Group supervised by Ministry of S & T.

He is a Standing Committee Member, Special Committee for Risk Analysis and Crisis Management under China Association for Disaster Prevention (CADP). He is a Voting Member of Society of Petroleum Geology of China.

He has published numerous papers, near 100 domestic of China and internationally on structural geology, seismic risk assessment, earthquake disaster emergency responses. He has got more than 10 times of honors and awards in domestic of China.

He is married and has one daughter, and enjoys field works in mountain areas and play badminton.

Stela Petrescu is TIEMS Secretary.

Charles John Kelly is TIEMS Treasurer

He has over 27 years of field experience in humanitarian assistance programs dealing with droughts, famines, insect infestation, hurricanes, epidemics, floods, war and other emergencies in developing countries. Over this career he has performed field and senior management tasks in over 17 disaster response operations.

Recent professional work has included risk assessment in Tajikistan, disaster risk reduction in the Sahel, dam emergency planning in Nigeria, assessing the environmental impacts during disasters (The Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment Project), disaster management capacity building in government institutions, and post-conflict relief and recovery programs.

He has worked in over 60 countries and published over 45 articles on disaster management, including disasters and mega cities, disaster management systems and disaster-environment linkages.

He is an affiliate of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre, University College London, and he is a member of the International Research Committee on Disasters and the Society of Risk Analysis.

Ranko Britvic is TIEMS Director for International Relations.

 

He graduated from the Faculty of Law - University of Split. From 1986 – 2002, he worked for the Police as Head of Criminal Sector, Head of Maritime and Border Police Unit, Head of Special Investigations, Head of Sector for Technical, Legal and Financial Service of Split and Dalmatia Police Administration. While in Police, he made very important contacts with police organizations in the country and abroad and contributed to the modernization and improvement of the police work.

Since 2004, Mr Britvic is Director of the Regional Center for Assistance and Disaster Relief. During his two mandates, he has striven to establish regional cooperation in the area of protection and rescue in South-East European countries. He has encouraged the formation of joint teams fighting all kinds of disasters and has stimulated Croatian and European organizations dealing with protection and rescue to cooperate more actively with Asian and American institutions. He has been active in TIEMS since 2004.

He is a founder and Vice-president of the Rowing Club Kastela, he is a founder and president of Nanbudo Club Dalmatia, co-organizer of Dalmatian Songs Festival and initiator of various ecological activities in the city of Kastela.

He is married and has two sons. In his free time he enjoys rowing and singing in an amateur choir.

Ji (Jack) Zhang is TIEMS Director for Communication and Publications.

Mr. Zhang has a Ph.D of management from China Academy of Sciences (CAS), a MBA from Peking University and a BE of Electrical Engineering & a BS of Applied Mathematics from Tsinghua University. 

Dr. Zhang has working experiences in IT industry for more than 16 years. He has worked for well-known IT companies such as  IBM, Lenovo, and Micron Technology Inc (MTI) etc.  His main areas of study focus has been on the government emergency management ICT systems, healthcare information technology (HIT), and datasharing and information integration of the eGovernment systems. Since 2003, he has published more than 20 articles in Emergency Management in China and overseas publications. 

As the founder and President of Beijing Harmony Technologies Company (HARMONY), ZHANG Ji developed the first domestic counter-SARS Government Emergency Management Information System (GEMIS) in China and successfully applied it to fight against SARS in Beijing early 2003. 

Being the undertaker and consulting member of the Emergency Management System (EMS) research project initated by the Emergency Management Office (EMO) of the State Council of China and the consulting member of Beijing EMS Research Group and the Chief architect for the EMS IT platform of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, now Dr. Zhang has been elected the board member of TIEMS as director for Communication and Publications during 2009-2012. He is also a senior member of HIMSS, and OASIS EMTC. He is one of the committee members working on the Emergency Management ICT(EMICT) standard for China and believes that the EMICT industry has been promptly emerging in China and the whole world, and find this very challenging.

Jaroslav Pejcoch is TIEMS Director Chair of TIEMS Advisory Board.

He is the President and co-founder of T-SOFT Company (Crisis management, Interoperability, Security ). Before T-SOFT he worked at the Electronic Research institute Tesla VÚST as Director of IT Division.

He is the founding member of the AFCEA Czech Chapter and member of the Board of Directors and is member of the Czech National Committee of ISDR, and member of the Presidium of the Czech Association of Crisis Managers.

From 1975 he is teaching at Czech Technical University – Faculty of electronic.

His publication activities are in areas of computer graphics, computer user interfaces, information and communication technologies, information logistic and systems for protection of citizens and environment, interoperability of systems, crisis management, critical infrastructure protection.
He is married, have 4 children and is living in Prague and Telc .His hobbies are music (active piano player), mountaineering and photography.

Snjezana Knezic is TIEMS Director for Chapters and SGI's and Membership.

She did undergraduate studies at Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Split in 1982 - 1987, then postgraduate studies, master of philosophy at Faculty of Organisation and Informatics, University of Zagreb in 1988 - 1993 . She did her doctoral thesis at Faculty of Civil Engineering, University Split in 1998.

She is full time professor at Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture at University of Split.

Her research interests are in application of system sciences and information technology, especially decision support systems and geographic information systems in emergency/disaster management and other engineering fields. She has published peer-reviewed papers on emergency/disaster management.

She is a member of ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers), Croatian Society of Civil Engineers, GIS - Forum Croatia and Croatian Mathematical Society

She lives in Split, Croatia with her family.

Nina I. Frolova is TIEMS Regional Director for Europe.

She is a senior research scientist with Seismological Center of IGE, Russia Academy of Sciences (the former Joint Council on Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, Academy of Sciences of the USSR).

She has contributed to many studies on earthquake hazard, earthquake risk, and risk reduction since 1968, including the IDNDR and regional activities sponsored by UNESCO, Council of Europe, and the former UNDRO.

The Soviet of Ministries awarded her, along with others, the USSR prize in 1984 for their work on the seismic loads and earthquake resistance of high dams. In 2005 she was awarded by UNESCO - GARD Medal for distinguished professional leadership and personal commitment to ongoing programs on disaster reduction.

She contributed to the recent development of System "Extremum" and its versions "WebLAT", "Quakeloss", that are being made available for use throughout the world to assess in "emergency" mode the consequences of strong earthquakes and the identification of effective response measures.

She is a responsible scientist for the ESC WG "Earthquake Preparedness and Civil Defence". She is a GADR Directors' Board Member and GARD Vice-President for the Asian Region.

Madhav Maroju is TIEMS Regional Director for Asia & Pacific.

He is a founder and President of TIEMS India Chapter.

He is also founder and Managing Trustee of Continuum Planning and Development Trust, a not for profit organization to facilitate and/or carry out urban, regional and environmental policy, financing, planning, development and administration activities; disaster recovery and business continuity planning; disaster risk reduction and emergency lifecycle management.

He is an accomplished business leader in delivering Information and Communication Technology and Product Engineering solutions, covering a variety of industry and government segments, including international business operations in USA, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Oman.

He comes with a wide domain knowledge/expertise in areas including Urban Planning, Development and Administration; Safety/Security; Disaster Management; Emergency Management; Environment and Sustainable Urban Ecosystems.

He has a Masters Degree in Planning and a Bachelors Degree in Architecture.

James Hagen is TIEMS Regional Director for North America.

He is Director of the Disaster Preparedness and Management Certificate Program at the Graham School of Management, at Xavier University in Chicago. The program  provides education and training for those responsible for helping their organizations prepare, respond, and recover from both manmade and natural disasters.

He is a certified Emergency Response Coordinator, a Certified Public Health Administrator, and is certified by the Department of Homeland Security as a Master Exercise Planner.  He is also Director of the Public and Nonprofit Management program.  He is a Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, and served as Deputy Executive Director of the DuPage County Health Department from 1999 to 2005. Prior to joining the health department, he was Professor of Public Health at Benedictine University, and before that spent 12 years at Loyola University Medical Center where he served as Associate Professor of Microbiology, Assistant Dean for Research, and Assistant Dean for Basic Sciences.

He is also a licensed Nursing Home Administrator, and has worked in this area to prepare long term care organizations for the special needs of vulnerable populations.

During the federal TOPOFF 2 full-scale exercise in the Chicago area during 2000, he served as a public health Incident Commander.  He was a presenter for the TOPOFF 3 National Biological Seminar, moderator of Advanced Distance Learning Exercise panels, and a mentor for the New Jersey Venue during preparation for that event.

He has worked to train hospitals in several emergency preparedness areas, including communication, isolation and quarantine, and SNS issues.  In 2005 and 2007, he worked as consultant during the Alaska Shield/Northern Edge Military Exercise in Alaska.  He has lectured extensively in the area of emergency preparedness. He also worked in post-Chernobyl, post-Soviet Union Ukraine with the health ministry to study recovery issues and to assess public health needs.

He is a graduate of Michigan State University and obtained his M.Sc. from the University of Montana. He was trained as a research microbiologist at Loyola University Medical Center where he earned a Ph.D.  He also holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Benedictine University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Saint Xavier University.

Stephen Jenkins is TIEMS Regional Director for Australia, New Zealand & Oceania

Steve is presently relieving as an Inspector of Police with the Queensland Police Service (QPS) where he has over 25 years experience in numerous facets of policing including: general duties, criminal investigations (appointed Detective), forensic crash investigations, search and rescue, training, communications, project management, district management, auditing and professional practices.  He has been appointed an officer in charge of varying sized stations and sections including rural, remote and indigenous communities, major metropolitan stations, criminal investigation branch sections and a district communications centre.  He is presently a Project Manager with the QPS Information and Communications Technology Command.

For the period 2000-2004, Steve was the appointed Executive Officer for the Townsville District Disaster Management Group.  During his tenure in this role he conducted a Hazard Analysis of the Townsville District and drafted the District’s Disaster Management Plan based on the outcomes of that Analysis.  He was involved in providing an operational response to a number of disaster related events including: Tropical Cyclone Tessi (2000); an extreme precipitation event (2002); and the reception of civilians evacuated during civil unrest from the Solomon Islands by the Royal Australian and New Zealand Air Forces.  He was also a member of the initial multi-jurisdictional Community Recovery Committee convened following riots which occurred on PalmIslandduring which the police station, watchhouse, police residences and court house were destroyed by fire after the public release of the cause of death of a local indigenous resident in the island’s police watchhouse.

For eight years (2000-2007), Steve was Officer in Charge/Manager of the Townsville District Police Communications Centre and QPS representative on the Townsville International Airport’s Emergency and Security Committees.  He was also a member of the exercise planning committees, and exercise umpire, for numerous annual joint Townsville Airport and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Townsville exercises conducted both on and off the airport.

In 2004, Steve joined The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS) and in 2005 prepared a paper titled ‘Transportation and the Great Barrier Reef: An Emergency Management Perspective’, which he delivered to the Society’s 12th Annual Conference held at Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands. Steve also delivered a presentation on ‘Disaster Management in Queensland Australia to the 14th Annual Conference in 2007 held at Trogir in Croatia. He was appointed a Board Member of the Society and Regional Director for Australia, New Zealand and Oceania in 2007 for a 3-year period.

Steve has the following formal qualifications: Masters Degrees in Business Administration; Police Management; Community Development (Emergency Management); Project Management; and Technology Management (Risk Management).  He also has a Graduate Diploma in Disaster Management; Bachelor in Social Science (Emergency Management); and Diplomas in Justice Administration; Business Management; Public Safety (Policing); Search and Rescue Coordination; and Sustainability, along with a Certificate IV in Workplace Training (Category II) CNCAB016; and a Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training – BSZ40198.

In recognition of his academic excellence, he was invited to become a member of The Golden Key International Honour Society (Charles Sturt Chapter).  Steve has also attended numerous emergency and disaster management training programs conducted by the Emergency Management Australia Institute.