U.S. Side Event Panel Discussion at WCDRR
“U.S. Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives: An Opportunity to Build Resilience”
Tohoku University, Kawauchi-Kita Campus, Room C205
Sunday, March 15, 2015, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Panel Bios:
Thomas H. Staal
Acting Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, Humanitarian Assistance
United States Agency for International Development
Thomas H. Staal has spent most of his career working overseas in international development. He has
worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) since 1988, beginning in Sudan as an
Emergency Program Officer. In the early 1990s he worked in the USAID regional office in Kenya,
managing food aid and doing project development throughout eastern and southern Africa. From 1996
to 2002 he worked in the USAID West Bank and Gaza program, providing assistance to the Palestinians,
focusing on water supply projects, as well as local community development. Between 2003 and 2004, he
served as the USAID Regional Representative for Southern Iraq, overseeing all USAID projects in that
part of the country. He also served as the Deputy Director of the Food For Peace Office in Washington,
and he was the Director of the Iraq Reconstruction Office in Washington and USAID Mission Director in
Lebanon. Mr. Staal served as the USAID Mission Director in Ethiopia from 2009 to 2012, and Mission
Director in Iraq from 2012 to 2013. Until January 2014, he was the Senior Deputy Assistant
Administrator in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). He is now the
Acting Assistant Administrator for the DCHA Bureau.
Before joining USAID, Mr. Staal worked for World Vision International as their Country Representative in
Sudan in the mid-1980s. He also worked for ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s and the early 80s
in the company’s government relations department. Mr. Staal has a Master’s Degree in Comparative
Politics (Middle East focus) from Columbia University and a M.Sc. in National Strategic Security Studies
from the National Defense University. As the son of missionaries, he grew up in Iraq and Kuwait, and
attended boarding school in India.
David Applegate
Associate Director for Natural Hazards
United States Geological Survey
Department of the Interior
Dr. David Applegate is the Associate Director for Natural Hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey. In that
role, he leads USGS hazards planning and response activities and oversees the Coastal & Marine
Geology, Earthquake Hazards, Global Seismographic Network, Geomagnetism, Landslide Hazards, and
Volcano Hazards Programs. Dr. Applegate co-chairs the National Science and Technology Council's
Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, which provides interagency coordination and guidance to the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and is the U.S. National Platform to the UN
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. He co-leads the Department of the Interior’s Strategic
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Sciences Group, which advises the Secretary of the Interior during environmental crises, and is the
Department’s representative to the interagency Mitigation Framework Leadership Group. Dr. Applegate
is an Adjunct Full Professor in the University of Utah’s Department of Geology and Geophysics. He
received the Geological Society of America’s Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker Public Service Award in
2005 and became a fellow in 2006. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science and is a past president of the Geological Society of Washington. In 2010, he received the
USGS Shoemaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication and also received the Presidential
Rank Award for Meritorious Senior Professional. Prior to joining USGS in 2004, Dr. Applegate spent
eight years directing science policy at the American Geological Institute (AGI), a federation of geoscience
societies. During the last four years there, he also served as the editor of Geotimes, AGI's newsmagazine
of the earth sciences (now renamed Earth). Before AGI, Dr. Applegate served with the U.S. Senate
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources as the American Geophysical Union's Congressional
Science Fellow and as a Professional Staff Member for the minority. Born and raised in Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, Dr. Applegate holds a B.S. in Geology from Yale University and a Ph.D., also in Geology,
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jonathan Hoyes
Director, Office of Federal Disaster Coordination
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Department of Homeland Security
Mr. Jonathan Hoyes serves as the Director of the Office of Federal Disaster Coordination (OFDC), which
has the responsibility to lead, train, equip, and manage FEMA’s field operations leadership, including
Federal Coordinating Officers (FCO) and Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinators (FDRC). OFDC ensures
that every disaster is handled with rapid deployment responses, expedient assignments, and
coordinated with emergency management and Whole Community partners at all levels. Mr. Hoyes’s
career in the private sector spans over 20 years, with a focus on infrastructure development and risk
management. As a management consultant and business owner, Mr. Hoyes successfully developed a
business line supporting U.S. Federal, state, and local emergency management clients. Mr. Hoyes has
directly supported the delivery of public assistance, individual assistance and mitigation programs in
both technical and leadership roles. More recently, he managed pre- and post-disaster recovery
planning and training initiatives across the nation, including the development, roll out, and
implementation of the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF). Mr. Hoyes has an undergraduate
degree in Civil Engineering and an MBA in Financial Management and International Business. He
currently lives in Vienna, Virginia with his wife, Patricia, and their two daughters, Annabel and Olivia.
Holly Bamford
Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Department of Commerce
Dr. Holly Bamford is the acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management for the US
Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In this role, Dr.
Bamford works closely with Congress, other agency leaders, partner organizations, and local
communities to develop policies and take conservation and community resiliency actions to ensure
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coastal and ocean stewardship and services. Dr. Bamford’s expertise involves enhancing ocean and
coast resiliency in support of healthy oceans, coasts and the economies they depend on. Previously, as
Assistant Administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS), Dr. Bamford directed the Federal
agency that provided the science, tools and services to address threats to ocean and coastal areas such
as environmental change, population growth, port congestion, and contaminants in the environment.
Dr. Bamford’s portfolio included national programs such as the National Marine Sanctuaries, Coastal
Zone Management, Response and Restoration, Integrated Oceans Observing Systems, and the nation’s
chart maker, Coast Survey – all working together to provide the nation ocean and coastal services. Prior
to this appointment, she served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for NOS, where she managed the
financial and programmatic operations while strategically improving the agency’s performance to meet
its vast ocean science and service missions. After Hurricane Sandy, Dr. Bamford was named the Incident
Commander for NOAA responsible for all post response actions such as overseeing the agencies
response to oil spill, chemical spills, marine debris impacts, hydrographic surveys to open critical
navigation ways and ports, and high-resolution aerial imagery to map shoreline changes.
Dr. Bamford earned a Ph.D. in the field of organic environmental chemistry, quantifying the physical and
chemical processes that control the transport and fate of organic contaminants. She also spent a year as
a guest researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology developing analytical methods
to detect trace organic contaminants in water and air particles. Dr. Bamford received a number of
national awards for her environmental and stewardship efforts and has over 20 publications that have
been widely referenced in the field of environmental chemistry and water quality, including papers
in Environmental Science & Technology, Atmospheric Environment, Marine Pollution Bulletin,
and Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry. Dr. Bamford presented at a number of national and
international meetings, academic institutions, as well as addressed the public through national media
outlets including NBC News with Lester Holt, CNN, ABC, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Good Morning
America, Rolling Stone, People, and the Wall Street Journal.
Patrick Mendonca
Senior Director
Office of the Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
United States Postal Service
Mr. Patrick Mendonca is a career postal employee with the U.S. Postal Service since 1976 with a broad
background in postal operations. He is currently the Senior Director for Postmaster General and Chief
Executive Officer and handles policy and operational issues for that office. Prior to his current position
Mr. Mendonca was the Chief of Staff for the Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer.
Additionally, Mr. Mendonca is the lead official for all aspects of emergency preparedness for the Postal
Service including continuity of operations programs, policy and planning. Mr. Mendonca has experience
with coordinating civil emergency planning with other departments and agencies of the Federal
government as well as with state and local governments. Mr. Mendonca also has experience in
international postal and civil emergency planning. He is currently the Co-Chair of the Industrial
Resources and Communications Services Group for Civil Emergency Planning at the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) and the Chair of the Disaster Risk Management Group for the Universal Postal
Union (UPU). Mr. Mendonca also serves as the primary liaison officer for National Security staff at the
White House and coordinates relevant presidential policy directives and provides oversight for strategic
direction for USPS Continuity and National Preparedness Programs. Mr. Mendonca is the Chair of the
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Disaster Risk Management Group at the Universal Postal Union, the UN specialized agency for the postal
sector. Mr. Mendonca holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland and a Juris
Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore.
David Green
Program Manager for Disaster Response and Risk Reduction
Science Mission Directorate, Applied Science Program
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Dr. David Green is the Program Manager for Disaster response and risk reduction with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters Science Mission Directorate’s Applied
Science Program. Dr. Green has been engaged in research and application of hazards and disaster
science for over 25 years. Dr. Green graduated from the University of Toronto with a Ph.D. in Physical
Chemistry and earned a Masters of International Science & Technology Management from the
University of Maryland. He was on the Research Faculty of Stanford University and the University of
Maryland, and conducted environmental sensor-based research with the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST). In his current position, Dr. Green enables decision support and risk management
science relevant to a range of natural hazards including volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods as
well as man-made hazards such as oil spills. He creates and leverages partnerships among government,
academic and industry researchers, both domestically and internationally, and with actors from disaster
response, risk management, and capacity-building communities. Dr. Green manages issue-based
research that exploits the capacities of NASA’s satellite and airborne assets, integrates related earth
observation, and develops model and map-based information and data products. He had previously
been with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service
(NOAA/NWS) from 2003-2014. At NOAA/NWS he led integrated science and disaster programs,
managed the transition and infusion of science results to operations, and established the tsunami early
warning and mitigation system, supported the hurricane storm surge, air quality, health, and ecological
hazards programs and contributed to water resource management activities. Dr. Green has served on
many national and international committees and working groups related to natural disasters including
those through the White House Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, the Disaster Working Group of
the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, the Group on Earth Observations, and the World
Meteorological Organization, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the UN
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
Dennis Wenger
Program Director, Program Element 1638
Infrastructure Systems Management and Extreme Events
National Science Foundation
Dr. Dennis Wenger is the Program Director for program element 1638, Infrastructure Systems
Management and Extreme Events, at the National Science Foundation (NSF). He is also the Acting
Program Director for the Civil Infrastructure Systems program. He had previously been at NSF from
2001-2005. Dr. Wenger was a Professor from Texas A&M University from 1989-2007. At Texas A&M,
Dr. Wenger was a Professor of Urban and Regional Science and an Adjunct Professor of Sociology. He
was also the Founding Director and Senior Scholar of the Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center. Prior to
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his arrival at Texas A&M in 1989, Dr. Wenger was on the faculty of the University of Delaware where he
served as Co-Director of the Disaster Research Center from 1984-1989. Dr. Wenger has been engaged in
research on hazards and disasters for over 40 years. His research has focused upon the social and
multidisciplinary aspects of natural, technological, and human-induced disasters. Specifically, he has
studied such topics as local emergency management capabilities and response, police and fire planning
and response to disasters, search and rescue and the delivery of emergency medical services, mass
media coverage of disasters, warning systems and public response, factors related to local community
recovery success, and disaster beliefs and emergency planning. He undertook the only empirical study
of the evacuation of the World Trade Center towers after the first terrorist attack in 1993 and served as
Principal Investigator for the first project to “Enable the Future Generation of Hazard Researchers.” He
is the author of numerous books, research monographs, articles and papers. Dr. Wenger currently
serves as one of the nine members of the United Nations Scientific and Technical Committee to the
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. At NSF, Dr. Wenger serves as the foundation’s
representative to the Roundtable on Disasters of the National Academy of Sciences. He also represents
NSF on the Subcommittee on Disasters (SDR), which is associated with the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Wenger serves as the Co-Chair for Science of the SDR.
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