JAMES LEE WITT
James Lee Witt is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of James Lee Witt Associates, LLC providing disaster recovery and mitigation management services to state and local governments, educational institutions, the international community and corporations.
In 2003, Mr. Witt became the Chief Executive Officer of the International Code Council (ICC), a 50,000-member association dedicated to building safety, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Through its founders, the ICC has more than 190 years of collective experience developing building safety codes that save lives. The majority of U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt codes choose building and fire safety codes developed by the ICC.
James Lee Witt has over 25 years of disaster management experience, culminating in his appointment as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he served from 1993-2001. In this capacity, he is credited with turning FEMA from an unsuccessful bureaucratic agency to an internationally lauded all-hazards disaster management agency. His leadership abilities have been praised by nationally recognized organizations, including the Council for Excellence in Government, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and the National Association of Broadcasters.
Mr. Witt was appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in April 1993. In February 1996, President Clinton elevated Mr. Witt to cabinet status - a first for a FEMA Director. As FEMA Director, Mr. Witt coordinated federal disaster relief on behalf of President Clinton, including the response and recovery activities of 28 federal agencies and departments, the American Red Cross and other voluntary agencies. He also oversaw the National Flood Insurance Program, the U.S. Fire Administration and other pro-active mitigation activities that reduce loss of life and property from all types of hazards. Mr. Witt directed 2,500 employees located in Washington, DC and 10 regional offices.
From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Witt oversaw more than 350 disasters. More importantly, he was responsible for response and recovery operations for six of the ten most devastating disasters of all time, including the most costly flood disaster in the nation's history, the most costly earthquake, and a dozen damaging hurricanes.
As Director of FEMA, Mr. Witt was the visionary and architect of national government programs related to emergency preparedness and mitigation, response, recovery. In addition to his experience in emergency management on the State and local level, Mr. Witt has expertise integrating community-based disaster management with national emergency management strategy. He initiated Project Impact, the first federally funded program dealing with emergency preparedness and mitigation at the local level.
Mr. Witt integrated flood mitigation, control and protection into FEMA's policy. After the devastating Midwest floods of 1993, Mr. Witt pursued an aggressive flood prone property acquisition and relocation program. By purchasing properties that were repeatedly flooded, he saved taxpayers millions of dollars when floods again ravaged the same Midwest area again in 1995.
Mr. Witt's professional career includes the formation of Witt Construction, a commercial and residential construction company. After 12 years as a successful businessman and community leader, he was elected County Judge for Yell County, serving as the chief elected official for the county, with judicial responsibilities for county and juvenile court. At age 34, he was the youngest elected official in Arkansas, and was later honored for his accomplishments by the National Association of Counties. After being re-elected six times to the position, Mr. Witt was tapped by then-Governor Bill Clinton to assume leadership of the Arkansas Office of Emergency Services (OES). He served as the Director of the Arkansas OES for four years.
WILLIAM PESSEMIER
Chief Bill Pessemier spent twenty five years in the fire service serving in a number of positions throughout his career, from firefighter to training officer to fire chief.
Prior to his retirement as the fire chief in Littleton, Colorado, Bill was the incident commander for the fire and emergency medical response to the shootings at Columbine High School.
Bill was appointed by James Lee Witt, past Director of FEMA, as a member of the America Burning Recommissioned Panel.
In his role with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, Bill has recently written a handbook on interoperability titled: Top Priority: A Fire Service Guide to Interoperable Communications.
Bill is an Affiliate Faculty member at Colorado State University teaching in the Fire Sciences Management degree program.
Bill holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Illinois and is currently working on a Doctoral Degree in Public Affairs at the University of Colorado at Denver.
MICHAEL BALBONI
Governor Eliot Spitzer appointed Michael Balboni as Deputy Secretary for Public Safety in January 2007. Mr. Balboni is the administration’s senior homeland security and law enforcement official. A sampling of the state agencies which report to him are: Office of Homeland Security, Division of State Police, Division of Military and Naval Affairs, Department of Correctional Services, Division of Criminal Justice Services, and the State Emergency Management Office.
Prior to accepting this appointment, Michael Balboni represented the 7th Senate District, located in Nassau County, since 1997. Previously he served in the State Assembly for eight years.
In the Senate, he chaired the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs where he led the enactment of several new anti-terrorism laws in New York State that criminalize acts of biological and chemical terrorism, set up security requirements for small airports and established procedures for securing chemical plants against terrorist attacks.
In March 2004, then-federal Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge appointed then-Senator Balboni to a national Task Force that examined the flow of homeland security dollars from the federal government to local communities. In 2005, he was named a Senior Fellow of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University and was appointed co-chairman of the Executive Task Force on Homeland Security of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
In 2006, Senator Balboni was appointed to the State and Local Officials Senior Advisory Committee (SLSAC) of the United States Homeland Security Advisory Council. In that role he helps to leverage the ingenuity and expertise of state, local and tribal leaders to provide federal Advisory Council members with the best possible advice on a range of homeland security issues. He was also appointed a member of the Board of Advisors of the Homeland Security Management Institute of Long Island University.
Michael Balboni resides in East Williston, Long Island with his wife Stephanie and their 4 children.
MAGNUS OJERT
Regional Vice President, Northeast Network Engineering
Sprint Nextel Corporation
Magnus Ojert has been a part of the telecommunications industry for over 18 years. In his present role as Northeast Regional Vice President, Magnus is responsible for RF engineering and optimization, site development and construction, network engineering and operations, and field operations for the Northeast Region.
Magnus returned to Sprint Nextel in 2004 as the National Vice President of Site Development and was responsible for implementation of cell site strategies and standards, tower portfolio administration, property management, and new technology deployment. Prior to returning to the company, Mr. Ojert was Chief Operating Officer for Berliner Communications. Berliner Communications is a vertically integrated site development, engineering and construction company focused on telecommunications. Before his tenure at Berliner, Mr. Ojert spent six years with Nextel Communications as the vice president of engineering and operations for the Mid-Atlantic area and one year with Nextel International as vice president of network engineering. Mr. Ojert began his professional career with Motorola and spent seven years as the business unit manager for New York, where he oversaw all Motorola managed and owned antenna sites, operation and design for the 800 & 900 MHz analog SMRs, and played a key role in their spectrum management team.
Mr. Ojert holds a Bachelor of Science in economics and finance from University of Scranton and received his Masters degree in international finance from Seton Hall University.
| 
