Mr. Brian Koon
Bryan Koon, M.S., serves as Vice President of Florida Homeland Security and Emergency Management at IEM, a global security consulting firm. is the former Director at the Florida Division of Emergency Management and serves as IEM’s Vice President of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Koon has spent his career focused on improving emergency response operations and engaging communities in becoming better prepared for emergencies and disasters. Koon was appointed by Florida Governor Rick Scott in 2011 to be the state’s Director of Emergency Management. In this position, Koon managed the division’s responsibilities in planning for, responding to, and recovering from natural and manmade disasters. This included preparing and implementing the statewide Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, conducting state and local exercises and training to improve preparedness capabilities, and acting as liaison between the Florida Division of Emergency Management and federal and state agencies. Koon’s priorities included relationship-building and better communications between the private and public sectors as well as improved cross-over between state preparedness and recovery efforts. In his role, Koon was also the Chair of the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) and Vice Chair of the Domestic Security Oversight Council (DSOC). In addition to serving as IEM Vice President, Koon also serves as Chair of the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council. The Council is comprised of leading experts in mitigation and serves as an independent, non-governmental, non-profit entity that advocates for smart mitigation practices nationwide. Prior to working for Florida, Koon was the Operations Manager and Director of Emergency Management for Wal-Mart. There, he was responsible for emergency management operations for 8,500 facilities and 2.2 million employees worldwide during disasters. Managing such a range of locations, each facing different emergencies and disasters, helped to hone Koon’s abilities to be responsive and flexible, a core value at IEM. Koon worked as a White House contractor with SRA International, building off his work as Training Officer for Presidential Contingency Programs under the U.S. Navy. While on active duty with the Navy, Koon worked at the White House Military Office in the President’s Emergency Operations Center. Koon was a Commissioner of the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). He was also Vice Chairman of the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Council, sat on the Board of Directors of the National Information Sharing Consortium, and was formerly President of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). He has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, a master’s degree in Business Administration from the George Washington University (GWU), and a Graduate Certificate in Emergency and Crisis Management from GWU.

Ms. Alice A. Lippert
Alice Lippert, M.S., has over 35 years of federal service experience. She is currently an independent consultant, energy analyst and advisor. She has expertise in DOE authorities and government programs related to Clean Air Act, Jones Act, Homeland Security, Pipeline Security and Safety, including waiver processes involving federal government energy programs. She often served as the Liaison for special, high-visibility exercises, studies and analyses involving senior representatives from the Department, Federal, State and local governments, National Laboratories, and the private sector. In 2014, she served on the Secretary of Energy’s National Petroleum Council Study to examine DOE’s emergency response program. She has extensive experience in responding to energy supply disruptions and emergency events. During major energy events, she often served as the Emergency Response Operations Director. She was formerly the Director of the Infrastructure Analysis and Planning Directorate, leading a team of analysts on energy infrastructure security and reliability projects. She has published numerous articles and reports on energy reliability and response topics. She has a long history in dealing with State and local governments as well as industry on risk assessment, energy assurance planning, and emergency preparedness activities. She was formerly the Energy Assurance Planning and Outreach Program Manager. From 2009 – 2012, Ms. Lippert was responsible for implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA) State and Local Energy Assurance Planning Initiative, a $50 million grant program involving 47 States, the District of Columbia, 43 cities, and 2 territories. Ms. Lippert has a strong background in public-private partnerships and was nominated as a finalist for the Samuel J Heyman Service to America Medals Award (Sammie) in 2014. In 2012, Ms. Lippert received outstanding recognition from the National Association of State Energy Officials and Public Technology Institute for her excellence and strategic vision in assisting State and local governments. Prior to joining the current office, Ms. Lippert was employed as an Energy Economist with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) where she served as one of EIA’s resident senior petroleum analysts and managed several large energy data collection surveys. She was also responsible for conducting economic analyses related to the energy industry; authored market assessment reports; and assessed changes in the energy industry as a result of legislation or environmental laws and regulations. Early in her career, she was employed as an Economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics', Consumer Expenditure Survey, a large household consumption survey used to update the basket of goods and services in the Consumer Price Index. Ms Lippert holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Dakota.

Dr. M. Sam Mannan
Sam Mannan, Ph.D., is the Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, as well as the Director of the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center. Dr. Mannan holds concurrent joint appointments as Professor of: Mechanical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Materials Science & Engineering at Texas A&M University. Before joining Texas A&M University, Dr. Mannan was Vice President at RMT, Inc., a nationwide engineering services company. Dr. Mannan is a registered professional engineer in the states of Texas and Louisiana, a Certified Safety Professional, and a Professional Process Safety Engineer. His experience is wide ranging, covering process design of chemical plants and refineries, computer simulation of engineering problems, mathematical modeling, process safety, risk assessment, inherently safer design, critical infrastructure vulnerability assessment, aerosol modeling, and reactive and energetic materials assessments. Dr. Mannan is involved very closely with projects that include hazard assessment and risk analysis, process hazard identification, HAZOP (hazard and operability) studies, vulnerability assessment, process safety management, and risk management. His research interests include development of inherently safer processes, application of computational fluid dynamics to study the explosive characteristics of flammable gases, development of quantitative methods to determine incompatibility among various chemicals, application of calorimetric methods for the assessment of reactive hazards, and the application of consequence analyses to assess the impact of process plant incidents. He co-authored the Guidelines for Safe Process Operations and Maintenance published by the Center for Chemical Process Safety, American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is the editor of the 3rd and 4th edition of the 3-volume authoritative reference for process safety and loss prevention, Lees’ Loss Prevention in the Process Industries. Dr. Mannan has published 299 peer-reviewed journal publications, 5 books, 8 book chapters, 220 proceedings papers, 14 major reports, and 272 technical meeting presentations. Dr. Mannan is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Service to Society Award, the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students’ Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching, the Texas Engineering Experiment Station Research Fellow, the Texas A&M University Dwight Look College of Engineering George Armistead, Jr. ’23 Fellow.

Dr. Craig E. Philip
Craig Philip, Ph.D. (NAE), is Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Transportation and Operational Resilience (VECTOR) and Research Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has spent 35 years in leadership positions in the transportation industry, including maritime, rail and intermodal. From 1993 to 2014 he served as President/CEO of Ingram Barge Company, as it grew to become the largest US domestic marine transportation carrier. Craig began his career at Consolidated Rail Corporation and later served with Southern Pacific Railroad where he was VP of their Intermodal Division. Craig has been actively engaged in transportation and logistics industry leadership, serving as Chairman of the American Waterways Operators, the National Waterways Conference and the US Chamber’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and as a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Executive Committee as well as the Marine Board. He currently serves as a US Commissioner of PIANC (international water transport congress) and on the Boards of the ArcBest Corporation, the USDOT’s National Freight Advisory Committee, the Seamen’s Church Institute, the Red Cross of Tennessee and the Nashville Civic Design Center. In 2010 Craig was designated a Distinguished Diplomate in ACOPNE (Academy of Coastal, Ocean, Port and Navigation Engineers) and in 2014 was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Mr. Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith is President and CEO at Sustainable Supply Chain Consulting. Mr. Smith is a career supply-chain practitioner. Sustainable Supply Chain Consulting was founded in 2009 to provide advice and guidance to large-scale supply chains and related businesses concerning strategic planning and organizational development. Kevin served for eight years as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain & Logistics for CVS/pharmacy, the retail arm of CVS Caremark, where his role was to facilitate changes in the overall supply chain. Kevin has been a longtime board member for the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), Special Advisor to Supply Chain 50, and contributor to the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). Additionally, Kevin is vice chair of the Distribution Business Management Association (DBMA) Supply Chain Leaders in Action Executive Committee. Mr. Smith is a graduate from the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.