Dr. George Markowsky, President
Dr. George Markowsky has been active in TIEMS and TIEMS-USA since 2016. He was the primary organizer of the TIEMS 2017 Annual Conference held at the University of Maine. He has worked on a variety of Emergency Management related projects as a TIEMS member including the HERACLES and IMPETUS projects. He was worked with CERT Teams and with a variety of international colleagues and collaborators. He has talked about topics such as modeling pandemics and nuclear accidents. He has visited the Chernobyl site and has presented talks dealing with the accident. He holds an M. A. and Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University, and a B. A. in mathematics from Columbia University.
Dr. Markowsky is currently a Professor of Computer Science at the Missouri University of Science & Technology. In addition, he has been a faculty member at the University of Maine, the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the University of New Hampshire. He also spent 10 years at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center. He has served as a chair of computer science and mathematics departments, and was the Founding Director of the American-Ukrainian School of Computer Sciences and Technologies at West Ukrainian National University.
Dr. Joe Leitmann, Vice President
Dr. Joe Leitmann has 35 years of experience with disaster risk management, resilience, and sustainable development at the World Bank. He has worked in 40+ countries on clean energy, urban environmental management, tropical forestry, post-disaster reconstruction, climate change, and resilience. Most recently, he led teams on resilient recovery and urban resilience with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery. He holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from UC Berkeley and a Master’s from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Dr. Joe Leitmann is now the Executive Director of the University of California Disaster Resilience Network and leads a United Nations-supported team of experts preparing a COVID-19 recovery framework for Africa. Among his many accomplishments are:
- Creating and managing the Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias which raised $700 million to finance a portfolio of 21 recovery projects to help Indonesia rebuild after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
- Creating and managing the Haiti Reconstruction Fund which raised over $400 million to finance a portfolio of 25 recovery projects to help Haiti rebuild after the 2010 earthquake.
- Leading the resilient recovery and urban resilience teams for the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery where he developed guidance for preparing disaster recovery frameworks, a review of the status of civil protection around the world, and a policy paper on financing urban resilience.
Dr. Thomas Robertson, Secretary/Treasurer
Dr. Thomas Vincent Robertson is Director, North American Operations for TIEMS (The International Emergency Management Society), and Founder and Principal at Thinking Teams, an international consultancy to help clients harmonize human and machine intelligence as they automate using artificial intelligence (AI). He has published and presented numerous papers on AI and emergency management, risk communication during emergencies, disaster risk reduction, virtual simulation in emergency management, pandemic response, climate change resilience, and applications of advanced technologies in the US, France, Italy, China, Japan, Belgium, Greece, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, North Cyprus, and Korea. He has been a Visiting faculty member at Écoles des Mines d’Ales Master’s program in Disaster Management and Environmental Impact Studies, where he developed and taught “Human Factors in Disaster Management”. As an Expert for the European Commission Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, he has evaluated over 80 disruptive innovative project proposals and served as reviewer of progress and results for projects developing reconfigurable satellite ground stations, laser machining tools, artificial intelligence hardware, and financial technologies for insuring small businesses.
Dr. Robertson has a Ph.D. in Electrical engineering from Purdue University, with experience as a researcher, Chief Scientist, Director of Engineering, and VP/General Manager at several research and development and aerospace organizations, including Bell Laboratories, Lockheed Martin, Atlantic Aerospace, and BAE Systems.
Colonel (Retired) Larry Porter, Ph.D., CEM, TQC
Dr. Porter retired in 2003 from the Army National Guard (ARNG) with just under 34 years of service, ending with 18 years of Federal Active Guard/Reserve (AGR) service. His last duty assignment was as the first National Guard (NG) Liaison Officer to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), where his interest in emergency management as a follow-on career was stimulated.
He earned a Ph.D. in Engineering Management in May 2010 (concentration in Emergency Management) from The George Washington University’s Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management (ICDRM). His research focused on Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA), specifically on differences in National Guard and Department of Defense support to local emergency managers after Hurricane Katrina. His advisor was John R. Harrald, Ph.D.
Dr. Porter was awarded Certified Emergency Manager (CEM®) by the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) in 2006, recertified in 2011 & 2016, and he has been active in several IAEM committees and caucuses.
He is a charter member of the TIEMS Qualification Certification (TQC™) another emergency management certification. TIEMS is The International Emergency Management Society (www.tiems.org).
Dr. Porter was developing and teaching master’s degree courses online (Adjunct Associate Professor) for over a dozen years. He last instructed for the University of Maryland University College and has also worked for Arkansas Tech University, Colorado Technical University, The George Washington University, and Norwich University’s online School of Graduate and Continuing Studies. He is currently associated with Arkansas Tech University.
Dr. Porter is the immediate past president, and treasurer, of the Council for the Accreditation of Emergency Management & Homeland Security Education (CAEMHSE), an organization in existence for about 15 years that has established peer-reviewed emergency management education standards, and assesses and accredits college and university emergency management education programs. Website: www.caemhse.education
Kristine Sinkez
Kristine Sinkez is one of the nation’s leading experts in delivering environmental, disaster recovery, and infrastructure solutions that help communities become more sustainable and resilient.
Throughout her career spanning nearly two decades, Kristine has been a trusted partner to numerous public and private sector organizations in providing program management, environmental compliance, permit expediting, and grants management services through highly complex, large-scale projects that have transformed communities. In her role as founder and president of NERIS, she leads a diverse and rapidly growing team of experts working throughout the U.S. to deliver similar solutions to clients in sectors like affordable housing, water and wastewater, transportation, entertainment, disaster recovery, and long-term resilience, among others. Prior to founding NERIS in 2015, she managed programs and projects for one of the world’s largest engineering firms and lent her background in environmental science toward addressing some of the nation’s most impactful and important public-sector challenges.
Kristine earned her undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech and her Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Management from American Public University. A native of the Washington DC area and current New York City resident where NERIS is based, Kristine enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, and playing soccer in her free time while she manages NERIS’ continued growth and success.
James Westbrook
James Westbrook has been at Kennesaw State since August of 2013 and assumed the role of Director in January 2023. James was Assistant Director from the creation of the Office of Emergency Management in January 2015 before becoming Acting Director in June 2022. Prior to joining KSU, James worked at the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) for over seven years in both the State Emergency Communications Center and as a School Safety Coordinator. He also has a background in 911 operations, hazardous materials, and the fire services. James holds a Master of Science degree in Emergency Management from Jacksonville State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Georgia.
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