NAEMT Board member Chuck Kearns is among a dozen emergency management professionals appointed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Advisory Council. Kearns, NAEMT At-Large Director and vice president and chief operating officer for Community Emergency Medical Services in southeastern Michigan, is the council's EMS representative.

Others named to the group are:

• Mark Cooper, executive director of the Louisiana governor's Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness (representing emergency management);
• Paul Biedrzycski, director of disease control and environmental health for the Milwaukee Health Department (public health);
• June Kailes, disability policy consultant for the Center for Disability and Health Policy at Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA (special needs);
• David Miller, administrator for Iowa's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division (state nonelected official);
• Elizabeth Armstrong, executive director of the International Association of Emergency Managers, Falls Church, VA (standards setting);
• Adora Obi Nweze, president of the Florida State Conference, NAACP (FEMA administrator selection);
• Christine Wormuth, principal deputy assistant secretary for homeland defense and Americas' security affairs, U.S. Department of Defense (ex officio federal government officer);
• Kevin Yeskey, deputy assistant secretary and director of the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ex officio federal government officer);
• Charles Kmet, emergency management administrator for the Tohono O'odham Department of Public Safety in Arizona (tribal nonelected official);
• Nancy Dragani, executive director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency (FEMA administrator selection); and
• Teresa Scott, director of public works, Gainesville, FL (FEMA administrator selection).

Kmet, Dragani and Scott are reappointments, while the other members are new. The council was established under the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, with a membership of up to 35 appointed by and serving at the discretion of the FEMA administrator. Members serve three-year terms. Since its inception, the council has advised the administrator on the National Response Framework, the National Incident Management System, the Stafford Act, the National Disaster Housing Strategy and on disability and private-sector issues. For more on the council, see www.fema.gov/about/nac.

Kearns also recently was named NAEMT's representative to the Board of Directors of the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services, where he will complete Patrick Moore's term. He also serves on EMS Magazine's editorial advisory board.