The National Levee Safety Program
An Overview from USACE and FEMA

Kelly Bronowicz, CFM
Program Specialist, Risk Analysis Division
Mitigation Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency

December 12, 2007

REVIEWS

"Pertinent information."

EDWARD J. HECKER

Mr. Edward J. Hecker serves as the Chief, Office of Homeland Security and Provost Marshal, Directorate of Civil Works, Headquarters, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. He also serves as the Corps' Northwestern Regional Integration team leader.

He is responsible for providing leadership in the coordination and facilitation of USACE Homeland Security missions in support of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of the Army (DA), and the Department of Defense (DOD). He is Program Manager for all USACE efforts to assist Federal, state and local emergency management and emergency response organizations with mitigation, planning, training, and exercises necessary to build and sustain capabilities to provide protection from and respond to any emergency or disaster, including a terrorist incident involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as well as other natural or manmade hazards. Responsibilities also include leadership of the Corps' Homeland Security and emergency management community of practice and protection of the Corps critical water resources infrastructure.

Mr. Hecker began his governmental career in the Corps Baltimore District office (Civil Project Management), and transferred to the Headquarters, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, DC, before moving to San Francisco, California. In San Francisco he was the Chief, Emergency Management for the South Pacific Division, which encompassed California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and portions of Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming. He was the Program Manager for the Corps response to the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.

In October 1991, Mr. Hecker returned to Washington, DC to assume the position of the Chief, Readiness Branch of the Operations, Construction and Readiness Division, having responsibility for overall management of the Corps disaster preparedness and response missions.

Ed and his wife Sylvia reside in Severn, Maryland. He has a B.S..E. from the John Hopkins University, and has earned National recognition and awards for his performance and leadership during the Corps' response to major disasters, from Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972 to Hurricane Hugo/Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the Midwest Floods of 1993, to the Terrorist Attacks on Sept 11th, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

KELLY BRONOWICZ

Kelly Bronowicz, CFM is a Program Specialist in the Risk Analysis Division, Mitigation Directorate of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Bronowicz has been with FEMA for over 3 years and is the Engineering Management Branch's lead for technical issues related to flood mapping. Her involvement includes coordinating with FEMA regional offices, and mapping contractors and partners in managing and monitoring revisions and restudies of the flood maps; and identifying and resolving complex issues relating to the National Flood Insurance Program.

One of her main responsibilities is to oversee levee issues and how they impact the Map Modernization Program and National Flood Insurance Program at the National level. Her involvement includes developing National policy that the regional offices and mapping partners implement as they produce maps for the National Flood Insurance Program; and collaborating and coordinating with other Federal agencies, national associations, as well as state and local entities on levee-related issues.

She was previously employed as a Civil Engineer by Dewberry, in Fairfax, Virginia, working on the Flood Map Production Coordination Contractor contract with FEMA as the Section Leader for the Region 3 Team dealing with both Letter of Map Change and Map Production. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park.