Impact-Based Decision Support Services
A New Focus for a Weather-Ready Nation

John Ogren
Director, National Weather Service Training Center

Kim Runk
Interim Director, NWS Operations Proving Ground

February 8, 2012

COMMENTS

"I appreciated learning about the collaboration efforts under way! Thank you!."
Lee Wohlgemuth
Uintah City Council

JOHN OGREN

John Ogren is the Director of NOAA's National Weather Service Training Center in Kansas City, Missouri. His career spans over 20 years of working with numerous weather disasters ranging from floods to tornadoes to hurricanes. He has conducted damage assessments after some of the nations largest tornado disasters including the May 3, 1999 Oklahoma/Kansas tornado outbreak and the La Plata Maryland tornado of 2002. While now focusing on the National Weather Service's training needs, Ogren remains on call as a damage assessment expert for particularly difficult storm events.

Prior to his current assignment, John served as Deputy Regional Director of the NWS Central Region, Meteorologist in Charge of the NWS forecast office in Indianapolis, IN, and as Warning Coordination Meteorologist both at NWS Headquarter and Wichita, KS. All of these past positions required close coordination with FEMA, state and local emergency management as well as numerous not-for-profit disaster relief organizations.

KIM RUNK

Kim Runk is currently Interim Director of the NWS Operations Proving Ground, located at the National Weather Service Training Center in Kansas City, Missouri. He has devoted more than 30 years to public service in the fields of weather and emergency response. Kim's career experience ranges from working with air rescue and combat weather support teams in the US Air Force, to piloting several service enhancement initiatives with the National Weather Service.

Kim led the service assessment for the 2009 Flood Events on the Red River of the North, and served on-site in the aftermath of the historic 2011 Joplin tornado, supporting the rescue and recovery mission.

Prior to his current assignment, Kim served as Chief of Integrated Services for the NWS Central Region, and before that, as Meteorologist in Charge of the NWS forecast office in Las Vegas. In these roles, and in previously held positions, success was heavily dependent on building effective collaborative relationships with the emergency management community and other core partners to design and deliver value-added critical decision support services for disaster mitigation.