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Office of Emergency Management
Jeff Braun elected to Statewide Emergency Management Board
Richmond, January 23, 2008: At its general membership meeting held in December 2007, the Fort Bend County Emergency Management Coordinator was elected to a leadership position with the Emergency Management Association of Texas. Jeff Braun was elected to the Association’s Board of Directors by a vote of the membership. The Association is based in Austin, and provides its members the opportunity to shape emergency management policy and practice in Texas.
Braun indicated that he is enthused to be elected to the post stating that “it is always gratifying when your professional colleagues show faith in your abilities to assist in the leadership of an organization, especially one as vital as the Emergency Management Association of Texas.”
The Emergency Management Association of Texas (EMAT) was established in 1989 and Incorporated in 1992. The purposes of the organization include enhancing public safety through training: providing support to emergency management certification and training programs; and, fostering research, information exchange and educational program to advance the professionalism of persons engaged in emergency management and disaster preparedness. EMAT establishes relationships between public and private agencies, and strengthens intergovernmental, inter-agency and multi-disciplinary liaisons as they relate to integrated, comprehensive emergency management.
Braun was appointed as the County’s Emergency Management Coordinator in 2003 by County Judge Robert Hebert. During his tenure, Braun has upgraded the County’s emergency management program through a strategy focusing on partnerships, communication, and equipment upgrades. Last year, he was named the “2006 Emergency Manager of the Year” by the Emergency Management Association of Texas as a result of his efforts to build programs that increase crisis preparedness in all seventeen jurisdictions of Fort Bend County through projects such as the formation of a Countywide PIO Network, the development of a Countywide Debris Management Plan, deployment of two regional hazardous material response teams, and construction of a state-of-the-art EOC.
Judge Hebert is very supportive of Braun’s election to the EMAT Board, noting “we are fortunate to have Braun at the helm of the County’s Office of Emergency Management--- he has worked hard to develop build a professional staff and to improve coordination between the Office and the many jurisdictions in the County.” In addition, Hebert noted the emergency management leadership role Braun has assumed in the Houston metropolitan region.
Braun serves as the Vice Chair of the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Regional Homeland Security Coordinating Committee and Chair of the Regional Collaboration Committee of the Houston Urban Area Security Initiative Working Group. In addition, Braun was appointed to the Texas Preparedness Advisory Committee by the State’s Chief of Emergency Management, Jack Colley.
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