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The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) has named Richard Andrews as the 2009 recipient of the Lacy E. Suiter Distinguished Service Award. This is the top honor presented annually by NEMA to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to emergency management and whose accomplishments over a career are of unusual merit.
Richard Andrews has a long and illustrious career in the emergency management field. His service spans from state to national to international. He continues to be a leader and guide to his peers in NEMA; often providing a pragmatic and honest perspective based on his experiences managing major disasters.
From 1991-1998 he was Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) for the State of California. During that time, Andrews managed the response and recovery operations for the 1991 Oakland-East Bay Hills firestorm; the 1992 Los Angeles riots; the 1992 Landers-Big Bear earthquakes; the 1993 southern California firestorms; the 1994 Northridge earthquake; winter storms and floods in 1992, 1995, 1997 and 1998. As the State Coordinating Officer for these events, he was responsible for negotiations between the State of California and the Federal government for all disaster recovery programs.
Andrews served as a member of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council under President Bush; as Director of the California Office of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and as a member of the FEMA National Advisory Council.
Prior to his appointment as Director of Emergency Services, Andrews served as Executive Director of the California Seismic Safety Commission, advising the Governor and Legislature on earthquake mitigation policy and legislation. He received his Ph.D. and Masters degrees from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and a B. A. degree from DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana.
Andrews continues to be active in emergency management and homeland security. He has served as Senior Director, Homeland Security for NC4, a California-based technology company focused on advancing public-private sector collaboration. As a member of The World Bank’s Disaster Management Operations Group, he served as a member of the assessment team and project development group responding to the impacts of the August 1999 earthquake in Turkey and the December 1999 earthquake in Algeria. He has received numerous appointments and awards from Turkey’s President and Office of Prime Minister for his role as advisor and task leader assisting with the implementation of a new national emergency management system there.
Andrews served as President of the National Emergency Management Association from 1995-1996 and continues to be active as not only a past president, but until recently, the chair of the Private Sector committee.
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