Our Team

 
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John Copenhaver

JCopenhaver@dpando.com

John B. Copenhaver has been a licensed Georgia attorney since 1979. He has served in many senior executive roles, including as a Presidential appointee to FEMA, President and CEO of the Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) International, and was appointed to the Board of Business Continuity Institute. His career has resulted in the following appointed positions of prestige

  • Principal of the Council for Excellence in Government, Washington, D.C.,

  • University of Georgia School of Law, Board of Visitors in June, 2002-2005

  • Appointed to the Board of the Emergency Information Infrastructure Project 2011 - Present Elected to the Disaster Recovery Institute International Board of Directors October 2001;

  • Chairman 2003- 2005

  • U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Security Task Force, 2007- 2010 FEMA National Advisory Council Private Sector Subcommittee, 2008- 2010

  • Editorial Board, The Journal of Business Continuity and Emergency Management, 2005-2010 Editorial Board, The Journal of Emergency Management, March 2010-Present

  • Advisory Board of the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness, 2004-Present Biographies, “Who’s Who in America”, “Who’s Who in the World” 2006-Present Appointed to the Board of the Business Continuity Institute, 2012-2014

  • PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

  • Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region IV, Director (Presidential Appointee), PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS:

  • Management/Leadership

  • Managed FEMA’s largest Regional Office for 3 1/2 years (up to 800 people in multiple offices). Restructured Regional management staff and administered a variety of FEMA programs for the

  • Served as Chairman of the Atlanta Federal Executive Board (FEB) (comprised of Federal Department and Agency heads in the state of Georgia) and oversaw the development of the FEB’s first 5-year Strategic Plan.

  • Conceived and directed implementation of the, “FEMA/BellSouth Project Impact Executive Summit” held in March 2000 at the Carter Center in Atlanta, bringing together senior officers of 150 corporations and senior government officers (Governors and Presidential Cabinet Officers) to formulate policy furthering

  • Emergency Management/Disaster Response and Recovery

  • Directed hazardous materials programs for the Southeastern U.S., including oversight of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) and the Radiological Emergency Program (REP), both involving multimillion-dollar budgets and considerable Congressional.

Strategic/Tactical Planning:

    • Conceived and directed nation's first "Tornado Preparedness Summit"; Summit held in April 1998 because of over 100 deaths and massive devastation occurring from tornado disasters in the Southeast region during the first 3 1/2 months of 1998.

    • Created theme for Summit (subsequently adopted as theme for multiple national conferences) of, "A Safe Place to Go with Time to Get There"; focus on areas of tornado detection, warning systems and sheltering options; over 200 participants from 40 different Federal and state agencies, with output forming basis for national tornado preparedness policy.

    • Directed over $100,000 toward funding of Texas Tech/FEMA publication entitled, "Taking Shelter from the Storm" providing documentation on construction of tornado-proof "safe rooms".

    • Developed major initiative for BellSouth Corp. entitled the "Umbrella Protection Plan", which brought together elements of network redundancy and survivability with key product and service offerings in the field of disaster preparedness and business continuity, for market offering throughout the Southeast.

    • Directed the creation and marketing of BellSouth Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) products to provide robust and integrated business continuity offering to businesses throughout the Southeast.

    • Directed the revision/restructuring of the Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT), a multi-agency group designed to coordinate information and preparedness activities at the local, state and Federal levels during hurricane threats to the U.S.; the HLT has been recognized by the Office of the White House as one of the most successful Federal initiatives of the past four years.

Education and Professional Associations:

    • Bachelor of Science in Geological Sciences, minors in Physics and Mathematics, Brown University, 1975

    • Juris Doctor, concentration in International Law, University of Georgia School of Law, 1979

    • State Bar of Georgia membership and license to practice law is current.