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About us

Vision: A county with disaster-ready communities where everyone is prepared for and resilient to emergencies.

Mission: We provide regional leadership to strengthen community resilience and access to emergency services.

King County Emergency Management provides for the effective direction, control and coordination of County government services functional units; provides liaison with other governments and the private, non-governmental section; and, serve as the coordinating entity for cities, County departments, and other appropriate agencies, during incidents and events of regional significance. This is done in support of the Executive's Vision of King County as a welcoming place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Emergency management, in general, is the nexus of a number of other practices and professions, focusing them on solving the problems of emergencies and disasters. We specialize in emergency preparedness and emergency operations in the prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery mission areas. This includes hazard and threat identification, risk assessment, capability building, planning, training, exercises, and operational execution and coordination of capabilities. Our four key initiatives are to develop and provide better situational awareness, strengthen Emergency Operations Center (EOC) readiness, promote public awareness, and contribute to disaster risk reduction.

In addition, a team of volunteers supports King County Emergency Management during activations of our Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC Support Team participates in training, exercises, and emergency coordination activities throughout the year.

Our priorities

Our priorities include four specific outcomes:

  • Regional emergency services - To provide region-wide planning and emergency response coordination for jurisdictional and private sector partners
  • Standards-based programs - To achieve a state of continuous improvement through the adoption of standards-based programs
  • Resilient and inclusive systems - To develop resilient and inclusive systems for King County departments and the whole community
  • Quality workforce - To develop a strong workforce made up of internal and external partners, ready to coordinate emergency preparedness and operations

Our Annual Report provides specific examples of how we've achieved these outcomes.

Leadership

Brendan McCluskey, Director
206-205-4060
Brendan.McCluskey@kingcounty.gov 

Alysha Kaplan, Deputy Director
206-205-4062
AKaplan@kingcounty.gov

Sheri Badger, Sr. Communications Specialist- Public Information Officer
206-205-4031
SBadger@kingcounty.gov

Sherrie Chatman, Business and Finance Officer III
206-205-4064
Sherrie.Chatman@kingcounty.gov

Nancy Choi, Administrator I
206-263-6746
nchoi@kingcounty.gov

Planning and Finance

Celia Taylor, Senior EM Program Manager - Planning and Finance
206-205-4066
CETaylor@kingcounty.gov

Nathan Drain, EM Program Coordinator - Finance and Grant Analysis
206-205-3419
NDrain@kingcounty.gov

Sasha Rector, EM Program Coordinator - Planning
206-205-4071
SRector@kingcounty.gov

Emilia Jones, EM Program Coordinator - Recovery
206-205-4061
EMJones@kingcounty.gov

Nathan Emory, EM Program Coordinator - Extreme Weather
206-205-4059
NEmory@kingcounty.gov

Mikko McFeely, EM Program Coordinator - Crisis Management/Targeted Violence
206-205-4032
MMcFeely@kingcounty.gov

Andrew Matthews, EM Program Specialist - Finance
206-205-0463
Andmatthews@kingcounty.gov

Regional Integration

Nick Gibbons, Senior EM Program Manager - External Affairs
206-205-6352
Nicholas.Gibbons@kingcounty.gov

Eric O'Brien, EM Program Manager - Training
206-205-4072
Eric.Obrien@kingcounty.gov

Lexi Swanson, EM Coordinator - HLS Region 6
206-205-6545
alswanson@kingcounty.gov

Deborah Hunt, EM Coordinator - Exercise and Evaluation
206-205-4070
dhunt@kingcounty.gov

Susanna Trimarco, EM Coordinator - Public Outreach
206-205-5497
strimarco@kingcounty.gov

Vacant, Program Specialist - Zone 1 Liaison

Cynthia Foley, Program Specialist - Zone 3 Liaison
206-205-4074
cynthia.foley@kingcounty.gov

Risk Reduction and Operations

Nicole Johnson, Senior EM Program Manager - Risk Reduction and Operations
206-205-4057
nicojohnson@kingcounty.gov

Vacant, EM Program Manager - Mitigation

Jason Shirron, EM Program Manager -Technical Operations and Volunteer Management
206-205-4068
Jason.Shirron@kingcounty.gov

Tom Sharp, EM Program Manager - LEPC
206-205-4069
Tom.Sharp@kingcounty.gov

Edan Edmonson, EM Program Coordinator - Dam Safety
206-205-0940
EEdmonson@kingcounty.gov

Ella Liddicoat, AmeriCorps Fellow
n-eliddicoat@kingcounty.gov

Lily Xu, EM Program Coordinator - Continuity
206-205-5460
lxu@kingcounty.gov

Organizational Chart

Emergency Management organizational chart
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