Building a Resilient Bay Area through
Public and Private Leadership Collaboratives:
An Emergency Preparedness Training and Roundtable Discussion
Committee Biographies
- Ray Bonilla
- Roxanne Elizabeth Cruz
- Dr. Muntu Davis
- Cynthia Frankel
- Zerlyn Ladua
- Jan McClellan
- Nancy W Miramontez
- Peter I. Ohtaki
- Royce Edward “Rocky” Saunders
- Dean Stavert
- Sandra Williams
- Doug Wisman
- Florencia Woodley
Ray Bonilla, Co-Chair, Bay Area Resiliency Network
Ray Bonilla is a Business Continuity Planning Consultant with Kaiser Permanente, based at the national headquarters in Oakland, California. He is responsible for managing the development, implementation, testing and maintenance of over 2,000 Business Continuity Plans for the Nation’s largest not-for-profit integrated healthcare delivery system. Mr. Bonilla is a professional contingency planner with several years of progressive experience managing large and complex business continuity, emergency management, and disaster recovery programs.
Mr. Bonilla serves on numerous chapter boards, committees and focus-groups throughout California. Mr. Bonilla is currently the Director of Programs for the Association of Contingency Planners (ACP), Terrorism Liaison Officer (TLO) with the Regional Terrorism Threat Assessment Center, Member of the Fremont Fire Department’s CERT team—specializing in Search and Rescue, Private Sector Liaison Officer with Business Executives for National Security, and an active member of the Alameda County Emergency Manager’s Association and the Business Recovery Manager’s Association. Mr. Bonilla is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) and a Certified Disaster Housing Inspector (CDHI). He is a graduate of the Alameda County Reserve Police Officer’s Academy. He is also expecting to receive his Bachelor’s Degree in Public Communications from California State University, East Bay next Spring.
Roxanne Elizabeth Cruz
Roxanne E. Cruz has been employed at Pacific, Gas and Electric Company since 2004 and works in the capacity of a Governmental Relations Representative in the East Bay. Roxanne is a first generation Latin American, born and raised in the San Francisco bay area. Roxanne returns with great affection to her alma mater, Skyline College, where she obtained an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts (1997), then transferred to Sacramento State where she obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work (2000). Immediately following college, Roxanne worked as a case manager in a several non-profit organizations that provided social services to low income Latino families.
After six years of working as a social worker, Roxanne switched gears and dabbled as an Event Coordinator. She organized and oversaw banquets, meetings and conferences at a well-known restaurant chain in the Peninsula. Within a year, this job fueled Roxanne’s passion to search out an opportunity that entailed mass public functions to educate and serve the bay area.
Dr. Muntu Davis, Co-Chair, Bay Area Resiliency Network
Dr. Muntu Davis is the County Health Officer for Alameda County in California. As one of his many responsibilities, he oversees the county’s public health emergency preparedness and response planning. Prior to working at the ACPHD, he worked with the California Department of Health Services on pandemic influenza planning for California. Prior to this, he practiced medicine in urban and rural primary care and urgent care clinics in Northern and Southern California. Dr. Davis is board certified in Family Medicine, received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and completed a residency in Family Medicine at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, California. He completed The California Endowment Scholars in Health Policy Fellowship and received his Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
Cynthia Frankel
Cynthia Frankel, RN, MN, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for Children and Pediatric Disaster Coordinator with Alameda County EMS provides innovative disaster planning, practical solutions and training conferences for hospitals, clinics, and other health care partners. Her Public Health Leadership planning projects focus on emergency management communications, alternate care sites, and pediatric surge issues. Her publications include: The “Unseen Vulnerable Children” in Disasters: A New Challenge for Emergency Managers,” ASPEP Journal 2003; and Meeting the Challenge of Pediatric Behavioral Emergencies, Fire Engineering Journal 2006. Her philosophy incorporates a vision to: create viable operational plans; strengthen foundation infra-structure organization capability; build on-going partnerships and assets; integrate the public/ private sector with communities; and facilitate leadership accountability and sustainability. She is participating on the California Emergency Medical Services Authority for Children Coordinators Group and regional Pediatric Disaster planning committees.
Michelle D. Heckle
Michelle D. Heckle is an Emergency Management Coordinator with Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland in Northern California. She brings a diverse background of 25 years experience in emergency protection, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery in both the private and public sector. Ms. Heckle has served with local, state, and national committees, councils and workgroups to improve emergency management and collaboration. She has served as faculty speaker and mentor with several professional organizations including American Hospital Association-AHVRP and California Hospital Association-CAHHS. Outside of her role with Children’s Hospital, Ms. Heckle serves the City of Lafayette as Emergency Preparedness Commissioner. Ms. Heckle attended California State University-Hayward 1985-1990 major in Health Sciences/minor in Business and is a graduate of John F. Kennedy University 2001.
Zerlyn Ladua
Zerlyn Ladua has been in the health field since 1980. She is a registered nurse and a master’s prepared family nurse practitioner. Since 2001, she has held the position of Bioterrorism/Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the Alameda County Public Health Department. This position includes coordination of all components of the BT/PH Emergency Preparedness Program for Alameda County. This involves coordinating and working closely with numerous stakeholders within and outside the department of Public Health and the County of Alameda as well as state and federal agencies. Zerlyn Ladua has been featured on Brochures, and Blogs a documentary on how Public Health has used technology to provide education to the public. She has presented the components of the Alameda County preparedness model at state and national conferences.
Jan McClellan
Jan McClellan is an Emergency Services Specialist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory developing exercises and drills, and providing training to staff. She has been in the Emergency Management field since 1995and the chair for the Valley Emergency Preparedness Working Group and the Secretary for the Alameda County Emergency Managers Association since 2004. Prior to 2004, Jan was an Emergency Services Coordinator at OHSES and Senior Emergency services Coordinator for Alameda County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. She has developed plans and exercises as well as ensuring the County EOC was operational at all times. Jan also provided training for both county and local government agencies' staff, and has participated in the development of workshops to provide local emergency managers with training and information. She has been a member of Mutual Aid Regional Advisory Committee (MARAC) as well as a member in good standing in the California Emergency Services Association (CESA)
Nancy W Miramontez
Nancy Miramontez has worked for PG&E for 32 years, having worked in the emergency response arena for 11 years. She began her career with PG&E as a Customer Service Representative serving customers in Oakland, Alameda and Hayward. Previously, Nancy was awarded the position to facilitate office and field employees in Continuous Improvement Processes and Employee Empowerment. She facilitated the first employee involvement team in PG&E which involved electric and gas field crews. In 1998, with her training and process improvement background, she was awarded the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator position serving the Bay Area. In this position, Nancy trains both union and management employees in the different applications and processes in outage restoration during major incidents. Nancy has been certified in ICS 100, 200, 300, 400 and 700 and is currently, with her team, restructuring the existing organization to reflect the Incident Command System (ICS).
Peter I. Ohtaki
Peter Ohtaki serves as Director of the California Resiliency Alliance, formerly the San Francisco Bay Area public-private partnership for Business Executives for National Security (BENS).
Since 2007, Mr. Ohtaki serves as a Board member of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, which oversees the California Task Force 3 Urban Search & Rescue Team. He previously served on the Board of the Mid-Peninsula Water District.
Prior to joining BENS in 2005, Mr. Ohtaki was the Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of a technology company that served the education and commercial markets. Mr. Ohtaki worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and C.E. Unterberg Towbin, where he financed technology companies and advised companies in mergers. At Morgan Stanley, Mr. Ohtaki helped take Cisco Systems public in 1990.
A Bay Area native, Mr. Ohtaki graduated with a B.A. in Economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Royce Edward “Rocky” Saunders
Mr. Saunders currently holds the position of Emergency Services Manager for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, managed by the University of California and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. In support of his profession, he serves as the Legislative Director for the California Emergency Services Association. Former positions held include Principal Consultant to the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security, Chief, Disaster Assistance Programs Branch, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, Special Assistant to the California Director of Homeland Security, Special Assistant to CEO of CAL-PERS, Senior Legislative Consultant to Senator David Roberti, President Pro Tempore of the State Senate and Chief of Staff to Senator Cecil Green from Norwalk, California. Mr. Saunders is a Certified Emergency Manager through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and an Associate Business Continuity Professional through the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII). He holds a Master Degree in Business Administration from California State University, San Francisco and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration, California State University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Dean Stavert
Dean Stavert is a Captain with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and is currently assigned to the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. He is responsible for Emergency Management for the Alameda County Operational Area and is the Sheriff’s Liaison for Law Enforcement Mutual Aid from Monterey County to Humboldt County along the coast. He has twenty seven years with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office where he has held a variety of responsibilities that have involved public and private partnerships to develop solutions to problems and measure the success.
Sandra Williams, Co-Chair, Bay Area Resiliency Network
Sandra Williams is the EOC Manager for Alameda County Medical Center. She has 13 years of disaster preparedness experience and is responsible for the emergency management program for a public hospital system. She is actively involved in the emergency management community through local and state activities. She is an advocate and leader representing the health care component at multidisciplinary and community planning events. She has hosted and participated in congressional homeland security workshops and contributed to a variety of local, state and governmental planning, trainings, and exercises. Ms. Williams received a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Long Beach.
Doug Wisman
Doug Wisman has over 15 years of emergency response and emergency management experience from both the California Conservation Corps and the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA). He has responded to fires, floods, earthquakes, oil spills and an out-of-state deployment to Hurricane Katrina.
His responsibilities included supervising and training emergency response crews in the field, working in the State Operational Center, Regional Emergency Operational Center and assisting operational areas in their Emergency Operational Centers during activations.
Currently Doug is working as an Emergency Service Coordinator for Coastal Region-CalEMA. Outside of working on regional projects he also assists counties and special districts on emergency plans, trainings, exercises, and activations. Doug graduated with a B.S. from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
Florencia Woodley
Florencia Woodley is currently employed by Alameda County Medical Center. She coordinates and supports various management level functions and programs that include Emergency Management activities. Her completion of the Incident Command Systems course (ICS) 100 – 200 and NIMS IS 700 has permitted her to take an active role in the Hospital Command Center during exercises, trainings and activations. Florencia supports community activities sponsored by her employer such as the Bay Area Resilience Network and the Alameda County Long Term Care Emergency Management Forum. Her experience as a support staff has spanned over 11 years with Alameda County Medical center and in other agencies that include Alameda County Registrar of Voters, Healthcare for the Homeless, Social Services Agency, and the Tax Collector’s Office. Her interest in the community has led her to volunteer her skill set with the East Bay Warriors Cheer and Football Organization.
