Meghan McPherson
Pracademic Affairs Co-Director
Meghan McPherson, MPP, CEM, NHDP-BC, CHPCP is currently the Director of Emergency Management for Mount Sinai Queens hospital in New York City. She is responsible for ensuring preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery for the entire facility’s staff and patients. She is also adjunct faculty at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA in the Emergency and Security Studies graduate programs. In addition, she wrote the curriculum for Tulane’s newly launched MPS in Emergency Management. Prior to joining the Mount Sinai Health System, Ms. McPherson was Assistant Director of the Center for Health Innovation (CHI) and taught in the Emergency Management program at Adelphi University. While there, she concentrated her work on community-based social resilience initiatives. Prior to joining Adelphi in the fall of 2011, Ms. McPherson spent four years as both the Grants Manager and the Energy Assurance Program Manager in the Governor’s Office of Energy and Planning in New Hampshire. While in this position, supported the State Emergency Operations Center during disasters by ensuring continuity of the energy supply in New Hampshire.
Ms. McPherson is a seasoned emergency manager, having worked for James Lee Witt Associates in Washington, DC. While there, she was deployed multiple times to Louisiana to support the recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina. Additionally, Ms. McPherson served as a graduate assistant for the ranking members of both the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Capitol Hill.
She is credentialed as a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), a certified National Healthcare Disaster Professional (NHDP-BC), Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional (CHPCP), served on the Inaugural Board of Advisors of The Order of the Sword and Shield, and serves on the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Security, Preparedness, and Resilience Education. She was also honored in 2011 as one of New Hampshire’s Top 40 under 40. Ms. McPherson earned her B.A. at the University of New Hampshire in political science and her master’s degree in public policy with a concentration in national security policy from The George Washington University.
Dr. Michael Wallace
Pracademic Affairs Co-Director
Michael Wallace, Ed.D., is the Director of the Emergency and Security Studies program and professor of practice at Tulane University. He’s a retired military intelligence officer with 20 years of active service with military assignments included Naval Special Warfare, Defense Human Intelligence, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Office of Naval Intelligence. Post military, he worked as a senior intelligence analyst in the Joint Chiefs of Staff Intelligence Directorate. Dr. Wallace has experience in counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, special warfare, and intelligence collection and analysis. He is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, holds an MLA from Tulane University, an MMAS in Military History from the US Army Command and General Staff College, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Alabama. Dr. Wallace is also an adjunct professor with the Naval War College.
Jennifer Harper
Pracademic Affairs Review Board Member
Ms. Harper is the Director for the NH Department of Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM). Ms. Harper is Governor Sununu’s designated Homeland Security Advisor to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Harper’s career in state service spans 35 years, in which she served as the HSEM Assistant Director, Operations Chief, Co-Director of the NH Department of Safety’s Information and Analysis Center, HSEM Bioterrorism Coordinator, HSEM Exercise Training Officer and HSEM Terrorism Coordinator. She was an Adjunct Professor at Plymouth State University for 4 years teaching Homeland Security in the Criminal Justice Program. Ms. Harper has been instrumental with assisting first responders, communities, state agencies and private sector partners with grants, planning, training and exercise opportunities to ensure their readiness and coordination efforts to respond to disasters and emergency incidents. Ms. Harper holds a Master’s Degree in Homeland Security and Defense from the Naval Postgraduate School, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Southern NH University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Franklin Pierce College and an Associate’s Degree in Business Science from Hesser College.
Bradley Hubbard
Pracademic Affairs Review Board Member
Bradley R. Hubbard is a Senior Emergency Response Specialist for Shell Oil Company. As a member of Shell Emergency Management, he serves in emergency preparedness and response for on-shore & offshore exploration/production operations in North & South America. Hubbard provides risk management, response planning, ICS training, exercise design/delivery & on-site incident management for Shell assets. Bradley is experienced in industrial firefighting, transportation emergencies, pipeline operations/emergencies, refinery operations/emergencies, Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), distribution terminals, security & business continuity. Hubbard is part of a global response network for Shell businesses.
Bradley earned a B.S. in Crisis and Disaster Management & an M.S. in Occupational Safety Management; both from the University of Central Missouri. Bradley successfully completed the Emerging Leaders in Crisis program with the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI); a program at Harvard University.
Prior to joining Shell, Bradley worked in the municipal Fire/EMS service as a Lieutenant/Firefighter & EMT; and has maintained his Emergency Medical Technician status since 2002. Hubbard worked as a dispatcher for a county based, multi-agency, 911 dispatch/communications center. Additionally, he worked for the Institute for Rural Emergency Management (IREM) providing emergency management consultancy for the public & private sectors.
Steve Recca
Pracademic Affairs Review Board Member
Steve Recca directs the University and Agency Partnership Program for the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Center for Homeland Defense and Security, and concurrently serves as the Humanitarian Assistance Program Advisor with the Pacific Disaster Center. Steve’s previous positions include security policy assignments with the Central Intelligence Agency, State Department, Department of Defense, and in academia. He teaches Intelligence, Homeland Security, and Human Security courses at the University of Denver, University of Colorado, and University of Alaska, and is a Trustee for Marian University. Steve also is on the Review Boards for three additional peer-reviewed journals: Homeland Security Affairs, Journal of Human Security and Resilience, and the International Journal of Security, Preparedness, and Resilience Education.
Dr. Rebecca Rouse
Pracademic Affairs Review Board Member
Rebecca (Becky) Rouse is a Professor of Practice and Associate Director for the Emergency and Security Studies program in Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement. She retired from the US Army after nearly 22 years as a Military Police Officer, Assistant Professor, and commander’s speechwriter. She further served the DOD by facilitating tabletop exercises and the Defense Support of Civil Authorities Executive Seminar. Becky taught and developed curriculum for university-level classrooms and online since 1994 — and served as a training specialist in the FEMA Incident Workforce Academy. Becky earned a DM in Homeland Security, an MA in Political Science, a grad cert in Homeland Defense, and a BS in Criminal Justice.
Monica C. Sanders
Pracademic Affairs Review Board Member
Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the Managing Director of the Georgetown Environmental Justice Program and holds a faculty appointment at the Georgetown University Law Center. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Her experience as a practitioner includes serving as the Senior Legal Advisor for International Response and Programs at the American Red Cross, and as an attorney for the Small Business Administration during the Hurricane Maria and western wildfires responses. She was a Senior Committee Counsel for both the House of Representatives and Senate Committees on Homeland Security. In those roles, she focused on oversight of disaster response and recovery programs, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure protection. Professor Sanders studied security and defense–civilian coordination in the European Union Visitor’s Program. She remains involved in crisis response operations as part of the Team Rubicon USA and UNDP rosters.
Samantha Twiggs
Pracademic Affairs Review Board Member
Ms. Samantha Twiggs is originally from Missoula, Montana, where she studied Political Science and Global Public Health, and participated in the Peace Corps Prep Program at the University of Montana from 2014 to 2017. During her undergraduate studies, she initiated an independent research project on the correlation between chemical pesticides and epigenetic changes in ruminant species, which received recognition from Yale University and the Department of the Army. Samantha was also involved in efforts to establish international consensus on environmental law and environmental criminal law through the London Zoological Society and the United Nations World Heritage Congress. In May of 2020, she completed her graduate studies in Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Homeland Defense and Emergency Management, and National Intelligence Studies at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS).
In 2018, Samantha participated in the NORAD and USNORTHCOM Volunteer Student Internship Program (VSIP), where she served as the Deputy VSIP Coordinator. After completing her internship with NORAD and USNORTHCOM, she worked as the Contract Manager for the Policy, Security and Analysis Branch of Analytic Services (ANSER), and then as a Tabletop Exercise (TTX) and Defense Support of Civil Authorities Executive Seminar (DSCA ES) Specialist for Strategic Enterprise Support Services (SE2S). Ms. Twiggs currently serves as the North American Defense and Security Academic Alliance (NADSAA) Program Coordinator at NORAD and USNORTHCOM and as the Director of Operations for the Homeland Defense Institute (HDI) at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA).
