As any good Emergency Readiness Officer knows, minutes count in an emergency situation. Helping to provide the appropriate professional services (police, fire, ambulance) access to the right location across the Center is now the job of Patricia or “Tricia” Brace. Last September, Ms. Brace became the Emergency Readiness Officer for the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. Tricia’s expertise lies in emergency management and transportation planning, having worked in the field for over 27 years. It was her first federal position that caused her to become passionate about emergency management. She served on a damage assessment team working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Before becoming an employee of the Office of Facility Management (AMP-300), Tricia spent 4 years as the Community Planner for the FAA Arkansas/Oklahoma Airports District Office, where she was appointed to the Regional Emergency Transportation Cadre (RET-C) Emergency Support Function 1 (Transportation) under the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is the National Response Program, Emergency Support Functions that provides the structure for coordinating Federal interagency support for a Federal response to an incident. Prior to joining FAA, Tricia was a Community Planner at Dover Air Force Base where she was a member of the preparation and response teams for Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Irene. Dedicated to the cause, Tricia also served as the Emergency Coordinator for the Delaware and Maryland Offices of the Federal Highway Administration.

Before returning to federal service, Tricia worked for the state of Delaware as the head of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency Natural Hazard Division and was the Delaware Department of Transportation Emergency Management/Homeland Security Planner. During Hurricanes Jeanne and Isabel, in which Delaware was declared a federal disaster area, Tricia led the state coordination efforts between all federal agencies for Emergency Support Function 1 (Transportation) and Emergency Support Function 3 (Public Works) during these times.

While in Delaware, Tricia was detailed to North Carolina as part of FEMA’s Hurricane Opal Response Team. Work aside, Tricia enjoys traveling and watching her daughter in her freshman year at the University of Central Oklahoma!