Eric L. Tolbert Distinguished Award Recipient Selected

LEXINGTON, K.Y. – On October 12, 2009 at the NEMA Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio, the EMAP Commission presented the second Eric L. Tolbert Distinguished Service Award to Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Ms. Zimmerman has made significant contributions to EMAP and the mission of fostering excellence and accountability in emergency management.

“The EMAP Commission could not have selected a more deserving individual to follow Mr. Buikema for receiving the Eric Tolbert award than Ms. Zimmerman,” said Karen Windon, chairperson of the EMAP Commission. “Ms. Zimmerman has been an inspiration to the EMAP assessors, committee and commissioners and has walked the EMAP walk by giving some much of her time and energy to the improvement of the program."

The litany of Ms. Zimmerman’s involvement in EMAP is multifaceted. From the assessment team perspective, she served as one of the first EMAP assessors, and had been active in the assessor cadre since 2002. She had served as an assessment team leader for a number of jurisdictions and served as a mentor to a number of inexperienced team leaders through the years.

In addition to her work on the assessment team side, she was extremely active in EMAP committee and Commission work for over six years. She served as a founding member and subsequent chair of the Assessment Committee and co-chair of the Technical Committee. Beth was a Commissioner representing NEMA from 2004 until this year and was elected Secretary-Treasurer in November 2007. It is important to note that none of these positions were in title only. She committed herself to active membership and leadership in each of these roles, continually questioning on behalf of states, refining and reframing the structure to ensure the highest level of quality possible.

EMAP is a voluntary accreditation process for state, territorial and local government programs that coordinate preparedness and response activities for disasters, from tornadoes to terrorist acts. It recognizes the ability of a state or local government to bring together personnel, resources, and communications from a variety of agencies and organizations in preparation for and in response to an emergency. This forms the foundation of the nation’s emergency response system. EMAP is the only accreditation process for state and local emergency management preparedness.