| Home > Events > Public as an Asset, Not a Problem, 2003 > John Clizbe
| John Clizbe, PhD
Interim Executive Director, Triangle Area Chapter, American Red Cross, Raleigh, NC; former Vice President of Disaster Services, American Red Cross They Will be There: Managing and Protecting Volunteers [Transcript] |
Speaker Biography After serving for several years as Vice President of Disaster Services for the American Red Cross, Dr. Clizbe has recently been working on a number of terrorism preparedness and response projects with universities, associations, and agencies around the country. Currently, he is also serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer at the Red Cross Triangle Area Chapter is Raleigh, North Carolina. During his tenure in disaster services at the Red Cross, his responsibilities ranged from planning and preparation to response and recovery, including the training of thousands of Red Cross volunteers, community mitigation and disaster education, immediate response to over 67,000 disasters annually, weapons of mass destruction and terrorism preparedness, and long-term recovery and assistance. He oversaw not only large-scale national disaster response and preparedness , but also Red Cross state and local preparedness and response through over 1000 Red Cross local chapters, especially focusing on development of volunteer and community resources. Red Cross annual disaster expenditures average about $300 million and have been as high as $1 billion dollars. Under his leadership, the Red Cross initiated in 1998 it's Weapons of Mass Destruction program and developed a special training center for terrorism preparedness, and developed terrorism-related school curricula and family preparedness materials. With his background as a psychologist, he has also been especially interested in preparing for and responding to the emotional impacts of disasters and terrorism, significantly expanding the Red Cross assistance following mass casualty events. John's active involvement with the American Red Cross began in early in 1990 as the Disaster Mental Health function was being formed. He rapidly received his initiation when Hurricane Andrew struck Florida, and for the next several years volunteered in a number of local, state, and national disasters. In August 1995, he was appointed National Chairman of Disaster Services, the volunteer position responsible for leading the Red Cross disaster relief program, and in August 1997, was asked to become Vice President of Disaster Services, transitioning from senior volunteer staff to senior paid staff. He has been awarded the Distinguished Contribution in the Public Interest honor by his professional association, and is listed in Who's Who in America. He also serves as a member of several foundation, professional, and government program boards and councils. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, specializing in organizational and clinical psychology. Prior to accepting his position with the Red Cross, John was a management and consulting psychologist with Nordli, Wilson Associates in Westborough, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut, including 10 years as their Managing Partner. [return to top] |
