John R. Powers:

John R. Powers is the Chairman of Corporate Communication Resources Incorporated, an alliance of subject matter and process management experts created to address the emerging terrorist threat. These experts include senior executives who played significant roles in the development of the nation’s contingency planning, continuity of operations, emergency preparedness, mobilization planning and infrastructure assurance programs and some of the leading practioners in the fields of organizational dynamics, communication, collaboration, issue resolution and management development.

Dr. Powers has been at the forefront of emergency response system design for many years. As a Commissioner and Executive Director of the President’s Commission for Critical Infrastructure Protection, he developed the "National Structures" recommendations adopted by the President. He has over twenty-five years experience in contingency planning and, most recently, has been addressing the problem of "managing the response to a major terrorist event." With his colleagues and partners, he is developing the communication and information architecture needed to support an effective response.

From 1983, he headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Office of Civil Preparedness and then the Office of Federal Preparedness. As Senior Policy Advisor from 1986, he played a major role in the reformulation of our approach to the conduct of nuclear war. From 1993 to 1995, he served as the Director of FEMA Region V and managed the Federal response to the "Great Midwest Flood" in those states.

From 1978 to 1983, Dr. Powers served as the Director of Research and Technical Assessment for the Department of Energy. His first assignment was as Executive Director for the Interagency Review Group on Nuclear Waste Management reporting to President Jimmy Carter and then as Executive Director of the DOE precursor to the Synthetic Fuels Corporation in which he managed the award of seven billion dollars to stimulate new alternative energy projects.

Previously, in the private sector, he created one of the early pattern recognition programs, developed the skin friction law used in the Polaris nose cone, projected, stochastically, the commercial value of the proposed new energy technologies (causing cancellation of two $2 billion demo projects), created a safeguards and security design methodology for nuclear facilities (parts of which are still in use) and managed development of the National Coal Model.

Earlier, at the age of 19, he entered the U.S. Naval Flight Training program and upon completion was commissioned an aviator in the United States Marine Corps. After four years of active duty, he continued in the Marine Corps Reserve. In this capacity, he commanded an A-4 squadron at Willow Grove, PA, and later, in Washington, DC, developed the concept and managed preparation of the Marine Corps Mobilization Plan and later the DOD Master Mobilization Plan.

Dr. Powers holds a B.S. degree from Columbia University, an M.Div. degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania.