Join us for a WHS hallmark event, our Inaugural Awards Ceremony! For this special engagement, WHS is bringing you a panel of women who are leading policy level strides for equity in the fire service.
Learn about the tribulations and triumphs experienced as they have navigated their professional journey while influencing opportunities for women across the industry.
Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Time: 12:00pm to 2:30pm
Location: Luminarias Restaurant, 3500 Ramona Blvd., Monterey Park, CA 91754
$20/ticket, this event will sell out!
PANELISTS
Commissioner Rebecca Ninburg
Commissioner at Board of Fire Commissioners, City of Los Angeles
Rebecca Ninburg is the most recent appointee by Mayor Eric Garcetti to the City of Los Angeles Fire Commission. Prior to her appointment Rebecca served for two years as Vice President and then President of the City of Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women where she worked closely with the LAFD to help strategize on the recruitment and retention of women in the fire service.
Rebecca has devoted herself recently to public service and is best known for her work as the Co-Founder and CEO of the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. The LA Derby Dolls is a pioneer league in the resurgence of modern roller derby. Founded in 2003, the Derby Dolls is an all-female roller derby league committed to elevating women, young girls, and the community through sport. She has led the league to hold the title of number one banked track roller derby league in the US in both adult and youth classes, while also leading the 250+ league members and volunteers in multiple annual community outreach efforts.
In 2014, Rebecca was named as one of the top 10 most influential women in Los Angeles by Los Angeles Magazine. Rebecca has also been awarded the Commission on the Status of Women's Pioneer Women Award in both 2010 and 2011 and she received the Treasures of Los Angeles award on behalf of the LA Derby Dolls by the Central City Association in 2010.
Rebecca is a California native who grew up in Orange County then moved to Los Angeles to attend school where she received a bachelor's degree in fine art from UCLA. In 2000, she became one of four women in the sculptor's union, local 755, sculpting for major motion pictures such as Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, Team America, War of the Worlds and countless others. In 2008 she retired from sculpting to work full time as the CEO of the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. In March of this year Rebecca sold the Derby Dolls, stepping down as CEO and remains active in the mission to improve the lives of the women, girls and the community through sport.
Deputy Chief Kristin Crowley
Los Angeles Fire Department
Deputy Chief Kristin Crowley moved to Los Angeles 25 years ago from Green Bay, Wisconsin two weeks after graduating from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. Her plan to begin Medical School was changed as a Los Angeles Fire Captain walked up to her and gave her his business card. He told her, “The Los Angeles Fire Department is hiring…Have you ever thought of becoming a Firefighter? If you are physically and mentally strong and looking for challenge in life, this opportunity is her for you.”
Fast forward to today, Deputy Chief Kristin Crowley has over 22 years of experience dedicated to public safety. She has proven her credibility and character by promoting through the ranks of the Los Angeles Fire Department as a Firefighter, Paramedic, Engineer, Fire Inspector, Captain I, Captain II, Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief and Deputy Chief. She has been selected as the first female Fire Marshal in the history of the Los Angeles Fire Department. She is the second female to earn the rank of Deputy Chief.
Chief Crowley has been instrumental in the Los Angeles Fire Department’s youth development program. She has served as the program director on two youth fire academies in the harbor and valley areas in the City. This program has trained over 1000 LAUSD students from local high schools the basic fundamentals of becoming a firefighter with a main focus on graduating from high school and good citizenship.
Kristin holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership; a Bachelor of Science in Biology (Pre-Medicine), still holds an active paramedic license and recently completed a four year program at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland to acquire her Executive Fire Officer certificate.
Kristin and her partner, Hollyn (who is a 27 year veteran Apparatus Operator with the LAFD) are the proud mothers of their three daughters, who are 11, 9 and 7 years old. They have a very busy household and live in Redondo Beach.
Chief Nikki Brodowy
Los Angeles Fire Department
Chief Nikki Brodowy is a native to Southern California. While earning her bachelor degree from Pepperdine University and competing as a Division 1 Collegiate Athlete, she met an LAFD female firefighter at the gym who asked her if she ever thought about being a firefighter. After that chance meeting and a few station visits, the desire to become a firefighter was born.
Chief Brodowy became a Firefighter in June of 1994. During her 24 years of public service she has served as a Firefighter, Fire Inspector, Fire Captain, EMS Battalion Captain, Battalion Chief, and as of August 5, 2018, she will be promoted to Assistant Chief. In her new position, at the Los Angeles World Airports, she will serve as the liaison for all LAFD operations at both LAX and Van Nuys Airport, with an emphasis on airport security and public safety.
Chief Brodowy was recently honored by the City as the 2018 “Pioneer Woman of the Year” for her innovative work in creating a Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Awareness Training program specifically for Fire/Ems First Responders. She also serves as the Gender Equity Liaison to the Mayor’s office and developed the LAFD’s Gender Equity Action Plan in 2016. She is passionate about increasing the diversity within the Fire Service while at the same time seeing the work environment become more inclusive and positive for all members. Currently, she sits on the executive board of the Los Angeles Women in the Fire Service.
Chief Brodowy holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership, a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education with a Teaching/ Coaching emphasis with a Minor Degree in Sport’s Medicine. She has also been a Nationally Registered Paramedic for the last 20 years. Nikki and her wife, Brandi (who is a 25 year veteran Fire Inspector with the LAFD) reside in Long Beach with their 3 year old daughter, 2 dogs, 3 cats and one fish.
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AWARDS HONOREES
Andrea E. Davis
Director, Global Crisis Management and Business Continuity
The Walt Disney Company
Andrea started from humble beginnings. She began college as a single teen mother and waitressed graveyard shifts to put herself through school. She attributes those challenging times to giving her the drive to succeed and the determination to help others during times of crisis.
Andrea is the immediate past-Chair for the American Red Cross Los Angeles Regional Board of Directors and is the Director of Global Crisis Management and Business Continuity for The Walt Disney Company. There, she oversees an enterprise-wide department that is responsible for all-hazards emergency planning and testing for Disney and its affiliates world-wide.
Prior to joining Disney, Andrea served as the External Affairs Director for FEMA’s Louisiana Recovery Office (LRO) where she oversaw all media, intergovernmental and congressional activities for the largest disaster recovery effort in United States history with a total recovery portfolio of over $20 billion. Prior to her arrival, FEMA received repeated negative press both locally and nationwide and no support from local and state partners. Andrea’s team undertook a massive outreach campaign to regain the public’s trust consisting of hosting one-on-one meetings with local and state officials and FEMA leadership as well as the media and community leaders. Their grassroots efforts have been credited with helping transform the public’s perception of FEMA, culminating with FEMA participating in over 300 groundbreaking and ribbon cutting ceremonies and the local media coining a new acronym- TGFF: Thank God for FEMA.
Prior to FEMA, Andrea served as the Regional Training and Exercise Planner for the City and County of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management, was the Emergency Manager for the 12th District of the Federal Reserve and served as the emergency manager for the San Francisco Salvation Army and several other San Francisco based non-profits.
Andrea holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, a Master of Science in Public Health and was a 2013 inductee to the Women’s Emergency Management Hall of Fame.
Anna M. Burton
Emergency Management Coordinator II
City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports
Anna M. Burton is an Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles. She is currently assigned to Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) supporting the Van Nuys Airport emergency management program. Prior to joining LAWA, Anna was the Assistant General Manager for the City’s Emergency Management Department from 2003 – 2016. In addition to this position, Anna was honored to be appointed the Interim General Manager by the Honorable Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2013. She has represented the City as its Emergency Manager, Emergency Operations Board Member and Emergency Management Committee Chair supporting the Los Angeles/Long Beach Urban Area Security Initiative, a subsection of the Department of Homeland Security, overseeing and recommending distribution of more than $375 million of Homeland Security Grant program allocations.
Anna is a long-time member of the Business and Industry Council for Emergency Planning and Preparedness (BICEPP), founded to be a forum to exchange information in emergency preparedness and contingency planning within the business community where she proudly held the position of Vice President to the Public Sector. She is a past Board member of Emergency Network Los Angeles (ENLA), a coalition of nonprofit organizations along with government and private-sector partners who work share knowledge and resources to help communities mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from disasters. Anna has also represented the City to the County of Los Angeles as the appointed Disaster Management Area Coordinator.
Anna has been with the City of Los Angeles since 1986 when she began with the Department of Recreation and Parks. She has worked in the Office of the City Administrative Officer and the Department of Housing and Community Investment.
Anna received her Master in Public Administration from California State University Long Beach in 1992. She is married to Charles Burton and has two children, Nicholas and Hanna, along with three step children, Charlie Burton and Candace Burton-Sotela, and Courtney Burton who was lost tragically in 2015. She and Charles have two grandchildren and they are looking forward to a third in August 2018.
Kate Powers
Support Specialist
Constant Associates
Kate Powers is a Support Specialist with Constant Associates where she has worked on several complex and groundbreaking endeavors across a wide range of projects – from bioterrorism to community resilience. Creative, agile, yet technical, Kate has quickly demonstrated her capability as a homeland security professional. She has worked on projects involving medical countermeasures, active shooter readiness, mass notification, and terrorist attack response for clients such as U.S. DHHS, Los Angeles County, Bay Area UASI, City of Long Beach, San Mateo County and more. She holds a B.A. in Global Studies and Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Southern California. At USC, Kate focused her coursework on homeland security and emergency management, rounding out her degree with a semester-long capstone project on community resiliency-building in the San Fernando Valley on behalf of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Kate also served as the Co-President of the Homeland Security Student Organization (HSSO) at USC, an organization that experienced significant growth, revitalization, and clarity of vision under her leadership.
Before working for CONSTANT, Kate served as an intern for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), an extern for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), and a fundraising and development specialist for several Los Angeles-based non-profit organizations.
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