Nicola Whitley
New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services
Public Health Emergency Preparedness Public Information Specialist
Nicola Whitley is a public health emergency preparedness public information specialist with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
She is the state’s lead on Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) training, the public health PIO, and chair of numerous committees including the NH Health Emergency Communications Planning Committee. She has written several communications plans including the DHHS CERC Plan and the State of New Hampshire Joint Information Center Plan. She has a double B.A. in Physics and Astronomy from Vassar College and a M.S. in Journalism from Boston University. Before coming to the DHHS in 2002, Nicola ran her own editing business working on scientific journals and books, mostly in the fields of biology and medicine. Prior to that, she spent many years working in Boston in the scientific publishing industry as an editor and production manager. Nicola is a member of the New Hampshire Public Health Association. Two of the many materials she has designed have won awards from the National Public Health Information Coalition where she has served on numerous committees, including the Pandemic Flu CERC Committee and the Healthy People 2010 Committee.
Nicola is married and has a daughter in college who is majoring in neuroscience and a son in high school.
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VICE PRESIDENT
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Larry Hill (Incumbent)
Virginia Department of Health Public Information Officer
Larry Hill is a 30 year retired police officer from Norfolk, VA. He also spent some time with the Virginia State Police. Fifteen years of that time was spent as a public information officer. In 2003 he left the state police and joined the Virginia Department of Health as a regional public information officer for the Emergency Preparedness Program. Larry is a certified Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication instructor. He has been a member of NPHIC for 9 years with the last 3 being on the board as an at large member and this year as President of NPHIC. He also managed the NPHIC awards program for 2 years. Larry Hill has spent the last 2 years helping update the CERT 2 manual and helped develop the newest PIO Master-Level course offered by FEMA that is a management course. He is also one of the instructors for the course. Thanks to the NPHIC membership, he was the first at-large position to become President of NPHIC. Hill would like to continue to be a member of the board.
AT-LARGE REPRESENTATIVE
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Rita Obey
Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services Director, Office of Public Information
Ms. Obey is the Director of the Office Public Information at Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services (HCPHES). As part of the HCPHES Incident Management Team, Ms. Obey is intimately involved in all HCPHES major public health response events including serving as the medical and health information liaison in the Joint Information Center (JIC) during the Houston area response to Hurricane Katrina at Reliant City.
Over the years, Ms. Obey has coordinated the HCPHES crisis and emergency risk communication activities including responding to: a Hepatitis A vaccination clinic in a restaurant worker which served over 1000 patrons a day, human rabies death of a teenager, distribution of fake flu vaccine at a large oil company and long-term care centers, a well fire explosion in a residential area with subsequent underground seepage, a suspected SARS case, rabid bats on school grounds, bacterial meningitis outbreak in a multiple school campus, Norwalk-like virus in multiple school campus and of course, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
Ms. Obey currently provides leadership to NPHIC’s Professional Development Committee and the Mentoring Program subcommittee. She also served on the planning committee for the 2010 NPHIC Annual Conference.
TREASURER
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REGION IV REPRESENTATIVE
Bill Furney (Incumbent)
North Carolina Office of Public Health Preparedness & Response Communications Coordinator
Bill Furney has served in the media/public information field for more than 30 years and holds degrees in both Public Relations and Advertising. He has worked as a newspaper journalist, a director of public relations for private industry, and as the director of communications for several government agencies including his present position.
During his tenure with state government he has established two public affairs offices where none previously existed; one for the State Health Director’s Office and the other in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response – the state agency created in 2001 to oversee preparedness efforts associated with biological attacks and pandemic outbreaks.
As a public health media expert he has coordinated or participated in the media/public information responses to health crises associated with natural and man-made disasters, including AIDS, SARS, E-coli, Pfiesteria, Brucelosis, Legionnaires’ disease, SIDS, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Small Pox, West Nile Virus and numerous hurricanes.
He is a graduate of the University of Colorado, School of Journalism and a member of and past- president of the National Public Health Information Coalition. He has collaborated with CDC Office of Communication on many health issues and is a certified trainer of their Emergency Risk Communication Program.
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REGION V REPRESENTATIVE
Robert L. Jennings (Incumbent)
Deputy Director, Office of Public Affairs Ohio Department of Health
Robert Jennings has served as director in the Office of Public Affairs at the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) since February 2008. In this role, Mr.
Jennings is responsible for overseeing all internal and external communications with a focus on developing a dynamic public affairs program that promotes the agency’s mission, goals and accomplishments using various media and emerging technologies.
During the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic, his office received national recognition for using social media, a dedicated website and multi-cultural outreach strategies to keep Ohioans informed as the disease spread across the U.S. and throughout the world. More recently, his public affairs team served a critical communications role in keeping Ohioans safe during both the severe weather emergency and H3N2v outbreak in the summer of 2012.
Mr. Jennings has spent more than 25 years in the field of government communications including print media, broadcast journalism and public affairs. Prior to joining ODH, Mr. Jennings spent 11 years in various communications roles at the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.
Mr. Jennings holds a B.A. in Applied Communications and is a retired Army Command Sergeant Major.
Tim Church (Incumbent)
Washington State Department of Health Communications Director
Tim Church is the Director of Communications for the Washington State Department of Health. He oversees agency communications including media relations, risk communications, publications, and web content. He has also served as a public information officer for the Washington State Senate. Tim has an extensive journalism background. He graduated from Washington State University with a degree in Communications and worked in television news for almost 15 years. He has been a news writer, on-air reporter, producer, and managing editor.
Tim believes all communication should be clear, easy to understand, and avoid acronyms and
“government speak.” He also believes working with reporters should be looked at as an opportunity to help the public better understand what we do in public health and how it affects their daily lives.
Tim is a volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA. He is a native of Washington’s Puget Sound area.