Date: August 18, 2026 11:30AM-1:30PM
Location: Tulsa District USACE Office – 1st Floor Auditorium (Map)
CityPlex Tower – 2488 East 81st Street, Tulsa, OK
Topic: Local, State and National Resiliency Programs. Presenters include:
- Annie Vest, State Director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management & Lars Ostervold, Associate VP, Black & Veatch – Oklahoma Resiliency and Recovery Strategy. OEM will provide background on the ongoing development of a disaster recovery playbook. The playbook facilitates and standardizes the State’s engagement post-disaster and provides a framework for local governments to plan for and develop long-term recovery strategies. The presentation includes case studies from Disaster DR-4776, primarily weather driven events in Spring 2024.
- William Smiley, CEM, CFM – Director, Tulsa County Emergency Management – Tulsa County Emergency Management Programs Resilience Deliverables. Bill has 32 Years of Emergency Management, Homeland Security, and Force Protection Experience including Military, Private Sector, Not For Profit, NGO’s, State, and Local Levels. Healthcare, Education, Industrial, Government, and Civilian Sectors. His experience includes Catastrophic Contingency Planning, Continuity Of Operations Planner, Leadership and Team Building, Relationship Building and Fostering, Whole Community Planning Approach, and Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery.
- Cortney Hawkins – Emergency Management Readiness and Contingency Operations, USACE Tulsa District – USACE Tulsa District Emergency Response. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Emergency Management team stands ready to serve the nation during any disaster. When severe storms, floods, tornadoes, ice storms and/or other natural disasters strike the Nation, the Corps, along with federal, state and local agencies, is organized to respond quickly and efficiently to solve a broad range of technical and environmental challenges.
POC: Miro Kurka
Miro’s bio is below:
Miroslav Kurka, P.E., PMP, F-SAME leads Mead & Hunt’s Corps of Engineers and Federal Water Program and manages multiple U.S. Corps of Engineers (USACE) clients. As part of Mead & Hunt’s One Water team, Miro focuses on integrating all aspects of water resource science and engineering to deliver exceptional services to Federal, state, municipal and industry clients. Miro has 45 years’ experience and has successfully managed many planning, feasibility studies and design projects. He was Principal-In-Charge of a highly successful new hydroelectric project on an existing USACE dam, and project manager for numerous USACE civil works and two airfield projects. Miro also has 30 years of experience as an Army engineer and commanded two USACE Districts – Tulsa District and Afghanistan Engineer District – and was Deputy Commander of the USACE Northwestern Division in Portland. As a District Commander, he managed large USACE civil works studies and construction projects, and worked with Headquarters, USACE, State officials and Congress to solve major water resource regulatory and policy issues. He has also been responsible for military construction and maintenance projects in the United States and Central Asia.
He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, Central Michigan University and the National Defense University, a registered professional engineer in Oklahoma and Oregon, and a Project Management professional.
Sponsor:
