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      • Eric Rasmussen
      • Alex Hatoum
      • Julie Rider
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      • Willow Brugh
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Biographies


Steve has more than 20 years of technical, operational, consulting and executive management experience in the global telecommunications industry while working throughout North America, the Middle East, and Africa. His specialty is the management of complex telecommunications projects in austere environments and with limited resources. He has worked with both public and private sector clients, including Google, the US Naval Postgraduate School, the United Nations, and O3b Networks.

In addition to his telecommunications work Steve has nearly a decade of experience in disasters and crisis management. He was an instructor in the Israeli Counter-Terror School and is a former member of both a wilderness high-angle Search & Rescue team and the international Fast Israeli Rescue and Search Team (FIRST). Fluent in English, French and Hebrew, he is currently serving as a volunteer Firefighter/EMT and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) technician in Maryland, not far from Washington DC, and additionally providing support to the US military in various roles.

Steve holds multiple certifications in disaster response and crisis communications, including Firefighter, Trench Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, Hazardous Materials Management, Rope Rescue, Technical Rescue from Vehicles and Machinery, Disaster Life Support, Structural Collapse Rescue, Rescue Diver, and the Management of Trauma in Austere Environments. He has deployed to multiple disasters in the United States and internationally with a range of teams, and in 2013 he was designated a Champion of Change in a ceremony at the White House for his work with FEMA in Hurricane Sandy.

Steve also serves on the US Department of State ACICIP International Disaster Response Sub-Committee, the UN Emergency Telecommunications Cluster, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology First Responder Resource Group.  

Team

• Eric Rasmussen

• Alex Hatoum 

• Julie Rider

• John Crowley

• Steve Birnbaum

• Willow Brugh

• Eric Wendt

TECHNICAL ADVISORS

• Colin Hildebrandt: Water Applications Engineer

• Gisli Olafsson: Emergency Response Director, NetHope

• Brian Steckler: Lecturer; Director,  Hastily Formed Networks (HFN) Research Group Associate Chair for Special Programs, US Naval Postgraduate School

• Catherine Nelson, Security Researcher / Program Manager, Intel

• Harmony Mabrey, Senior Operations Manager for Microsoft Disaster Response

• J.A. Ginsburg, writer, editor, producer 

• Jessica Block - Qualcomm Institute, University of California, San Diego

• Lin Wells, Former Director, Center for Technology & National Security Policy at National Defense University
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Contacts


• Eric Rasmussen
• Alex Hatoum
• Julie Rider
• John Crowley
• Steve Birnbaum
• Willow Brugh

• Eric Wendt
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