Board Members

Thom Porter is the Director of Emergency Management for San Diego Gas and Electric.  He is responsible for providing leadership, vision, direction, and support to the Department and its 5 Operational Groups (Emergency Operations, Operational Field & Emergency Readiness, Business Innovation and Systems, Training and Exercise, and Aviation Services).  In January 2022, Thom joined SDG&E after retiring from a career with CAL FIRE.   From 1999 through 2021Thom worked his way through the ranks of CAL FIRE, and in 2018 he was appointed California State Forester and Fire Chief and confirmed in 2019.  Both Governor Jerry Brown and Gov. Gavin Newsom recognized him in that capacity.  Thom has a BS degree in Forest Management from the University of California at Berkeley and is a Registered Professional Forester.  His forestry and fire career were both formed here in San Diego. Thom was CAL FIRE San Diego Unit and San Diego County Fire Authority Chief in 2012 through 2013 prior to promoting to Southern California Region Chief.  His Statewide perspective and experience bring new depth to our emergency management, risk reduction, and resiliency efforts.  In the SDG&E spirit of sharing best practices with its partners and being better tomorrow than we are today.  In 2023 Thom was appointed to the British Columbia Premier’s Task Force on Emergencies. He is sharing his experience and lessons learned from California Wildfire and Utility mitigation efforts.  He helped develop plans and actions to improve the Province’s Wildfire and emergency preparedness ahead of the 2024 season.  In 2025 Thom was elected to serve as the Chair of the California Utility Emergency Association.

Crystal Chambers has over 14 years of experience in emergency management and has spent the last 7 years in utility emergency management. She has experience in emergency management planning, training, and exercise development in federal government, local government, and private sector. In her current position with Southern California Edison, Crystal oversees enterprise-wide emergency management training and exercises, weather services, fire science, and mutual assistance.    She has led the design and development of multiple multi-day functional and full-scale exercises, including scenarios that test system reliability and grid stability. Scenarios have included catastrophic earthquakes, rotating outages due to extreme heat, complex coordinated terror attacks, cyber/physical attacks, and Public Safety Power Shut Offs, among others. Most of these exercises involve not only private sector stakeholders, but also local, State, and Federal stakeholders with aligned responsibilities during prolonged power outages or region-wide incidents. Her background also includes the development of policies, protocols, procedures, and plans in emergency management and business resiliency. This has included reviews and revisions of activation protocols, incident response plans, All Hazards and Emergency Operations Plans, creation of new positions for incident response, and development of multi-year training and exercise plans.  

Crystal also has extensive incident response experience for the City of Los Angeles and Southern California Edison. Her activation experience includes COVID-19, multiple Federally declared wildfires, Public Safety Power Shutoffs, planned events, civil unrest and protests, cyber incidents, heat related rotating outages, and severe weather events. Crystal has a master’s degree from California State University – Long Beach and a bachelor’s degree from Emory University. 

Brandy Hancocks has more than 20 years of experience in the water industry. She has managed her utility through a variety of emergencies including widespread water contamination, methane gas leaks and floods, as well as the Bridge Fire in 2024 and Mendicino Complex Fire in 2017 that impacted their customers and their infrastructure.

She earned her degree in biochemistry at UC San Diego. She served as an advisory board member at the University of California-Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management where she earned her master’s degree. She has served on the board of the California Water and Wastewater Agency Response Network (CalWARN), as well as on the CA NV AWWA board. She is currently the chair of the Security, Safety and Emergency Management Committee at the California Water Association. 

Mona Freels is the Executive Director of Emergency Management at LADWP. With over 30 years of experience, she previously worked at SDG&E, the City of San Diego, 211 San Diego, Heartland Fire & Rescue, and the American Red Cross. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Homeland Security/Emergency Management from National University and a master’s in international Sustainable Development and Climate Resilience from Antioch University. Mona also completed the Cyber Executive Program at the University of San Diego. 

Darrell D. Johnson is a veteran operations and transformation leader with more than 30+ years of experience strengthening business processes, organizational readiness, and team performance within California’s telecommunications industry. Known for driving effective Incident Management, strategic planning, and compliance programs, he has led major improvements in operational efficiency and workforce development across Network Operations. Darrell holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Master of Education, and he is also committed to community service as a co‑founder of two nonprofits supporting youth development and successful reentry for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Josh Davies serves as the director strategy and execution, Emergency Preparedness and Response, at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Company where he oversees emergency management planning, prevention, training, and exercises.  Prior to his service with PG&E, Josh was the Texas State Hazard Mitigation Officer, served as a county executive responsible for emergency services in Travis County, Texas, and served as the section chief of emergency medical services in Santa Clara County, California.  He is a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School, a Certified Emergency Manager with IAEM, has been a licensed paramedic for over 35 years, and has served in emergency management for over 37 years. 

John Paasch serves the California Department of Water Resources as the Deputy Director of the Security and Emergency Management Program. Since appointment in 2021, Paasch provides executive-level policy direction, coordination, and leadership in developing enterprise level emergency management and security programs so that DWR has clear policy directives and authorities, actionable plans and procedures, and equipped and well-trained personnel. Paasch joined DWR in 2009 as a levee inspector and flood fight specialist and has served in numerous emergency management positions within DWR’s flood management division. Most notably, Paasch managed the Hydrology and Flood Operations Office overseeing a multi-disciplinary team of managers, engineers, programmers, scientists, technicians, and analysts to deliver data, tools, and expertise in support of real-time water management with numerous state, federal, and local partners. Prior to joining DWR, Paasch was the Project Engineer for an electrical contractor coordinating design and construction. Projects included high voltage electrical, surveillance and security, mechanical, and heavy steel construction. Paasch is a licensed Professional Engineer and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Bioresources and Agricultural Engineering form Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He also earned a Certificate in Business and a Master of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station.