Penry serves on the Texas A&M Foundation’s COVID-19 Task Force. The Foundation has approximately 175 team members and will complete a $4 billion fundraising campaign this year.
Jason C. Penry, Ph.D
National Security Seminar (NSS) 2017
Community/Education
Al Frenzel, RES ‘99
Al is serving as the Hawaii State and Pacific Regional Director for the Farm Service Agency (USDA) and was recently tasked as the USDA pandemic coordinator for Hawaii and Pacific Region.
COL (Ret) Allen ‘Al’ Frenzel
Resident Class of 1999
Roman Bilynsky, DDE ‘15
Roman leads the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital pediatric healthcare effort responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to his regular leadership and management outpatient/inpatient/newborn duties as Chief of the Department of Pediatrics there.
Roman 0. Bilynsky, MD
Distance Class of 2015
COL, Chief, Department of Pediatrics
Ft. Belvoir Community Hospital
Bill Foley, DDE ‘98
Bill Foley, DDE ‘98
Here are the four things I have been doing related to COVID-19. First, I am full-time faculty at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) where I am the course author for undergraduate and graduate classes in National Security, Homeland Security, and Public Safety. In these, we cover all aspects of COVID-19 mitigation. Second, I currently serve on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA), Regional Interagency Steering Committee (RISC) for FEMA Region V in Chicago. We are deeply involved in COVID-19 issues as they impact the Midwest. Next, at the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) for two years, I served as the Pan flu Planner for Indiana. Simultaneously, I also worked Federal issues for FEMA V regarding Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and Pandemic Influenza, State by State Comparisons for the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Network of FEMA V. Subsequently, I published, “Chapter Four: Developing a Systematic Pandemic Influenza Program for Preparing a State,” in J. Eric Dietz and David R. Black, Pandemic Planning (New York: Taylor and Francis Group, 2012). Last, for seven summers now I lecture at the Indiana University Program at King’s College, London and the Center for International Educational Exchange (CIEE) in the U.K. on “U.S. and U.K. National Security and Homeland Security.” In England, we are closely involved with Westminster Government in international response to national security and civil contingencies issues including Pandemic Planning.
William A. ‘Bill’ Foley, Jr., Ph.D.
Distance Class of 1998
Senior Lecturer and Colonel, US Army Ret
National Security, Homeland Security & Public Safety
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Donna Barbisch, RES ‘96
Donna Barbisch, RES ‘96
I’ve worked over the years on senior leader decision support tools and serious gaming to drive better outcomes in overwhelming crisis situations, using pandemic scenarios as the battlefield. During the current COVID-19 crisis, I am involved in supporting communities across the country as well as globally, especially in the Caribbean, with the Global Health Response and Resilience Initiative (GHRRI). GHRRI works bottom up and coordinates the top down efforts, in building resiliency and resolving complex global issues. I am also engaged in COVID-19 research to find predictors and targets to improve outcomes. The USAWC was instrumental in honing my focus on future threats with pandemics and biowarfare central to those threats, and my final assignment prior to retirement in 2005 was as the Director of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Program Integration within Office of the Secretary of Defense, Chem Bio Defense. I completed a doctoral degree at the Medical University of South Carolina in 1999 focusing on the integration of military medical assets for domestic bioterrorism. Over the past 20+ years, I worked at all levels of government, public and private, as well as non-profit organizations, in researching and developing solutions. I publish and lecture extensively on the complex challenges in the VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) environment of Wicked Problems. Among relevant published articles are: Is There a Case for Quarantine? Perspectives from SARS to Ebola and Understanding Surge Capacity: Essential Elements.
MG (Ret) Donna Barbisch
Resident Class of 1996
Wicked Solutions, LLC
Christian von Wupperfeld, DDE ’14
I am general counsel for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD), the state agency charged with protecting the public through the rehabilitation of youth adjudicated for offenses that would be considered felonies if committed by an adult. I and the other members of the Office of General Counsel team support TJJD’s fight against the novel coronavirus COVID-19 by providing legal support that establishes procedures that ensure the safety of our staff and the youth in our care, facilitates the movement of essential personnel, and enables the procurement of needed supplies. We do this while continuing to protect the due process rights of young people we serve.
COL (Ret) Christian J. von Wupperfeld
Distance Class of 2014
