EMSI welcomed two new members to our team in July: Ted Jakubowski and Wendy Chernesky. Ted and Wendy bring diverse backgrounds with a tremendous wealth of experience to EMSI. Both will provide considerable support to the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) under our new contract.

Bringing more than twenty years of experience in domestic and international emergency management, Ted Jakubowski joins EMSI after spending the last eleven years with Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). During his tenure at ORAU, he filled a myriad of roles ranging from Senior Operations Planner to Group Manager and Chief of Staff to the Director and Vice President for National Security Programs. In these positions he provided planning, training, exercise design, and operations support to several U.S. government customers, including DOE/NNSA. Prior to ORAU, while working at the Titan Corporation in the early 2000s, Ted provided support to local, state, and federal agencies in the area of emergency response to terrorism, including the design and implementation of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) terrorism exercises. He was also intimately involved in the development of the DHS Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP), serving on several committees in the design of the Federal government’s standard exercise methodology.

Dr. Wendy Chernesky joins EMSI after spending the last seven years working in radiological emergency response with DOE/NNSA where she supported DOE’s leadership and management of the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC). A PhD in Radiochemistry, Wendy’s operational experience is diverse and enables her to bring a unique perspective on scientific issues in operational settings. As a FRMAC Assessment Manager during the Japan Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant emergency, Wendy was heavily involved in the creation of many of the FRMAC radiological data products that were used to support decision making by the U.S Department of Defense, U.S. Department of State, White House, and Government of Japan. Her exemplary leadership and professional knowledge were evident as she oversaw a myriad of responsibilities, to include health physics dose assessments; calibration, methodology, and evaluation of gamma spectroscopy of air filter samples; and an innate ability to brief large audiences on a very complex incident. Wendy has considerable experience planning radiological response exercises and conducting radiological response training, and was one of the senior exercise planners for the Southern Exposure exercise in 2015.

We welcome both Ted and Wendy to the team.