Lonna Calhoun, CEM

LONNA CALHOUN, CEM
President, COPE Preparedness

Lonna Calhoun, CEM,  provides emergency management consultation for corporate and municipality organizations.  Lonna is also the founder and president of Community Outreach Promoting Emergency Preparedness (COPE Preparedness) a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit whose mission is “Promoting Emergency Preparedness through Proactive Community Outreach”.  Her career in emergency management began soon after 9/11, an event that motivated her to utilize her leadership and entrepreneurial skills to improve the status of emergency management in the communities that surround the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California.  COPE Preparedness is recognized as a community model for its collaborative efforts and capabilities in networking and aligning with the public and private sector and citizens alike to develop an integrated emergency management system to improve capabilities in emergency mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery for the harbor area.   Lonna is a Regional Associate for The Great California Shakeout that organized 5.5 million participants in the largest earthquake drill in U.S. history and an Ambassador for the City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Ambassador Program.  She is a voting member of the Emergency Network Los Angeles (ENLA) and sits on the Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC), CCAMSC sub-committee.  Lonna is a certified FEMA Emergency Management Professional and certified Business Continuity Expert.  By achieving the International Association of Emergency Managers IAEM/CEM® certification Lonna joins a select group of only 1440 internationally Certified Emergency Managers.  Lonna continues to acquire extensive emergency management experience as a project manager for Traiden Global Solutions (TGS), a recognized national and international leader in safety, security and emergency management, as a disaster consultant for Major Survival, Inc. where she provides resource management expertise to select clients and as a consultant for the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA as their Emergency Preparedness Coordinator.

Prior to committing herself to her passion for community safety Lonna enjoyed an entrepreneurial career as the owner/operator of Progressive Fitness™ operating fitness facilities and providing educational seminar services.  She developed fitness education curricula achieving accreditation from the State of California and nationally accredited certification organizations.  Lonna authored and co-authored 16 books on fitness education, marketing and staff development and was often a featured keynote presenter at fitness industry conventions.   She directed her company to become one of the largest and most successful educational seminar programs for fitness professionals preparing over 6000 students for fitness industry certification. Concurrently she traveled extensively nationally and to 25 countries as the co-creator of the World Sportaerobics competition that was featured on ESPN for 15 years.

The key concept that has transitioned into both phases of her career is “prevention”. Lonna emphasizes that the actions that we take today will affect our well-being tomorrow.  Her international travel intensified her appreciation of the value of “community” and continues to influence her commitment to community emergency readiness.