The Frew Group:
Deeply Experienced
– Highly Trusted
The Frew Group’s clients range from large government agencies at the highest and most secure levels to all sizes of businesses, organizations, institutions, and small island communities.
With over three decades of experience working across different countries, states, jurisdictions, island territories, and tribal nations – helping people from hundreds of unique cultures around the globe – Suzanne Frew and The Frew Group are deeply qualified resources for delivering the quality services you and your community deserve.
Selected Project Experience
Federal agencies
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Sacramento
Trained field agents on cross-cultural issues in outreach and community engagement.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Served in multiple capacities, including the Mitigation Education and Marketing Branch Chief, Deputy Mitigation Office, and Public Information Officer on response and recovery operations, and regional lead for private-private partnership development and networking with business and industry and community-based organizations.
- Mitigation Division, Region IX. Extensive leadership roles leading mitigation education and communications planning, training, partnership development, and outreach to public and private sectors and community members throughout multiple states and Pacific Island region.
- Region IX. Regional Public Information Officer for ongoing agency public affairs, public relations events, strategies, and media relations. Spearheaded production of informational/educational outreach, video documentaries, trade show exhibits, book series, regional newsletter, and numerous multi-media productions. Developed programmatic policies. Managed cadre of twenty-five Public Information Officers and Congressional Liaison Officers.
- Region I. Served as a reserve Public Information Officer for disaster response and recovery operations for typhoons in the Western Pacific Ocean, producing multi-lingual, cross-cultural informational and educational products, communication strategies, and campaigns. Supported mitigation initiatives for regional disasters.
FEMA, Applied Technology Council
Served on the management and author teams of the FEMA/Department of Education’s 2017 School Safety Guide for Natural Hazards, the national state-of-the-art disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery guide addressing K-12 grade school facility security, operational capabilities, communications, continuity of operations, community engagement and recovery.
FEMA, Emergency Management Institute
Developed and trained Disaster Resistant Jobs: Strategies for Community, Emergency, and Economic Risk Management course for economic developers and emergency managers, incorporating approaches to support mitigation planning, funding, and community engagement.
State, county & city agencies
California Department of Social Services
Co-developed agency’s administrative Continuity of Operations and Continuity of Government Plan.
Developer, facilitator, and evaluator of terrorism Table Top Exercise for internal staff based on a scenario using multi-bombing incidents on the state capital.
California Department of Public Health
Developer and instructor of risk communications module, Table Top Exercise, and hotwash facilitator for a three-year-long, statewide training program on weapons of mass destruction.
City of Los Angeles
Wrote terrorism annex and public outreach sections of the city’s hazard mitigation plan and facilitated public meetings.
County of Maui Department of Planning
Led community outreach activities and co-developed a participatory game for creating innovative environmental policy guidelines, entitled, “Post-Disaster Reconstruction Guidelines and Protocols for the Conservation of Coastal Resources and Protection of Coastal Communities of Maui County.”
Specialized in inclusive outreach to diverse community members.
County of Maui Emergency Management Agency
Onsite consulting planner for 2014 Makani Pahili Statewide Hurricane Exercise. Developed and co-facilitated port operations Table Top Exercises and was responsible for developing and coordinating multiple functional and full-scale exercises for the islands of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai.
Golden Guardian, City of San Francisco
Exercise evaluator of the City of San Francisco’s Emergency Operation Center’s Joint Information Center and information outreach activities from surrounding counties.
New Mexico Department of Health
Led development of the 2018 state Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Representatives and Department Operations Center (DOC) staff training programs and conduct of Train-the-Trainer training. Served as team leader for the 2016 statewide Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP)-based TTX evaluating public and private health care facilities, emergency management, and first responder response to Ebola Virus Disease.
Orange County CA Sheriff’s Department
Instructor and course developer of demographics training module for Terrorism Liaison Officers Training for School Networking program.
Port of San Diego
Served as an exercise controller and facilitator for the 2017 Recovery and Business Resumption Tabletop Exercise and Emergency Operations Workshop/Tabletop Exercise, After-Action Report (AAR), and Improvement Plan (IP) contributor.
Facilitated the Integrated Port Communications Strategy Task Force for the 2018 kickoff meeting of the Resilience Working Group, the regional resilience initiative spanning five cities, two maritime cargo terminals, cruise ship terminals, twenty public parks, and hundreds of tenant sub-tenant businesses.
San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)
Evaluator for the annual regional transportation response and recovery coordination exercise of the MTC Regional Emergency Operation Plan and the Bay Area transportation agencies’ response to a region-wide terrorist attack.
Project manager and subject matter expert for the research and development of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) informational elements of the Terrorism Annex of the MTC Regional Emergency Operation Plan.
San Francisco Bay Area Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)
Led or supported the development of a wide range of disaster resilience initiatives, including:
- Supported development of the Public Information training approaches.
- Developed cultural competency training elements for Commodity Points of Distribution (CPOD) multi-county training.
- Led local and state research, facilitator of stakeholder meetings, and team strategist for the development of the shelter annex of the Regional Emergency Coordination Plan (RECP).
- Served as senior strategist for the development of Citizen Preparedness Program Capability Assessment and Plan program guidance and funding recommendations.
Local associations & communities
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
Co-developer and instructor of Disaster Risk Communications training program for project managers of urban mitigation projects in twelve countries in Asia.
American Planning Association
Coauthored the Planning for the Unexpected: Land Use Development and Risk (PAS Report 531), a review of the strategic principles of risk management, approaches to city and county-level review of land development applications, and how the processes of risk assessment, risk mitigation, and risk transfer can be integrated into the planning function.
Bay Area Public Information Network
Project managed the development of the 12-county public information annex of the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Emergency Coordination Plan.
Bureau of Coastal and Environmental Quality, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Training program lead and primary trainer for the 2017 Major Siting Certification Program for large-scale land development and redevelopment projects, addressing building permitting processes, environmental impact assessments, and mitigation alternatives for the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Island (CNMI) government agency representatives and land developer agents and investors.
International, business, organizations, media
Crowding the Rim Partnership with Stanford University, United States Geological Survey, Circum Pacific Council for Gas and Oil, and American Red Cross
Project managed the international resilience education project addressing cascading health, economic, and infrastructure disaster impacts around Pacific Rim countries.
The innovative initiative included a three-day summit attended by representatives from eight sectors from 22 countries, a game simulation, a high school educational module, and an interactive hazards map database.
Government of Vietnam
Team Leader for the development, implementation and evaluation of Government of Vietnam’s Natural Disaster Risk Management Project (NDRMP) Education and Training Program, a 2011 World Bank-funded training program for central and provincial-level government officials (mitigation was a component of the training program).
IBM Crisis Response Team
Provided onsite response and shelter operations support for businesses and faith-based organizations in Hurricane Katrina’s response.
Supported development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder program for the Government of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami response.
National Institute of Building Sciences, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program
National Institute of Building Sciences Team Lead for development of congressional report on federal agency communication/education/information outreach practices to vulnerable, high risk, and marginalized populations through the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program.
National Public Radio (NPR)
Led the 2018 review and revision of NPR’s companywide emergency response plan and the Hazard and Threat Handbook for California compliance.
National Hazards Workshop, University of Colorado
Convened the 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2013 social media roundtable for researchers, academics, and practitioners at the international Natural Hazards Workshop, hosted by the University of Colorado.
New Mexico Department of Health
Led development of the 2018 state Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Representatives and Department Operations Center (DOC) staff training programs and conduct of Train-the-Trainer training. Served as team leader for the 2016 statewide Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP)-based TTX evaluating public and private health care facilities, emergency management, and first responder response to Ebola Virus Disease.
St Paul’s Episcopal School
Led development of Oakland, CA-based elementary and middle school’s 2018 Emergency Operation Plan.
More Clients of The Frew Group
- American Red Cross
- Moziak
- Cardno
- Tetra Tech
- Nusura
- Witt O’Brien’s
- Christensen Fund
- Applied Technology Council
- 100th Anniversary of
San Francisco 1906 Earthquake - National Association of
Government Web Professionals (NAGW)
- University of Washington
- Sam Houston State University
- Pacific Disaster Center, University of Hawaii
- Hawaii Department of Health, Office of Language Accessibility
- Earthquake Megacities Initiative (EMI)
- Canadian Disaster Management Conference
- Public Health Agency of Canada Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response
- California Specialized Training Institute
