Division Awards
The HMDR Division has a growing awards program honoring members and projects. We have three awards:
- Kenneth C. Topping Planning Innovation Award: This award will honor the best new approach to solving a hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, or resilience problem within the past two years.
- Adrian Freund Lifetime Achievement Award: This will honor the most outstanding overall career achievement regarding hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, climate adaptation, and resilience for a veteran planner.
- Jennifer Ellison Distinguished Service Award: This is our longest-standing award. It honors exceptional volunteer service to the Division.
2020 Jennifer Ellison Distinguished Service Award
Jennifer Ellison
The inaugural Distinguished Service Award was given to its namesake, Jennifer Ellison. Jennifer is a planner at the Polk County, IA Public Works Department. Jennie was our first secretary-treasurer. In this role, she was instrumental to standing the Division up and developing processes and procedures that set us up for long-term success.
2021 Distinguished Service Award
Rich Roths
Rich Roths is a leading player in our professional development committee. When we lost our podcast host, Rich stepped up to lead the effort. Rich is also heading up an effort to develop a program of outreach from the division to university planning schools. In his semi-retirement, he has carved out a meaningful role that has made the rest of us proud. He is a model of productive volunteerism in retirement.