PRESENTER BIOS

David Ball

David Ball is the emergency manager for Logan County/City of Guthrie. Ball is a certified emergency manager through the Oklahoma Emergency Management Association (OEMA) as well as the area vice-president for central Oklahoma OEMA.

Ball lives in Guthrie with his wife Ellie, daughter Lindsey, & son Waylon.

Allie Buckholts, DV Resource Prosecutor, District Attorneys Council.

Annie Buckholts graduated from the University of Oklahoma School of Law in 2011. During her third year of law school she was a legal intern for the Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office. After graduation she worked as the domestic violence prosecutor in Cleveland County. In 2013, Allie was awarded the Excellence in Action Against Domestic Violence Prosecutor of the Year. Allie was a member of the Cleveland County Domestic Violence Coordinated Community Response Team. Currently, Allie works as a prosecutor in District 6, primarily in the Jefferson and Stephens County offices. In Jefferson and Stephens County, Allie prosecutes criminal and juvenile cases. Allie was named the 2015 Oklahoma Game Warden Association’s Prosecutor of the Year. She is the District Attorney’s Council Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Resource Prosecutor and provides trainings for coordinated community response teams throughout the State. She is a member of the board of directors for the Safe Center in Duncan, Oklahoma.

Ashlie Casey, Director, 211 of Eastern Oklahoma, Part of the Community Services Conucil of Oklahoma.

Ashlie Casey is a long-standing social worker with over 20 years of practice in the Tulsa community. She attended Northeastern State University where she obtained her Bachelor's in social work. She continued her education at University of Oklahoma where she earned her Master's of social work and went on to complete requirements as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Her social work career started at St. John Medical Center where she spent 14 years serving in numerous capacities from psychiatric counselor to emergency room, trauma, and hospice and palliative care social worker. Ashlie continued to advance her career as a social worker when she joined the team at Hospice of Green Country as thier Social Services Manager. Through her 8 years with HGC her talents were utilized to develop numerous programs for direct patient care and community support. Ashlie was advanced through HGC leadership as the Director of Clinical Operations. Ashlie joined 211 Eastern Oklahoma a program of Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa in September 2020. As the program director for 211EOK she has vast opportunities and responsibilities ensuring that 211EOK is a trusted resource for our community and partners.

Mary Jane Coffman, American Red Cross, Oklahoma-Arkansas

Christa Figgins, Esq. (Licensed in Florida) is Director of Mission Advancement for Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. She is responsible for overseeing all statewide aspects of organizational fundraising and marketing, including an endowment campaign, a private bar campaign, foundation and corporate giving, and grant proposal writing and management. Following the devastating EF-5 Moore Tornado in 2013, Christa began overseeing LASO’s statewide Disaster Response, which is ongoing due to further tornado and flooding disaster events in 2015, 2016, and 2019. Christa trains disaster case managers to spot common legal issues experienced by disaster survivors and educates other agencies and Oklahoma emergency managers regarding the importance of post-disaster legal services. Christa is Chair of Oklahoma Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster for 2020-2021.

Laurie Fried is the Emergency Disaster Services Director for The Salvation Army’s Arkansas -Oklahoma Division.

She serves as a technical, operational, and logistical leader during the response and recovery phases of disasters occurring in Oklahoma, Arkansas and other states in The Salvation Army’s Southern Territory. Laurie assists with assessing the needs of individuals impacted by disasters as well as establishing a recovery plan that includes priorities, objectives, goals, and standards of care for those impacted. She represents The Salvation Army in meeting with disaster response agencies to prevent duplication of efforts and leverage resources.

Laurie chairs The Salvation Army Southern Territory Joint Disaster Social Services Task Force. The task force’s focus is to identify long-term recovery best practices and issues. She represents The Salvation Army on the National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster (VOAD) Long Term Recovery Committee and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Oklahoma VOAD and Member at Large of the Arkansas VOAD.

Dr. Laura Garrett has Doctorate of Education in Family Studies and Child Development from Oklahoma State University with a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology. She holds a Master of Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelors in Consumer Affairs with a Secondary Major in Gerontology from Kansas State University. She is a certified Dementia Practitioner, a certified Eden Associate and a Certified Family Life Educator. She serves as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Tulsa Community College.

Julie Geddes has been in suicide prevention for over 20 years working on suicide prevention through the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Grant and other collaborations. She is a Master Trainer in Oklahoma for Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR), an instructor for the evidence-based school Lifeline’s Suicide Prevention Curriculum, and Working Minds trainer. She also provides postvention support to communities after a suicide.

Rev. Bessie Hamilton serves as the Coordinator of Multi-Ethnic Initiatives for the Oklahoma Conference of The United Methodist Church where she serve as a liaison between the conference and the ministries represented by Minority Local Church Concerns Ministry Team, including Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century (SBC 21), Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW), Commission on Religion and Race (CORR), and Hispanic/Latino Ministry (HLM), and the Asian Ministries Committee. She is also the associate minister at Quayle United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

Rev. Pamela G. Holt

Rev. Pamela Holt has served the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as the Regional Minister since January 1, 2015. She has traveled the entire region visiting Oklahoma’s Disciples congregations and is moved by the diversity and depth of ministries around the region.

Rev. Holt graduated from TCU in 1990 and Brite Divinity School in 1993 and was ordained by South Hills Christian Church in February, 1994. She served three very different

congregations in Texas, with her last pastorate as senior minister in Mineral Wells, TX.

Rev. Holt serves as a board member on the following organizations: Oklahoma Disciples Foundation, Phillips Theological Seminary, Reach Beyond Mission, and serves as the Region’s representative to the denomination’s College of Regional Ministers and General Commission on Ministry.

Rev. Holt and her husband, Randy, live in Tuttle, Oklahoma. Their daughter AnnaCarole is a TCU graduate and is employed in Dallas. The Holt family travels annually to their favorite vacation spot in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado to enjoy the many beautiful hiking trails. Pam and Randy delight in playing with their grandson, Quincy Holt, who lives with his parents in San Francisco.

Rev. Mary Gaudreau Hughes, is an ordained United Methodist deacon, licensed professional counselor, and nationally known disaster response specialist with 25 years' experience working in crisis and disaster response. Rev. Hughes serves as the Executive Director for Crisis Care Ministries. A frequent teacher and facilitator in Oklahoma and beyond, she has authored and contributed to numerous disaster response curricula and resources and has provided key leadership in developing national standards and best practices in disaster spiritual and emotional care. Mary served for ten years as a national disaster consultant with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and she created a five-year pilot program based upon the National VOAD Disaster Spiritual Guidelines through the Oklahoma Conference of Churches. She continues to provide leadership in both the National VOAD and Oklahoma VOAD Emotional and Spiritual Care Committees.

Jeff Jaynes

is the Executive Director for Restore Hope Ministries in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Rev. Jeff Jaynes was born and raised in the Tulsa area. He and his wife graduated from high schools in Tulsa and grew up in the United Methodist Church. Jeff received his Bachelor’s Degree in Government and Theology from Georgetown University and his Master’s of Divinity from Duke University. After graduating from Duke, Jeff was appointed to Southern Hills UMC in Tulsa where he served until June, 2011 when he was appointed as the Executive Director of Restore Hope Ministries.

Jeff has a passion for the Tulsa area and its people, especially those who are in need. Before answering the call to ministry, Jeff worked in a variety of public service positions at the local and national levels. Jeff and his wife have two incredible sons. They love to travel, and are big fans of sports and the arts.

Johnnie Munn, American Red Cross, Oklahoma-Arkansas

Lauren Norcom is the Coordinated Community Response Specialist at the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council. Trained as both a child and adult advocate, she has a 5 year background in coordination and delivery of direct advocacy services, volunteer management, public awareness efforts, and coordinating and implementing training sessions. In her current position, she enjoys meeting and working with individuals and teams throughout the State to work towards improving victim safety and increasing offender accountability. Lauren also provides ongoing training and technical assistance to the CCR Teams throughout the State of Oklahoma.

Shelby Rowe is the program manager for the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, a federally funded national training and technical assistance center located at OU Health Sciences Center. Based in Oklahoma City, she is the 2021 recipient of the American Association of Suicidology's Transforming Lived Experience Award, and the 2016 Chickasaw Nation Dynamic Woman of the Year. Ms. Rowe has been a recognized leader in suicide prevention at the local, state and national level since 2007.

Kaylinn Young is the Director of Disaster Services for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. She is also the Disaster Case Management Committee Chair for the Oklahoma VOAD. Kaylinn worked as a disaster case manager beginning in 2013 before assuming the role of director in 2018. She has provided recovery services under three federally declared disasters in the state of Oklahoma and launched a disaster preparedness program in 2018 for local community groups. Additionally, she was deployed nationally by Catholic Charities USA for disaster response aid in Texas (2015) and Florida (2018).