CRMP Governing Board

Currently the Chief Deputy Director, Christina Curry was appointed by Governor Brown in 2012 and has held multiple positions for California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, including appointments as Assistant Director in 2005 and Deputy Director of Preparedness and Training in 2008. Ms. Curry’s areas of oversight include state-level Planning and Preparedness programs for all hazards. She also held multiple positions at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services from 1991 to 2001.

Laurie Johnson, an urban planner specializing in disaster recovery and catastrophe risk management, served as the Enterprise & Strategic Risk Advisor for CEA from August 2016 until June 2020, when she took on a new leadership position at CEA as Chief Catastrophe Response and Resiliency Officer.​ In this capacity, she oversees CEA’s organizational readiness, claims administration and response following earthquakes.

Laurie holds a Doctor of Informatics degree from Kyoto University and a Master of Urban Planning and Bachelor of Science in Geophysics, both from Texas A&M University.

She began her planning career working with communities that were soon struck by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and has since been involved in post-disaster recovery planning, management and research following many of the world's major urban disasters, including earthquakes in California, Japan, New Zealand, and China. Much of her work is captured in her recent book, After Great Disasters: An In-Depth Analysis of How Six Countries Managed Community Recovery (2017). Laurie also has an extensive background in disaster loss estimation and catastrophe risk modeling, serving as Vice President of Technical Marketing and Catastrophe Response at RMS for many years.

Laurie was the 2019-2020 President of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), a technical society devoted to earthquake risk reduction across the U.S. and globally, and is also on the Steering Committee of the Geotechnical Extreme Event Reconnaissance organization (GEER), Board of Trustees of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI), and Advisory Board of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM). In 2018, she was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. ​

Jim Lombard joined CEA in August of 2020 as the Chief Administrative Officer. Jim's responsibilities include overseeing human resources, facilities, and project management. Among other things, Jim leads efforts for strategic and workforce planning.

Jim joins CEA after three decades of public service, mostly for the State of California.

He spent about 10 years with the California Department of Finance overseeing budget development for a number of state departments including but not limited to Department of Food and Agriculture, Department of Justice, Department of Corrections, and capital infrastructure programs for health and human services programs, State Parks and CalFire. Jim coordinated efforts to create a $54 billion five-year state infrastructure plan.

Jim spent seven years with the California State Controller's Office as the Chief Administrative Officer, overseeing administrative functions and statewide programs such as payroll and disbursements. Jim represented the Controller on various boards and committees. During his time at the Controller's Office, the state faced the "Great Recession," and he was part of the team that managed the State's cash through this tumultuous time.

Jim also spent several years with each of the following entities: the Department of Justice, Covered California, Air Resources Board, and most recently with the Sacramento Superior Court. Jim has led, or participated in, strategic planning efforts for several entities over his career.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Cal Poly. Jim focused his education on environmental chemistry and specifically air pollution.

Alex Pal is the Chief Counsel for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). He was appointed to this position by Governor Brown in 2018 and was reappointed by Governor Newsom in 2019. Prior to serving as Chief Counsel, Alex served in various attorney positions at Cal OES since 2013, including Assistant Chief Counsel and Senior Counsel. Alex has provided legal counsel to Cal OES on many disasters that have struck California, including 11 federally-declared Major Disaster Declaration events and nearly 100 state-only events for which the Governor proclaimed a State of Emergency. Alex earned his Juris Doctorate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and his Bachelor of Science degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey.