CRMP Governing Board

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. ​

Lori has worked for the State of California since 2006. She is currently the Deputy Director of Planning, Preparedness, and Prevention, a role which includes oversight of the agency’s seismic hazards branch, dam safety, radiological preparedness, and statewide all-hazards emergency and continuity planning efforts. Additionally, she oversees the California Specialized Training Institute, a statewide enterprise with responsibility for supporting training, exercises, and education in a wide variety of areas including, but not limited to, emergency management, public safety, homeland security, hazardous materials, disaster recovery, and crisis communications.

Prior to her current role, Lori spent almost six years as the Legislative Coordinator at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and nine years at the California Student Aid Commission as Legislative Director, Program Manager, and in various Analyst roles.

Lori received her baccalaureate degree from Arizona Christian University in Phoenix and her post-baccalaureate teacher certification at Arizona State University in Tempe. After receiving her teaching credential, she moved to Saitama Prefecture in Japan for two years to teach English as a Second Language. Upon her return to the United States, she taught elementary classes at Carden Christian Academy for ten years before going into state service.

Tom Welsh joined the CEA team in early 2019 as CEA’s General Counsel. He oversees CEA’s General Counsel Services, Compliance and Audit functions, and government relations.

Prior to joining CEA, Tom was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where his insurance regulatory practice focused on providing compliance advice to numerous emerging and disruptive tech companies as they navigated complex insurance regulatory issues. He also worked for financial sector clients on insurance related investments, life settlements portfolios, and residential real estate portfolio securitization transactions. Tom also served as outside counsel to the Conservation & Liquidation Office of the California Department of Insurance for 28 years on major insolvencies.

Jennifer Bollinger is the Chief Counsel for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). In this position, Bollinger oversees legal affairs for the office and advises on navigating legalities associated with emergency services, homeland security, public safety communications, and all phases of emergency management. Prior to her current position, Bollinger served as Chief Counsel for the Department of General Services from 2020-2022 and held various positions with Cal OES, including Assistant Chief Counsel, from 2016-2020.