Soraya Sutherlin

Soraya Sutherlin, MPA, CEM, CA-PEM, is an emergency management expert and crisis communications leader with a career spanning more than two decades. As the founder and chief executive officer of Emergency Management Safety Partners, Sutherlin is a certified emergency manager with extensive experience in emergency management and disaster response. Her areas of expertise include emergency planning, training, response, public health planning, multiagency coordination, and municipal government emergency management operations. She holds a Master of Public Administration in Emergency Management from California State University, Long Beach.

Sutherlin has played a key operational role with Alert SouthBay, a regional emergency notification system in Southern California. This multijurisdictional notification platform connects 14 cities and more than 1 million residents in Los Angeles County, providing emergency alerts through a unified system. She serves as the liaison for the South Bay Community Awareness and Emergency Response group, acting as a subject matter expert on refinery regulations and notifications, AB 1646, and as liaison for the Los Angeles County Fire Department Health Hazmat and the City of Los Angeles Fire and Emergency Management Department.

In addition to her regional communications work, Sutherlin has held national security responsibilities. As public information officer for the U.S. Secret Service, Los Angeles Field Office, she led communications for National Special Security Events, including preparations for the Olympics, and served as director of the Joint Information Center for Super Bowl LVI and South Bay's COVID-19 response. As disaster management area coordinator for Los Angeles County Operational Area C, she leads strategic planning and emergency response coordination for 10 cities. Sutherlin has also joined the faculty at the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training at Louisiana State University, where she develops emergency operations plans and emergency communications training.

Emergency Management Safety Partners, Sutherlin's firm, specializes in emergency management, crisis communications, and school safety, supporting the development of resilient communities through proactive planning. Her experience in both the private and public sectors has provided her with a broad perspective on emergency management. Sutherlin's media presence includes interviews with Rolling Stone, where she discussed alerting systems, and an appearance on "A Kids Book About: The Podcast" to share insights on emergency preparedness and safety planning. Her expertise spans public safety, crisis communications, and community resilience within the emergency management industry.