Board of Directors for the Family Assistance Foundation
Jeff Morgan
Jeff Morgan is President and Co-Founder of the Foundation. Jeff is President
& CEO of Aviem International, Inc. Aviem International is a full service
emergency services company dedicated to helping companies prepare for disaster
with planning, consulting, training, exercises and disaster support services.
Jeff Morgan created Aviem International, Inc. after a 20-year career with
Delta Air Lines, Inc. During his last six years at Delta he was instrumental
in creating Delta's first dedicated emergency management department, responsible
not only for aircraft emergency response procedures but general emergency
preparedness, disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
Jeff Morgan
is widely recognized within the airline industry for creating the program
that set the standard for how airlines respond to disaster with the joint
Delta/Swissair response to the Flight 111 tragedy in Halifax , Nova Scotia.
Jeff Morgan has taken his wealth of knowledge and experience to expand Aviem's
services well beyond just aviation and mass transportation and works with
many organizations involved in emergency management including various governmental
and public safety agencies, healthcare, gas/petroleum and other corporate
clients. Jeff also works with strategic partners around the world to provide
an integrated network of resources that bring "best of breed" to
every service provided to all clients.
Dr. Carolyn Coarsey
Dr. Carolyn Coarsey is Vice-President and Co-Founder for the Foundation. Carolyn
has an innovative approach to designing effective family assistance training: she works
with survivors, family members, and responders to discover post-accident practices that
help people heal and uses the results as the basis for her curricula. Carolyn created
Higher Resources in 1989 to use this approach to help airlines and other responding agencies
better prepare employees for assisting survivors following disaster. She is a family survivor
herself, having lost her fiancé, Jeff Warner, on Delta Air Lines Flight 191 in August 1985,
and an airline industry veteran, having worked for Eastern Airlines and Braniff International
Airlines.
Carolyn holds a Ph.D. in Training & Learning Technologies, in addition to being a
psychotherapist. Her doctoral dissertation, titled Psychological Aftermath of Air Disaster:
What Can Be Learned For Training? is one of the first scientific studies of air disaster survivors.
Her research has clearly shown the importance of employee response from the organization believed
to be responsible or primarily involved in the disaster. In addition to studying survivors, Carolyn
has conducted studies for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety
Board on issues surrounding employee stress. She has also conducted research on the posttraumatic
effects of fatal accident response on fire, police and other rescue personnel. In 1991, she participated
on a task force with the American Hospital Association that wrote the guidelines for handling mass
transportation disasters. Carolyn has also worked with the Department of Defense casualty bureau to
address issues of dealing with families after military disasters and terrorist attacks.
In addition to her work at Higher Resources, Carolyn serves as VP of Training & Development for Aviem
International, Inc. and conducts training around the world in such diverse areas as Japan, South Africa,
Morocco and Europe. She is also Co-Founder and President of the Family Assistance Education and Research
Foundation, a non-profit organization formed to educate and support interdisciplinary response and improved
organization for delivering services to survivors in more compassionate ways.
Jeff Braun
Jeff Braun serves as the primary spokesperson for the Family Assistance Foundation, Inc. In this role, he
guides the Foundation's communications efforts to support and improve business and industry responses to emergencies
and disasters. In addition to serving as spokesperson, Braun also leads the crisis communications training that is
part of the Foundation's fully integrated training and support programs.
Before joining the Foundation's team, Braun
spent 10 years leading the crisis communications practice for a communications consulting firm. In this capacity, he
distinguished himself by providing direct assistance and counsel to a wide range of clients in a variety of industry
sectors including energy and utilities, technology, chemical, food manufacturing, transportation, hospitality, and
retail, among others. Braun's thorough and engaging techniques have helped to guide individual executives in preparing
for crucial media interviews and presentations as well as Fortune 500 companies seeking support with crisis planning
and response.
Before entering the training and consulting field, Braun led a distinctive 25-year career as a journalist
where he held positions in the field as a reporter and a photographer before ultimately being promoted to the position
of evening news anchor. Rounding out this experience, Braun also served as a news director for a CBS affiliate in Texas
where he managed a staff of journalists and was involved in the first satellite newsgathering cooperative for CBS News.
Walt Houghton
Walt Houghton is an Assistant Professor at the College of Aeronautics, Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) in Melbourne, Florida, and has been teaching for the past twenty years at Broward Community College and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. At FIT he teaches airport management, planning and design. He is also the faculty advisor to the International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) student chapter there.
Walt has over 48 years of combined experience in military and civil aviation. Twenty of those years were spent in executive management positions culminating in being named Director of Aviation at the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) where he recently retired after 20 years of service. Walt also served as Director of Aviation at Burlington International Airport (BVT) in Vermont, and as Director of Aviation of Vermont’s state owned airports. In tribute to his dedication and service in aviation, Walt was named Florida's Aviation Professional of the Year for 2007.
Currently, holding the rank of Colonel in the Vermont State Guard Air Wing, Walt drills with the 158th Fighter Wing. While in the United States Air Force, he was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal supervisor and trained for worldwide response to nuclear weapons accidents. He also has an extensive background in emergency management, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) training, as well as hurricane preparation and recovery. He has responded to hurricane recovery operations in Florida, the Bahamas, and Louisiana. Walt has been active for many years with the Department of Defense’s Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve Committee, providing support to activated military personnel and their families. As Aviation Director for the State of Vermont, he had additional duties in search and rescue and aircraft accident investigation, and is a graduate of the United States Coast Guard National Search and Rescue School.
Walt began flying when he was 19 years old and has restored and flown a variety of vintage military aircraft. When he’s not teaching he can be found flying his WW2 biplane out of his backyard airstrip in Vermont, or piloting DC-3s supporting missionaries in the Caribbean and Haiti.
Rich Anderson
Rich Anderson serves on the Board of the Family Assistance Foundation as a family survivor. Rich’s daughter, Lauren,
survived a plane crash in which 15 people were killed.
After receiving his BA in Industrial Technology, Rich
began teaching on Long Island, New York. For 33 years, he taught both junior and high school Technology classes. His
love of athletics drew him into coaching, and he coached soccer, baseball, wrestling and basketball throughout his
teaching
After retiring, he relocated to Weaverville, NC, (outside Asheville) with his wife, Marie. He spends much of his time
working in his fully-equipped woodworking shop located in his basement, where he builds items for local antique stores
and also for his own home.
In his golf community, he is active on the Architectural Review Board, which oversees plans for new construction and
renovations. And, of course, he plays as much golf as he possibly can (which is almost every day!).
Rich has taken an active role in FAF since its inception because he believes the Foundation has played such an important
part in his recovery from the trauma of his daughter Lauren's aircraft accident. And he always finds time to be a great
Pop to Lauren's two children, Elizabeth, 7, and Patrick, 4.
