Larry Larson is one of the original six founders of the ASFPM, along with French Wetmore (Illinois), Jim Boulton, (Michigan), Peter Finke (Ohio), Gordon Lance (Indiana), and Jim Wright (Minnesota). Larry served as the chair of ASFPM from 1979-82 and volunteered as the executive director for 15 years from 1982 until it became a paid staff position in February 1997. He then served as the association’s executive director until 2012, when he became the director emeritus and senior policy adviser. He served in that capacity until July 2022 when after 60 years in the profession he transitioned to director emeritus on a voluntary basis.
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Jim Wright is the author of an ASFPM book titled The Nation's Responses to Flood Disasters: A Historical Account, which he wrote in 2000. Jim began his career as a water resources engineer in the Flood Control Branch of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Knoxville, TN. He later worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, assisting communities with solutions to local flood problems and developing what would become a national model for floodplain management. Jim was the State Floodplain Manager for Minnesota in the mid-1970s when ASFPM was being conceived and created by the Region 5 states.
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Jon A. Kusler was instrumental in the formation of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, our conferences and committees, and much more. Importantly, Jon wrote model state floodplain management legislation which many states used as a template in adopting their laws in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. He did a project for the Water Resources Council in the 1980’s to look at what all states were doing on floodplain management. That document is in the ASFPM library. He also drafted model floodplain management ordinances that were adopted by many communities in the nation. Jon researched and wrote many of the key legal documents that communities and states use for implementing and enforcing floodplain management ordinances. Those served as a basis for our No Adverse Impact initiative; the toolbox and NAI how-to guides.
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James Goddard, Tennessee Valley Authority, was instrumental in implementing these concepts in the ‘60s (pre-NFIP), advancing how communities could use flood maps and guide development to be at lower risk.

As a former graduate student of Gilbert F. White and a staff member of the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Center at the University of Colorado since 1978, Jacki Monday brought to the young ASFPM organization her strong connections with the academic research community (a rather small group at that time) and some key federal entities.
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Dan Accurti, the state floodplain manager for Pennsylvania, served ASFPM in a number of capacities in the early years, including treasurer, committee chair, board chair, conference director, exhibits chair. His leadership across various functions and activities helped ASFPM expand its membership and boost the visibility and credibility of the organization.
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Mary Fran Myers began her public career in her home state of North Dakota. By 1982, she was the State NFIP Coordinator. Attending the 1982 conference in Madison, she began to be active at the national level. She soon became secretary of the ASFPM Board of Directors in 1983, as well as chair of the Outreach Committee and then the Administrative Committee.
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Floodplain management was not my intended career choice. My education and career choice was always conservation, more into natural resources such as fish and wildlife. I still to this day take pride in being a biologist of our natural world. Our wetlands are a big part of the natural and beneficial uses of the floodplain.
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I am flattered to be included on the ASFPM’s Wall of Honor! ASFPM was the professional organization I adored and promoted throughout my career. ASFPM brought focus and friendship to my post-disaster recovery/redevelopment efforts through sustained examination of the regulations, rigors, and realities of floodplain management. ASFPM introduced me to a diversified world of professionals at all levels of business, industry, and government that taught me about dedication, priority, policy, the intersection of planning and engineering, and the value of participation. ASFPM is on my Wall of Honor!
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Janie Douglass served on ASFPM’s Board as an Associate Director from 1985-89 as one of the first non-state members of the Board. She also volunteered as co-chair of the Training & Education Committee for several years. A member of “Volunteers for Flood Control” in her community of Harlan County, Kentucky, Janie was a big voice for local grassroots participation on the ground and a strong advocate in urging us to focus on local problems and solutions while raising awareness among federal agencies as to these local issues. Janie often traveled to Washington, DC for meetings with FEMA and other agencies. She would make sure the needs of local communities were being adequately considered so national policy actually worked on the ground. Her efforts on the ASFPM Board were instrumental in getting the association to ensure national policy and programs were implementable at the local level.
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For more than 40 years, Dale Lehman dedicated himself to floodplain management and flood risk reduction— providing support on more than 400 major disasters and thousands of mitigation and recovery projects throughout the nation. Using his extensive experience in flood hazard analysis, flood risk assessment, mitigation, and flood policy risk management, Dale has provided guidance and support to state and local governments, federal agencies, and international flood resilience initiatives.
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Jerry Louthain has served ASFPM in a number of ways since first becoming involved at the 1986 National Conference in Pittsburgh, where he learned that Seattle was going to host the 1987 annual conference. It was a “hit the ground running” thing for Jerry as the Floodplain Management Supervisor for the Washington State Department of Ecology, so Jerry was the obvious choice to be the local host and conference director for this very successful conference.
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I became active in the Association in 1986 when Jim Boulton, George Hosek and I ventured to Pittsburgh for the annual ASFPM conference.  During the plenary session the idea of forming a floodproofing committee was brought up but a committee chair was needed to begin the formation. I volunteered, assembled a few interested parties and formed the Floodproofing/Retrofitting Committee.  I was the chair, and we had a good turnout of 10 to 15 people involved in various aspects of this type of mitigation. I remained chair until 1997.
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The Federal Interagency Task Force on Floodplain Management (ITF-TF) collaborated with this local expert in the 1989’s to prepare a major report “Floodplain Management in the US: An Assessment Report”. Larry was one of a handful of researchers to investigate the linkages between scientific investigations of flood hazards and the practice of floodplain management. He led a project involving FEMA and the ASFPM to develop a pilot training workshop aimed at helping practitioners incorporate what was known about mitigation techniques and planning (a new concept at the time) to their state and local situations.
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ASFPM’s growth and international success can be attributed to the foundation that was laid by Larry Larson and the pioneer group of Region 5 State Floodplain Managers who carried on the floodplain management mission that Gilbert White, Jim Goddard, Gerry Galloway and a host of others initiated.
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Paul “Oz” Osman, a longtime floodplains program manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (now retired) has served ASFPM in a variety of functions over the past 35 years. His greatest contribution has been his willingness to take on numerous behind-the-scenes roles to assist ASFPM and other states when needed.
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Working for the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program, Chris Brown brought a fresh perspective to the work of floodplain managers. Pushing for more emphasis on non-structural approaches and the protection of natural and beneficial values, under Chris’s leadership RTCA helped support and encourage the nascent movement within ASFPM for a broader approach to floodplain planning, both pre- and post-disaster.
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Scott’s contributions to ASFPM came from his engineering background. He started his career in 1981 as a reviewer of flood insurance studies and went on to lead flood insurance studies just three years later. Scott has spent his career working as a consultant to federal, state, and local governments.
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A hurricane does its work over the course of a few weeks, but the impact can be immediate and obvious. Climate change, on the other hand, is equally powerful, yet the outcomes can be harder to describe and predict, as rarely is there a straight line between cause and effect.
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Diane Calhoun is considered by many of her colleagues to be the consummate volunteer, giving her time and talents freely, fully, and always with a smile! She started her floodplain management career as a project manager and trainer with FEMA Region VI based in Denton, TX, where she worked for 34 years. After leaving FEMA in September 1992, Diane joined Halff and Associates, doing similar work with floodplain management projects, training, speaking and cost estimates with all five R-VI states. At the end of 1995, she moved on to the Michael Baker firm where she spent another eight years before retiring in 2013.
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Bill Nechamen, a longtime floodplain management coordinator for the State of New York (now retired) has been a member of ASFPM since 1997 and has been on the board of directors off and on since the early 2000’s, having served as regional director, chapter director, treasurer (twice), vice chair, and chair (2013-2015). He’s also co-chaired the Floodplain Regulations Committee since 2017.
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Hazard mitigation is the sweet spot where Steve’s passions intersect: weather/disasters and helping people, especially those impacted by floods and other disasters. Although he doesn’t directly assist homeowners and communities with flood mitigation projects anymore, he sees his role of the standing conference program chair for ASFPM’s Annual Conference as a continuation of this service by helping conference attendees to fill this need.
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I joined ASFPM in 1998, at the urging of my manager at the State of Nevada. I had just been hired as the State Floodplain Coordinator and she wanted me to learn the ropes fast and figured that participating with ASFPM would be the way to do it! My first experience with ASFPM was attending the 1998 Annual Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a newbie in floodplain management. I was encouraged to participate fully in the organization and attend all the functions open at the conference to meet as many people as possible. I met so many great people!
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As a presidential appointee to FEMA as the Federal Insurance Administrator in 1997, Jo Ann brought her insurance regulatory background as an attorney who had served as Texas’ head insurance regulator at the State Board of Insurance (now, Texas Department of Insurance). Her experience with property and casualty lines of insurance and insurance rate setting underpinned her qualifications for the FEMA position. Gilbert White tutored her in floodplain management and flood adaptation.
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