Steve Samuelson named ASFPM’s 2019 Jerry Louthain Award Winner

L-R: Steve Samuelson and ASFPM Executive Director Chad Berginnis.
The Jerry Louthain Award for Distinguished
Service to ASFPM is reserved for individuals who clearly support and
advance ASFPM’s work.
The path Steve Samuelson
took to this organization is probably similar to how many of us came to ASFPM.
Several years ago he wanted to attend our national conference and get the CFM
designation, so he became a member. He will admit, with a bit of embarrassment,
that it wasn’t until about three years later that he read ASFPM’s
mission statement, which resonated with
him, especially the part about reducing human suffering. So he decided to get more
involved with ASFPM. Samuelson was an elections chair for ASFPM and a Region 7 director.
He voluntarily stepped in to serve as a temporary Flood Insurance Committee
co-chair, and now IS the co-chair. He regularly contributes flood insurance
training and outreach articles to ASFPM’s newsletters.

Samuelson, the Kansas state floodplain manager, also
provides his expertise on national policy matters. Recently he conducted an
analysis of FEMA’s proposed rules and their implications on agriculture
structures in floodplains. ASFPM used that analysis to draft comments on that
rule.

Additionally, this man is a prolific photographer,
and shares many “best practices” photos on ASFPM’s Flickr page, making them available for all of ASFPM’s members
and partners to use. He believes in ASFPM’s mission; he cares about our
members; he joined ASFPM to make a difference, and he is truly someone ASFPM
can count on for every task asked of him.