CFE-DM Staff

Mr. Martin is the Director of the Department of Defense Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM) on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He directs training, education, applied research, regional civil-military coordination, and crisis support during disasters in support of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, with worldwide responsibilities and functional alignment under the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Stability and Humanitarian Affairs. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in October 2016 upon resuming duties as the Center’s Director; he previously served as the Director of CFE-DM from May 2014 to June 2016 while on active duty as a U.S. Air Force colonel.

Steve Castonguay serves as the Deputy Director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM). He is the principal assistant to the director for managing CFE-DM programs. His work at CFE-DM has included U.S. and foreign partner engagement through serving as an instructor in the Humanitarian Assistance Response Training (HART) course and participation in civil-military coordination workshops throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Steve’s professional expertise lies in U.S. foreign policy and public affairs.

Prior to joining the Center, he served as the Director of the Commander’s Action Group at Joint Interagency Task Force West, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s executive agent of counter-narcotics and transnational crime. During his time with JIATF West, he led organizational transformation and innovation by inaugurating the task force’s first public affairs team and spearheaded an initiative linking task force activities with Department of State, United Nations and foreign partner counter-transnational crime initiatives.

Steve previously served as a Department of State Foreign Service Officer for 13 years at U.S. embassy postings in India, Afghanistan, Costa Rica, Pakistan and Thailand. Among his diplomatic assignments include: serving as an embassy spokesperson, chief of staff, special assistant to the ambassador and American citizen services chief. He participated in numerous humanitarian and disaster response operations, to include serving as the U.S. spokesperson and senior U.S. Embassy official on scene during the Thai soccer team cave rescue operation. Steve participated in the U.S. Embassy response to an earthquake in Costa Rica and terrorist attacks in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Steve also served as an international election monitor for the 2009 Afghanistan Presidential elections and the State Department’s action officer for Afghan President Karzai’s first visit to the White House.

A retired Marine, Steve’s military experience includes public affairs assignments with units deploying throughout the Asia-Pacific region and leading training and recruiting teams. He holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Communication from Hawaii Pacific University. He is also a fellow of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

Alan Aoki is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services and serves as a research analyst in the Applied Research and Information Sharing Branch of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance.

Aoki joined the CFE-DM team shortly after graduating from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. He has also worked at the Hawaii State Library, Hamilton Library, Center for Korean Studies and the Industrial Relations Center.

Alan received a bachelor of arts and a master of science degree from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

Dr. Joyce "JB" Blanchard is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services and serves as a disaster management and humanitarian assistance advisor for the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. She specializes in the Asia-Pacific Region and civilian-military coordination.

Blanchard is a retired U.S. Naval Flight Officer. She joined the CFE-DM team after completing a seven-year tour on the staff of the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, where she served for seven years as the deputy of the Functional Plans Division, a humanitarian plans officer and the Pacific Fleet civil-military coordinator.

Blanchard holds a Bachelor of Science in Geography, a Master of Science in Foreign Affairs and Doctorate in the field of Organizational Leadership.

Jenny Caruso serves as the Program Manager for the HART Disasters and HART Conflict courses, in the Training and Engagements Branch. Jenny returned to CFE-DM in February 2022, and had previously served as DMHA Instructor & HART PM from 2018-2020.

Jenny is a retired Army officer whose career included a myriad of command and leader development assignments in both garrison and combat environments. She served on various joint, combined forces, and inter-agency teams, to include deputy command of a reconstruction and security brigade in western Afghanistan. Recent experiences also include FEMA emergency distribution management and operations management to a power restoration project providing disaster response in Puerto Rico.

Jenny holds a BS in Physical Education from Towson State University, an MA in Executive Development for Public Service from Ball State University, and an MS in Kinesiology from Indiana University.

Andrea Ciletti is an employee with Valiant Integrated Services and works in the Applied Research and Information Sharing Branch at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. She serves as a research analyst on the Disaster Management Reference Handbook team.

She joined the CFE-DM team in the summer of 2015. Previously, she served as a technical editor for AECOM providing editing, formatting, and production needs for various civil-military contracts and documents. She also served as a technical writer for Defense Information Systems-Pacific (DISA-PAC) where she researched and wrote operational materials. She brings with her more than five years teaching experience as a ground faculty member at the University of Phoenix, Hawaii Campus.

Ciletti holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Education from Syracuse University in New York and a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Hawaii Pacific University.

Victoria Hart is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services and works in the Applied Research and Information Sharing Branch at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. She serves as a disaster management research analyst for the Center.

Hart managed UN peacekeeping training and led international mobile education teams in support of the Center for Civil-Military Relations for four years prior to rejoining CFE-DM. She first worked at CFE-DM as a research analyst focused on the humanitarian situation in Iraq, then as a humanitarian assistance specialist. She has worked with Pacific Forum CSIS, and prior to that was a civil affairs officer in the UN Mission in Sudan, working in a civilian component of the peacekeeping mission in Khartoum. She also has experience working in Australia, Cambodia, China, Germany, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and aboard ship in international waters. She lived two years in Taiwan and speaks Mandarin Chinese.

Hart earned a master’s degree from the University of California, Irvine and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, both in political science. She is a doctoral student in political science from the University of Hawaii. She completed the UN DPKO’s Protection of Civilians (POC) Training of Trainers (ToT) course, UN OCHA’s Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord) ToT, and USAID’s Joint Humanitarian Operations Course (JHOC).

Stephen Frano is an employee with Valiant Integrated Services and works as the Climate Change Impacts (CCI) Program Manager at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian assistance. He leads the CCI team responsible for establishing a robust INDOPACOM capability to anticipate and respond to the security impacts of climate change. The CCI program is dedicated to working across the DOD, interagency, and partner nations to increase resilience, reduce fragility, and enhance climate security for the Indo-Pacific region.

Stephen joined the INDOPACOM Strategic Partnerships Office in April 2013 as the Public Private Partnerships Program Manager where he supported far-ranging efforts in such areas as environmental security, disaster risk reduction, energy grid resilience, and cyber security. Prior to that Stephen worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Coastal Management focused on capacity building activities for coastal community resilience and programming for Hawaii and U.S. Territory Coastal Zone Management Programs. Stephen also worked for the Territory of American Samoa, Department of Commerce focused on environmental planning and permitting for pollution prevention and hazard mitigation.

Stephen obtained his bachelor’s degree in integrated science and technology from James Madison University and his master’s degree in environmental management from Duke University. Stephen earned his Project Management Professional certification and was an AILA Fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 2020.

Dr. Ibanez is a Program Specialist in the Applied Research and Information Sharing (ARIS) branch supporting applied research, academic partnerships, and information sharing programs focused on disaster management capacity building for 36 partner nations in the INDOPACIFIC region.

Prior to joining the Center, Ibanez was based out of Washington, DC where she was a research analyst providing support to the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate. She worked on a range of projects related to open-source and social media (OSSM) exploitation. Her work has spanned government and academic entities with an emphasis on evidenced-based policy and interagency collaboration. She served in the United States Army as a Signal Officer and Public Affairs Officer. She is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Ibanez holds a Doctorate in Communication and Information Sciences from the University of Hawai‘i, a Master of Science in Public Administration from Central Michigan University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Hawai‘i Pacific University. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Taryn Ino is an employee with Valiant Integrated Services and works as the Climate Policy and Diplomacy Analyst in the Climate Change Impacts (CCI) Program at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. The CCI team is responsible for establishing a robust INDOPACOM capability to anticipate and respond to the security impacts of climate change. The CCI program is dedicated to working across the DOD, interagency, and partner nations to increase resilience, reduce fragility, and enhance climate security for the Indo-Pacific region.

Prior to joining the CCI team, Taryn worked in local government and non-profit sectors on a diverse set of issues, including such topics as disaster risk reduction and resilience, climate change, foreign policy, women, peace and security, and equal employment opportunity. Most recently served as Program Manager with the foreign policy think tank, Pacific Forum International.

Taryn earned a master’s degree in political science and a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Casey Johnson is a humanitarian access and security analyst in CFE-DM's Plans, Programs and Analysis Branch. His current focus is on supporting the Center's engagement with Taiwan.

Casey arrives at the Center from the Department of State's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations where he led global research on countering violent extremism and supported stabilization programming. Prior to stints in DC with State and USAID, he lived and worked in Afghanistan for eight years with the United States Institute of Peace and other local organizations, conducting research on the Taliban and advising the U.S. military on stabilization efforts.

Casey is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, and Seattle University. His research and photography has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, and Foreign Policy.

Britt is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services and joined the CFE-DM team in 2021. He serves as an Exercise Planner integrating HADR training to military training.

Britt is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 30 years of service. He served in a number of command and staff assignments within the infantry, Joint staffs, United Nations, and as a Civil Affairs Team Leader teaching HADR and coordinating with varies NGOs. Most recently, Britt served as a senior exercise planner with the United States Army Pacific and as an Information Operations Planner at Special Operations Command Pacific.

Britt holds a BS in Psychology with a minor Biology.

Stephanie Liu is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services with the role of Program Specialist within the Public Health Program for the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM). Stephanie is integrated into CFE-DM’s Training and Engagements Branch assisting with various public health events with the focus on coordinating the Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P.) Workshop and the Health and Humanitarian Action in Emergencies (HHAE) Workshop.

Stephanie pursued her Bachelor of Public Health degree from the University of Hawai’i Manoa’s Office of Public Health Studies and Master of Public Health degree with a concentration of Global Health Studies through the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. Stephanie’s research interests are global health security, One Health, and risk communication and community engagement.

Stephanie has a working knowledge of Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean.

Ralph Mamiya is an advisor with CFE-DMHA focused on the protection of civilians and civil-military relations in conflict situations, with a particular emphasis on great power competition.

Ralph has extensive experience working to protect civilians, serving in the UN Mission in Sudan and the UN Mission in South Sudan, as Team Leader of the Protection of Civilians Team of the United Nations Department of Peace Operations in New York, and advising US allies on protection policy and planning. He edited the volume Protection of Civilians (Oxford University Press, 2016), contributed to The Oxford Handbook on the Use of Force in International Law, and has published numerous policy reports for a variety of organizations.

Ralph graduated from Cornell Law School with a Juris Doctor and a specialization in international legal studies.

Trevor is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services and joined CFE-DM in 2016. He is currently serving as the program manager for the ICRC Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) course and the Health and Humanitarian Action in Emergencies (HHAE) course. Both training programs seek to build public health emergency and disaster preparedness and response capacity with international civilian organizations and militaries. Trevor frequently supports exercises in the Asia-Pacific region and at professional military education institutions such as the Marine Corps University. He has contributed to national and sub-national level disaster preparedness assessments and facilitator for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Regional Consultative Group (RCG) on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination.

Prior to joining the Center, Trevor served for eleven years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. His domestic assignments include serving in the Operations Center and on the India Desk, as well as in the Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate (J5) at then U.S. Pacific Command. His overseas experience includes five years in the Islamic world, with postings to U.S. embassies in Turkey, Afghanistan and Sudan where he handled the refugee, reconstruction, humanitarian de-mining, and peacekeeping portfolios.

Trevor holds a BA in Political Science & History from Virginia Tech, an MA in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, and an MBBS from the University of Wollongong Graduate School of Medicine.

Lloyd Puckett is Disaster Management and Humanitarian Specialist assigned to the Plans, Programs and Analysis Branch at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. He serves as a regional disaster management and humanitarian assistance advisor to the Center.

Puckett joined the CFE-DM team from the Pacific Air Forces directorate of Installation and Mission Support where he was a command emergency management superintendent. Since joining CFE-DM, Puckett has served as Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) analyst, instructor for Humanitarian and Assistance Response Training (HART) and Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) courses, project manager for CFE-DM HADR Security Cooperation projects, and drafted CFE-DM disaster management reference handbooks. He also served as a visiting scholar at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies and Weapons of Mass Destruction Strategic Planner at USPACOM’s Strategic Policy Planning Directorate. He retired from the United States Air Force after 23 years of service.

Puckett holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Studies from the University of Maryland University College, a Master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma, a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Chaminade University of Honolulu a Post-Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security Leadership Development from Chaminade University of Honolulu and a post-graduate certificate in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Leslie Regan is an employee with Valiant Integrated Services and works in the Climate Change Impacts (CCI) Branch at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. She serves as the climate change impacts specialist on the CCI team.

Prior to joining the Center in 2021, Leslie worked on a diverse set of issues for a diverse set of clients including such topics as: climate change, environmental science and management, water law, water resources issues, impact investing, grants and funding, groundwater management solutions, community building, environmental education in higher institutions, etc. Most recently she managed, planned, and implemented climate adaptation projects for municipalities and communities in California.

Leslie earned a Master of Science in Environmental Science & Management with an emphasis in Water Resources Management from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Hydrology from UC Santa Barbara.

Leigh Sholler is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services. She serves as a Research Analyst in the Applied Research and Information Sharing Branch at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance.

Leigh joined the CFE-DM in 2020 after working for Valiant Integrated Services and Cubic Global Defense for 15 years as a Senior Analyst for Open Source information exploitation. She has supported U.S. Department of Defense entities around the globe in planning, exercise design/execution, operational assessments, and public affairs.

Leigh has a B.A. in French and International Studies from Capital University (Ohio), an M.A. in French from American University (DC), and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

Greg is an employee of Valiant Integrated Services and a member of the Plans, Programs and Analysis Branch at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. He has extensive experience as a Foreign Area Officer in the Indo-Pacific, serving multiple tours in both U.S. Embassies and 4-star military headquarters. He has participated in numerous humanitarian assistance and disaster response scenarios as a planner and support provider.

Prior to joining the Center, Greg served as an active duty Navy Foreign Area Officer and Search and Rescue / Logistics helicopter pilot. In his 27 years of military experience, Greg served as Chief, Southeast Asia Policy at USINDOPACOM and Chief, International Plans and Policy at USPACFLT, where he provided expert political and strategic advice to the Commanders regarding cooperative military efforts with international partners and foreign access for military planning and operations. During the response to 2013 Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, he acted as senior mentor to the Director of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Multinational Coordination Center. During tours at the U.S. Embassies in Riyadh and Manila, he advised the Saudi and Philippine Navies on best maritime security practices and managed their multi-billion dollar Foreign Military Sales accounts. As a helicopter pilot, he led a 5-month detachment to Banda Aceh during Operation Unified Assistance delivering relief supplies and conducting medical missions. With over 22 years of experience in the USINDOPACOM region, he is an experienced strategic and operational planner, supporting military operations, interagency operations, and campaign plans, including warfighting, peacekeeping and foreign humanitarian assistance.

Greg holds a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Duke University. He has over 3,400 hours of military helicopter flight time and 29 personnel rescues.

Josh Szimonisz is a Regional Humanitarian Civil-Military Advisor based in Bangkok, Thailand. Josh serves as a “forward” presence for CFE-DM, providing humanitarian assistance and civil-military coordination subject matter expertise to global military and civilian organizations based in the Indo-Pacific region. Before this assignment, Josh served as the HART Course Manager, leading the development and delivery of the Center’s flagship training program.

Prior to joining the Center in August 2020, Josh was based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he worked as a program manager for Samaritan’s Purse International Relief. Before that, he worked on a refugee assistance project in Nicosia, Cyprus with Caritas, and previously worked as a case worker serving the asylum seeker population in New York City. Josh was an active duty Marine Officer for several years, deploying in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and a Marine Expeditionary Unit, in addition to supporting regional INDOPACOM exercises. He continues his service in the Marine Corps Reserve as a Civil-Military Operations Planner.

Josh is a member of the Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). He has a Master of Arts in Public Administration (MPA) specialized in Humanitarian Emergency Management, and a Master of Science in Social Work (MSW), specialized in international social welfare policy and forced displacement, both from Columbia University.

Alice Tsai is a Public Health Program Manager with the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. She brings to the Center more than a decade of experience in providing technical assistance and conducting programming activities in support of disaster management and humanitarian assistance through the preparedness of, response to, and recovery from public health emergencies and natural disasters. Highlights of her previous engagements included the 2014 Ebola Response in West Africa, the 2017 Irma/Maria Hurricane Recovery, and the COVID-19 Response.

Before joining the Center, Alice served at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including two appointments at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She also supported force health protection at the U.S. Department of Defense through the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance program. Prior to public service, Alice had provided technical consultations in the NGO sector and was a Fulbright Fellow to China.

As a first-generation college graduate, Alice completed her Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry & Cell Biology, two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Health Care-Social Issues and Music, and a Specialized Certificate in Clinical Research Administration from the University of California, San Diego.

Aiyana Paschal is the Public Affairs Officer at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. Paschal previously served as a Public Affairs Officer at U.S. Cyber Command located in Fort Meade, Md. Prior to her civilian service, she served six years in the U.S. Navy as a Mass Communication Specialist where she attended the Defense Information School and went on to serve at various commands, including the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, and Defense Media Activity Pacific. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Media from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Communications from American University, D.C.