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Sarah Russell
"A family of public servants led to my path in government."
I had been working in the brewing industry for 10 years, but found myself abruptly unemployed and starting my career over.
I lived through the events of 9/11 and saw the large scale of response and recovery. I also saw the different ways my family members had served the public, from being in the military to doing missionary work abroad. Those things helped to steer me into my current path of service.
Today, after 12 years with the agency, I am the Commissioner of Emergency Management for the City of St. Louis, MO. CEMA is responsible for leading a program of prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation for the city. A highlight of my career has been launching the NotifySTL mass notification system in the city. I worked to find the best tool that would bring us to a whole new level of communication. It was such a fulfilling feeling to be able to showcase it and present it to the community. Emergency communication is so important in everything we do, and this was really an incredible moment.
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