Susan L. Sanderson
Adjunct Instructor, Community College Citizen Preparedness Program (3CP2)
Oakland Community College (OCC)
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Ms. Susan L. Sanderson is an Adjunct Instructor with Oakland County Community College (OCCC) for the Community College Citizen Preparedness Program (3CP2).  This nation-wide program was launched to train U.S. citizens on identifying regional threats, their impact to them, their family and community and how to prepare for and respond to these threats.  She is a well known presenter and advocate of community preparedness education and was recently featured in a local NBC news report and video on citizen preparedness after recent severe weather impacted their region.
Ms. Sanderson has over 25 years of project/program management and training expertise in information technology, automotive, business continuity, homeland security and emergency management.  Prior to becoming an instructor with OCCC, she founded Sanderson Associates, a consulting company that provides planning, program implementation, training and exercise services for government, non-governmental organizations and businesses.  She researched, collated and wrote the City of Detroit’s Health Department After Action Report (AAR) for the 2009/2010 H1N1 Pandemic Flu event and submitted best practices and lessons learned to state and federal health agencies.
Much of her emergency management and homeland security experience was earned when she worked as an Emergency Management Specialist for the City of Detroit Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) and as a police officer with the City of Detroit.  She has participated in major sporting and special events such as the 2005 All Star Game, the 2006 Super Bowl, the Detroit Grand Prix and the Red Bull Air Races, as well as annual events such as the International Freedom Festival Fireworks/River Days and the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).  Ms. Sanderson was responsible for the joint management of the Detroit/Wayne County Hurricane Katrina Evacuee Reception Center that serviced over 800 evacuees in 26 days with approximately 400 volunteers.  As the Program Manager for the Detroit Citizen Corps Council, she developed the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program training over 2500 volunteers in three years.  Her dedication in working to bring public and private sectors together to be more prepared in response to emergencies and/or disasters is unwavering.
In addition to her consulting business, Ms. Sanderson is also the President and Owner of Sanderson Painting Inc.  She developed her company safety manual and safety training to exceed MI-OSHA requirements as well as creating a portable emergency plan for her employees to utilize in case of an emergency while working at remote locations.  For the last ten years her company has provided residential and business painting services for customers such as Bravo Restaurant, Sears, Garden City Hospital, MRA Associates, and Grosse Pointe Congregational Church.

For over 20 years, Ms. Sanderson worked for high tech companies such as Electronic Data Systems (EDS) managing major contracts with General Motors and the federal government.  Her involvement with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at EDS helped to build the foundation of what is now the On-Star geo-location services provided by GM that includes emergency services communications.  She has managed the development of software programs, provided recommendations on technology purchases, established vendor policies and selection and received recognition from a divisional director on her efforts to reduce costs for system/software purchasing and maintenance.
Prior to her work in information technology, Ms. Sanderson was a police officer for the City of Detroit.  During her last year in law enforcement she worked in the Training Department assisting in the development of law enforcement training classes for southeast Michigan local and county police departments.  She received recognition for the development of a slide presentation to the International Association of the Chiefs of Police (IACP) and for a presentation on how to correctly use 9-1-1.
Ms. Sanderson attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan earning a B.A. in Communications.  She earned her Professional Emergency Manager (PEM) certification with the State of Michigan in 2003 and is also certified as a Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP).  Just recently she completed Level 1 of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuity of Excellence Program.  She is also a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Teen CERT Trainer and an Incident Command System (ICS) Trainer.
As an avid community participant, Ms. Sanderson is a member of the Michigan Volunteer Defense Force (VDF), 2nd Battalion, and a volunteer reserve unit of the Michigan National Guard.  She is an active member of the Macomb County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), the Macomb County Citizen Corps Council and the Macomb County Health Department Volunteers.  She is the current Secretary of the Michigan Emergency Management Association (MEMA).  Ms. Sanderson lives in St. Clair Shores, Michigan with her husband Dennis and are avid boaters and fishing on Lake St. Clair.