PEMA Staff Recognized with Governor’s Awards for Excellence

​Harrisburg, PA - The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) today announced that two staff members, Robert Then and Caleb Dixon, will be honored with Governor's Awards for Excellence at a ceremony tomorrow for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing efforts to assist emergency management partners at all levels of government.

"The hard work of these two PEMA staff resulted in changes that are a giant step forward in providing more effective and efficient service to our partner agencies," said PEMA Director Randy Padfield. "I applaud them for their contributions to strengthening the emergency management system in Pennsylvania."

As manager of the Commonwealth Response and Coordination Center, Rob Then was instrumental in coordinating information and creating both internal and public-facing products to meet the needs of state agency and county partners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Then also oversaw the implementation of county emergency management migration to the WebEOC platform, which integrates into the commonwealth's system for incident management. All of these accomplishments, which required considerable planning and training for execution, were completed while also carrying out his day-to-day duties.

Caleb Dixon is an emergency management specialist in the hazardous materials division at PEMA. Aside from his normal responsibilities, Mr. Dixon developed online tools for state agencies to track data during the COVID-19 pandemic, and improve the process for counties to apply for funding available to them through multiple grant programs. He also researched and proposed a new web-based system that would be used by companies that must file emergency response plans with the commonwealth. His proposal is under review by PEMA and other state agencies.

The Governor's Awards for Excellence recognize individuals and groups of state employees for exemplary job performance or service that reflects initiative, leadership, innovation and increased efficiency. Then and Dixon are among 50 employees from 12 agencies being honored by Governor Wolf for exceptional accomplishments in 2021.

More information about the Governor's Awards for Excellence is available online.

MEDIA CONTACT: L. Paul Vezzetti - [email protected]

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