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Instructor Biographies


NDPTC's cadre of instructors are of the highest caliber, very well-respected in their fields and disciplines. Many have advanced degrees in science, engineering, planning, and architecture, and years of practical experience as leaders within their field of expertise.

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Photo of Glancy, Robert

Robert Glancy

Robert Glancy was born in the territory of Hawaii, moved a lot growing up in a Navy family, and completed high school in Annapolis, Maryland. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Rhode Island and a Master’s degree in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Wyoming. In early 2017, he retired from NOAA/ National Weather Service with nearly 36 years of experience, having worked as a Satellite meteorologist in Kansas City, forecaster in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Meteorologist in Charge of a Weather Service Office in Providence, Rhode Island, lead forecaster in Denver, Colorado and 22 years as Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) in Denver/ Boulder, Colorado. The WCM position is the primary outreach position at the National Weather Service and he conducted a lot of spotter training, dispatcher training, safety training, and weather awareness training across northeast Colorado. Working as a NDTPC instructor allows him to continue to spread the weather safety message.

Photo of Gloninger, Christopher

Christopher Gloninger

Chris Gloninger is the Chief Meteorologist at KCCI-TV in Des Moines. Prior to that he was a meteorologist at NBC 10 Boston and necn. He received his bachelor's degree in Meteorology at Plymouth State University and most recently his master's degree in Emergency Management from Millersville University. Chris received his Certified Broadcast Meteorologist accreditation from the American Meteorological Society. Recently Chris presented a paper, “How to Improve Communication During Times of Severe Weather,” at the AMS annual meeting in New Orleans. Chris is interested in improving communication between first responders, the National Weather Service and television meteorologists in order to better protect the public. Researching his paper, Chris worked extensively with the Wisconsin fire departments. Previously, Chris worked at WISN in Milwaukee, where he won an Emmy for his winter storm coverage and several Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Awards - one, which also received an Emmy nomination, covered the icebreaker Mackinaw on an 18-hour operation in the Straits of Mackinaw to free a freighter carrying road salt to replenish Milwaukee’s critically depleted supply. He was also sent to cover two EF4 tornados, which hit Washington, Illinois and Rochelle, Illinois. While at WISN, Chris met his wife, Cathy, and was married in Milwaukee just before coming to necn. They live in Norwood. Chris began his career at WHEC in Rochester, New York, where he salso taught Intro to Meteorology at Monroe Community College. Next stop was WTEN in Albany, New York. At WNEM in Saginaw, MI, Chris received an Emmy nomination for his coverage of the 2010 Michigan floods. He was nominated for another EMMY at WRGB in Albany, New York for the weather special, “Irene - One Year Later,” which covered the progress made after the historic flooding in the Schoharie Valley. At that time, Chris used his days off to help the people of Schoharie clean up. During his time at WRGB, Chris covered the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Queens and Staten Island, and broadcast live as the Rockaways were burning.

Photo of Goldhammer, Robert

Robert Goldhammer

Mr. Goldhammer’s career in emergency operations began in 1969 when he became a volunteer member of the Ithaca, NY Fire Department while attending Cornell University to work on his degree in Meteorology. In 1974, he went to work for Hillsborough County Emergency Medical Services (EMS). He worked with the department in many capacities until his retirement as Assistant Chief of Operations in March 1997.

In November 1994, Bob received his certification as an emergency manager (CEM) from the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Bob received his BS degree in Business Management from the University of South Florida in 1995.

In March 1997, Bob moved to Des Moines, IA to become the emergency management coordinator for Polk County, IA. In July 1999, Bob received his Certified Business Continuity Professional certification from the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII). In July 2002, Bob received his Masters in Teachers in Geosciences from Mississippi State University.

Mr. Goldhammer left his position with Polk County in March 2003 to pursue a variety of opportunities related to emergency preparedness. He is currently a member of the instructor cadre for the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center.

Bob served as an IAEM regional president for approximately 10 years. He currently represents the organization on the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Ready Nation program. He is currently a member of the FEMA National Reservist Program; his primary duties are with the Hurricane Liaison Team. He was the co-chair of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Emergency Management Committee from its inception to January 2017.

Bob and his wife Nancy live in Des Moines, IA.

Photo of Gowan, Monica

Monica Gowan

Dr. Monica Gowan is a geologist (MS) and health scientist (PhD), and a subject matter expert in natural hazards, climate change impacts, and disaster resilience. She enjoys sharing her experience from flood, landslide, wildfire, and earthquake disasters in the US and New Zealand, and has trained hundreds of students and professionals in hazard assessment, preparedness planning, disaster risk reduction, and resilience. Monica has participated in full-scale operational and tabletop earthquake exercises, tsunami evacuation planning focus groups, volcanic mudflow warning and communications experiments, pandemic planning, and complex medical emergency simulations. She has served with the Cascadia Virtual Operations Support Team (VOST) and is a member of the Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps. Monica has local government experience at Olmsted County, Minnesota, assessing environmental health needs and managing environmental resources projects. She has consulted in the US Pacific Northwest, conducting hazard mitigation planning for federal, state, and local agencies and natural resource and property development. She has been a Faculty Lecturer in Geology and expert witness in natural hazards litigation before Washington Superior Courts. She also coordinated and conducted clinical and epidemiologic research at Mayo Clinic, examining the role of quality of life in resilience to adversity. Monica is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, a former elected Councilor, Geology & Health Division officer, and Geology & Public Policy Committee officer. She is a contributing author to eight public policy position statements and has participated in over 20 Congressional visits addressing natural hazards, climate change, infrastructure, and emergency management policy.

Photo of Guard, Charles

Charles Guard

Charles ‘Chip’ Guard is sole proprietor of a meteorological consulting company called Tropical Weather Sciences. Since his retirement from the National Weather Service in December 2019, he has been the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program Science Representative and Mapping and Modeling Subcommittee Member for the Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. As such, he has provided many tsunami studies and made many recommendations and evaluations of modeling initiatives for the jurisdictions. He has provided numerous tsunami presentations to a multitude of audiences, including presentations for the NDPTC. Chip is also a noted expert in the field of tropical weather and climate. He has written several peer reviewed journal articles and technical reports concerning tropical cyclones and the climate of the tropical Pacific. Prior to joining the National Weather Service, he spent seven years as a research associate at the University of Guam and 24 years in the Air Force as a meteorologist and a Commander. His final Air Force assignment was as the Director of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, while it was still located on Guam. Chip is married to the former Mary Lujan of Sinajana, Guam. They have two daughters that reside in Honolulu.

Photo of Guy, Mallory

Mallory Guy

Mallory Guy is currently a broadcast meteorologist for News 13 in Orlando in addition to being an instructor for the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center. In the past ten years, she has been able to forecast the weather for multiple climates. This includes snow, ice, heat waves, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes from the mountains of Tennessee to the coast of South Carolina and Florida. She most recently covered Hurricane Matthew, which battered the east coast of Florida before moving north and dumping several inches of rain over the Carolinas.

Mallory has a Bachelors of Science in Meteorology from North Carolina State University and is currently obtaining a Masters of Science in Emergency Management from Millersville University. She’s an active member of the American Meteorological Society and holds the Certification for Broadcast Meteorologists.

Follow her on Twitter: @MalloryNicholls