Ron Edmond
Crisis Communication Subject Matter Expert
Years of Experience in
Crisis Communication
Agencies Partnered With
Year Joined SummitET
Why I work at SummitET
SummitET provides an opportunity to share knowledge, gain new skills, insights, and perspectives, and work with some of the best people in the business.
The best advice I’ve ever received
Work hard, play hard, and be yourself.
Three things you may not know about me
I am the Past-President of the Education Foundation for Clinton City and Anderson County Schools.
I serve as liaison to the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation as the chairperson of my high school graduating class scholarship program targeting at-risk students.
I mentor high school and college students.
Education
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
Ed.D., Executive Leadership
LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY
Ed.S., Educational Leadership
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
M.Ed., Human Resource Development
EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
B.S., Mass Communication and Speech
Affiliations
- Secretary, East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Alumni Association, Knox County, TN
- ETSU Roan Scholars Interview Committee
- Volunteer Consultant, Homeland Defense & Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) Crisis Communication SME
- Sigma Nu Fraternity Alumni Advisory Council
Contributions
About Ron
Dr. Ron Edmond serves as the Crisis Communication Subject Matter expert, Media Coordinator, and Public Information Officer for SummitET. Additionally, he serves as a faculty member for the internationally renowned Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) where he lectures on crisis communication during a radiological event.
Formerly, Ron was the Acting Technical Director with Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ (ORAU) Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education National Security Program (ORISE-NSP). For more than 25 years, he supported crisis and risk communication efforts for Departments of Energy (DOE), Homeland Security (DHS), Health and Human Services (DHHS), Defense (DOD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He designed and taught the first-ever environmental communication training for DOD.
Ron was a featured speaker for organizations such as The World Nuclear University Alumni Summit, University of Tennessee-Howard Baker Public Policy Center’s Institute for Nuclear Security, Department of Energy’s National Stakeholders Transportation Forum, the commercial nuclear industry, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agencies, and local, state, and tribal authorities. He also taught crisis communication at Lee University.
Ron managed the research, development, testing, training, and implementation of first responder software applications for DHS, DOE, and Veteran Healthcare Administration (VHA). He designed, developed, and conducted nationwide training courses on crisis risk communication issues, transportation of radioactive waste materials, emergency preparedness training for schools/educators, and health-related disease and illness.
Ron works to strengthen organizations’ crisis communication planning and emergency preparedness efforts for communicable, preventable, and occupational illnesses and diseases, technological hazard events such as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear mishaps. He specializes in low-trust, high-concern communication issues encountered in occupational health, transportation of radioactive waste, chemical weapons, influenza pandemic, and environmental issues. He also employs his communication skills to train and facilitate meetings, workshops, and roundtables.
Ron is the former president of the Clinton City and Anderson County Education Foundation and served on the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.