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Communication is Vital Upon graduation from high school, Ashwood attended the University


of Oklahoma (OU) as a journalism major. He later transferred to the University of Central Oklahoma, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. During his college years, Ashwood met his other half, Cindy Ferrell. Ironically, they had a mutual friend at OU and were once set up on a blind date—which never happened. They eventually met during that friend’s wedding. The couple married in 1984, and now have two children, Donald (26) and Rachel (21). Cindy’s parents lived in Chandler, Okla., and owned the Lincoln County News. Upon earning his college degree, Ashwood moved his new family to Chandler to work for his in-laws.


“It was a small weekly, and I wore a lot of hats,” Ashwood says. “I worked on reporting, advertising, typography and covered local news.” His journalistic career lasted until his in-laws received a good offer to sell the newspaper. In 1988, he landed a job as public information officer (PIO) for the Oklahoma Civil Defense Agency. He did not realize it at the time, but the young professional was about to find his niche. From PIO he was promoted to operations officer, recovery manager, deputy director and eventually became the Oklahoma Emergency Management director in 1997. Through the years, Ashwood witnessed several changes, including a mission change for the Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management (OEM). “When I started in 1988, we had a civil defense mission. We spent most of our time creating plans for a possible nuclear attack,” Ashwood says. “Today, our mission has changed 180 degrees. It’s more service oriented. Before, when a disaster took place we waited for folks to call us. Today, we cannot get there quick enough.” Ashwood says emergency response efforts after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Andrew in 1992, combined with strong leadership from then-director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), James Lee Witt, brought a transformed and renewed mission to OEM. Through the changes and disasters he has witnessed, Ashwood believes


his background in communications has helped him succeed. “Some people have asked me what is the best degree to get when you’re in this position. I believe a communications degree is the best. Communications is key to everything,” Ashwood says. “If you can’t talk to people or can’t communicate, you can’t do your job well. Words matter and words impact people.”


Life Marker During his tenure as director, Ashwood has assisted in the recovery of 45 presidentially declared events. His career, however, was greatly marked by the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City. There are several reasons why Ashwood separates his career as “before and after April 19, 1995.” On the day of the bombing, Ashwood was in the OEM office, at that time serving as recovery manager. He remembers watching the smoke and debris coming from the building on TV. He was at the scene 20 minutes after the explosion. “It was a surreal day. I had never seen as much chaos as that day. There were so many injured and needing assistance and not enough emergency responders to help everyone. There were people going to the hospital in personal vehicles and others walking,” Ashwood recalls. Upon arriving at the scene, Ashwood thought a gas explosion had taken place, but firefighters and rescue workers quickly recognized it was a man-made explosion.


In his role, Ashwood’s priority was to ensure the state was providing needed resources to local first responders. In 1995, wireless cell phone service was not a primary means of communications; most cell phones were called “bag phones,” typically powered by a vehicle’s power system


Ashwood at a press conference about wildfires in 2006. Photo courtesy of OEM


Ashwood speaks to the press after an ice storm in 2007. Photo courtesy of OEM


Ashwood speaks to former Gov. Brad Henry and emergency responders after the Lone Grove tornado in 2009. Photo courtesy of OEM


JUNE 2015


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