Ms. Tulis assumed the duties of the Director, Incident Management and Preparedness Policy (CG-5RI) in January 2016. She is responsible for establishing, developing, and implementing policies, strategies, and goals to meet Coast Guard’s Incident Response Mission. She provides strategic programmatic oversight for the Offices of Search and Rescue, Contingency Preparedness and Exercise, Marine Environmental Response, and the National Response Center.
Prior to this position, Ms. Tulis served as both the Deputy Office Director and Acting Office Director for the Office of Emergency Management for the Environmental Protection Agency. She served in these SES positions from 2004 to 2016. She managed a $250 million budget and 75 staff, chaired the 15-Agency National Response Team and provided direction to the Regional Response Teams and the Agency’s National Incident Coordination Team for preparedness and response for large scale national emergencies. She provided leadership to EPA’s preparedness and response programs for chemical, biological, and radiological and nuclear agents including the management of mobile analytical assets. She also provided strategic direction to the Agency’s chemical and oil regulatory prevention programs. During the Deepwater Horizon Response, Ms. Tulis served as the Agency’s National Incident Coordinator; overseeing the Agency’s Emergency Operations Center and coordinating with USCG, NOAA, and EPA leadership. She provided Agency guidance to responses such as Superstorm Sandy, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Joplin Tornado, Yellowstone River Oil Spill, Midwest Flooding as well as day-to-day Emergency Responses and Removals.
Prior to OEM, Ms. Tulis served as the Center Director, Analytical Operations/Data Quality Center for EPA’s Office of Emergency and Remedial Response. In this role, she directly supported the World Trade Center response and ensured the sampling and interpretation of over 235,000 laboratory analyses and supported the risk assessment and cleanup efforts. Ms. Tulis’ prior positions at EPA included serving as the Director of the Implementation Division and Chief of the Operations Branch in the Office of Underground Storage Tanks.
Ms. Tulis is a native New Yorker, possesses bachelor degrees in Biology and Psychology from Colby College and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering from Duke University.
Ms. Tulis has received Special Commemorative Awards for the National Anthrax Cleanup, the World Trade Center response and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; five EPA Agency Awards including the Science Award for Bacillus Anthracis and seven EPA Bronze Medals.