Jackie Koci Tamayo is an emergency management expert with more than 20 years of combined civil service, public administration and emergency management experience. She is the Emergency Services Coordinator for the Superior Court of California for the County of Alameda. In her current leadership role, Jackie works closely with local, state and federal agencies, and oversees the planning, training, response, coordination, and development of the Emergency Services Unit for all ten courthouses in the County of Alameda. Alongside the presiding judge and executive leadership, Jackie develops public safety and emergency management policy for the courts.
Prior to her Bay Area arrival, Jackie worked for more than 20 years with the City of Los Angeles, both for the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) and the Emergency Management Department (EMD). In her tenure with the City of Los Angeles, Jackie was instrumental in creating the Department’s Citywide Training Task Force, coordinated and executed high profile events, and was one of the pioneers in creating, developing, training, and executing the department’s Emergency Management Division, which led the City’s Mass Care response.
While at the city’s Emergency Management Department, Jackie was appointed liaison for LAPD & LAFD Operations West Bureau. She led and coordinated neighborhood disaster preparedness, trained and exercised senior leadership, their staff, and Emergency Operation Center (EOC) responders and was the designated emergency management coordinator for the private/public sector through the Business Operations Center. During her time in Los Angeles, she responded to high level EOC activations, which included many historical wildfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, various civil unrest, POTUS and other planned events.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in history and politics from Woodbury University and a Master’s in leadership and management from the University of La Verne, as well as various other graduate-level certifications in the fields of leadership, public safety, emergency management and homeland security from acclaimed academic institutions such as University of Southern California, University of California at Los Angeles, and Harvard University.
Jackie serves on the board for California Emergency Services Association – Coastal Chapter, is a board director for the International Association of Emergency Managers Region 9 and is the Director of Advocacy for Women in Homeland Security of Southern California. As a former board member for the Emergency Network of Los Angeles, she shared her talents and insight to strengthen the LA based VOAD ability to plan, respond, and recover from potential disasters.
Jackie has received awards and recognition, including the Outstanding Emergency Services Award from the City of Los Angeles and the 2021 Women in Homeland Security of Southern California Ripple Effect Award.
