AAUW Corpus Christi Branch held a meeting on Saturday, February 5, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. on Zoom.  After a welcome by President Shirley Selz to members and guests from the Del Mar College AAUW student organization, Dr. Mary Sherwood introduced our speaker, Danielle Hale, Manager for the Emergency Management program at the Port of Corpus Christi.

Danielle shared her story about how she arrived at her current management position in a field that is dominated by men.  It was an inspiring story that reinforces the awareness that a career path is not always a linear journey, but can evolve from unexpected, serendipitous, twists and turns.

When Danielle was a junior in college, she had to withdraw and return home due to a family illness.  During the time she was helping her family, she worked at typical service sector jobs, but she had no idea what direction to take her life.  An acquaintance offered her a job as a 911 dispatcher, and that was the beginning of her career in the high-stress field of “First Responders.”  From the dispatch operator job, she became a paramedic and also took firefighter training courses to become a volunteer firefighter.  She was good at learning new skills and was able to become the trainer for others, and she moved into management positions with a Governor’s division of Emergency Management for the South Texas region and then to a position for Nueces County.  Several years ago, with the support of her employer, she returned to the classroom, first at Del Mar College, and then on to Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi where she completed her bachelor’s degree.  Danielle has been very successful in her chosen career field, while also being married and the proud mother of three children.

Danielle joined the Port of Corpus Christi as the manager of Emergency Management about five and a half years ago.  When she joined the Port, the Emergency Management program was new, without staffing, facilities, or equipment, and she built the program from the ground up.  Her first significant event in the position was Hurricane Harvey, and she was awarded NOAA’s highest public distinction for leading the first activation of the Port’s incident management team during that disaster.

Danielle provided more information about the Port of Corpus Christi, which is an independent political subdivision of the State of Texas.  The Port is the third largest in total U.S. waterway tonnage – in other words, the liquid cargo hauled through the Port is much heavier than typical cargo containers on most vessels.  This is an important measure, since greater weight determines the need for a deeper port.

The Port oversees about 36 miles of channel waterway, and Danielle’s team performs 24-hour watch on all these waterways.  The Port’s “community” extends from Corpus Christi to Port Aransas, and the Port’s emergency management team must coordinate with 13 different independent city and county agencies that have their own emergency operational plans.

Danielle was also instrumental in implementing the area-wide emergency management training that has been offered at the Borchard Regional Fairgrounds for the past decade.  This annual training program was originally conceived for about 100 people, but quickly grew to over 1,000 participants!

One AAUW member asked how the Port has responded to COVID issues.  Danielle talked about the COVID testing done on board the vessels and about the 32 area vaccination clinics her team has helped staff.  She also mentioned that her team is able to move quickly to an off-site location in San Antonio to continue services without interruption for any emergency situation.

President Shirley Selz thanked Danielle Hale for her inspirational presentation.  The Del Mar College advisors also mentioned that they would enjoy having Danielle come to campus to speak to their students.