next to gary is russell strickland, secretary of the maryland department of emergency management and president of the national emergency management association. mr. stricklin holds degrees from the university of maryland and has held emergency response positions in county and state government and serves on the governor's executive council -- he has served in three different presidential administrations. he was lead for a rebuilding task force, so let me welcome our panelists today. if i could start with you, you brought together over the past three days -- what are your priorities were 2024 and what are you looking to accomplish? >> thank you for the question. we just had our 50th anniversary . over 51 of our members --and the district of columbia. we are focusing in three main areas, and the first is a recovery. what happens with the survivors, and with that it is a full court press of how can we exploit that such that the public is well aware of it, and our second and third where is our workforce development and use of technology. what is it we can do individually within our state