PACE expands risk management team

Keeping students and staff safe is central to PACE’s mission. Despite our best efforts, challenges arise daily for Oregon’s school districts, education service districts and community colleges. PACE is here to help by providing risk management resources, including a team of experts to provide customized help and services. In that vein, PACE would like to introduce two new staff on the Risk Management team: Brad Eastman and Meghan Howk.

Brad Eastman is no stranger to managing risk.

As a charter captain on the Great Lakes for 11 years, Eastman says, he dealt with risk mitigation and client safety daily. His experience as a teacher for more than 20 years has also provided him with insight into the risks staff and educators face in school buildings. “As a teacher, you always have to be on your A game,” he said.

Eastman most recently taught middle school math at the Silver Falls School District east of Salem. He wants to offer a bridge between what a teacher does, thinks and expects with the requirements administrators need to enforce. It is about doing the best thing for students, Eastman says.

Eastman is focused on learning the intricacies of the law and meeting with members in person. He is excited to be back in schools in a new capacity, as a PACE risk management consultant. In this role, he will be on the road providing staff trainings on student supervision, playground safety, building inspections and more.

To contact Brad Eastman, email [email protected].

Meghan Howk is joining the PACE team as a risk management consultant, focused on community college members. Howk is experienced as a health care risk manager and certified health education specialist. She has served on various safety, emergency preparedness and risk management committees and has conducted tabletop drills.

She is passionate about finding efficient ways to use risk management for quality improvement and process engineering. She thinks she can use her skills to help members get back to the basics by providing the tools and resources they need to manage risks specific to community colleges.

Howk says she is most excited about the opportunity to build relationships with community college members. “I see my role as developing a collaborative partnership,” Howk said. “I want to learn about community college needs and then see how we can meet those needs.” She is looking forward to meeting contacts from each college and says she wants members to feel comfortable talking with her.

In the weeks to come, Howk will schedule meet-and-greet visits with members.

To contact Meghan Howk, email [email protected].

Howk will also work closely with McKenzie Nix, PACE sexual abuse and molestation prevention specialist, to bring training and resources to community colleges.