Dr. David M. Park, Ph.D

President and CEO

Family Solutions LLC
 

Dr. David M. Park distinguished himself as a military officer and chaplain, having served as Command Chaplain for North American Aerospace Command (NORAD), United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) and Chief of Manpower, Budget, Readiness and Reserve Affairs for the United States Air Force Chaplain Service. In August 2005, Dr. Park retired from military service in the rank of Colonel. Dr. Park is a nationally recognized subject matter expert in Family Assistance Center planning, training and operations. In addition, he is an acclaimed speaker who has briefed at numerous DoD conferences.

Dr. Park was awarded the BA degree from Baylor University, MDiv. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also is a graduate of the United States Air Force Air Command and Staff College and Air War College.

Throughout his career, Dr. Park served on the leading edge of critical incident response to natural and man-made disasters. Beginning with the explosion of Mount Saint Helens, Dr. Park was decorated for his initiative in supporting recovery operations at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, which was effectively shut down by the disaster. Dr. Park also responded to aircraft accidents in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Korea and was among the first responders at Rhein Main AB, Germany, to the 241 victims of the Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.

More recently Dr. Park was recognized by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for his part in recovery operations following the attack on the Pentagon, 11 September 2001, where he rescued survivors from the Pentagon and assisted in establishing a temporary morgue and the Pentagon Family Assistance Center.

With the crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia, Dr. Park coordinated the Joint Chaplain response, ensuring that the astronauts were properly honored and that the remains of Colonel Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut, were returned to Israeli delegates following diplomatic and religious protocols.

As the Command Chaplain of NORAD-USNORTHCOM, Dr. Park developed the Command's Emergency Family Assistance Center (EFAC) Plan and the EFAC Concept of Operations for the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Military Departments. Dr. Park has participated in numerous Top-Off and USNORTHCOM exercises. After retiring from the Air Force, Dr. Park was called back to active duty on 3 September, 2005, to deploy to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in support of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Mental Health's effort to establish a Family Assistance Center.

In December, 2005, Dr. Park returned to Baton Rouge to prepare an assessment of the Family Assistance Center (FAC) operation for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Subsequently, from February to July 2006, he served as Director of the Louisiana FAC under the auspices of HHS and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LA-DHH). As Director of the Louisiana FAC, Dr. Park organized the Center following National Incident Management System (NIMS) guidelines, effectively providing oversight of 125 personnel, who represented multiple federal and state agencies. Through the collective efforts of the Louisiana FAC staff, 10,750 persons or 98.7% of reported missing persons were located and 887 storm victims or 97.5% of the fatalities were identified and reunited with surviving family members.