Judy is a Certified Emergency Manager who specializes in building antifragile communities and solving wicked problems in Southern Arizona. A Tucson native, she has worked in state and local government for more than ten years and was recently selected by the Southeastern Arizona Governments Organization (SEAGO) to lead its Community Development Program. Judy is also the Owner and Principal Consultant with Descansa Group LLC which helps clients build and sustain expertise and capability in emergency preparedness, grant management, community lifelines, planning, response, and recovery through mentorship, policy review, gap analysis, training, data analysis, project management, and issue triage. She is consistently recognized for strong crisis leadership, cultivating lasting strategic partnerships, and as an innovative strategist.

Judy is a graduate of Northern Arizona University and holds a Master’s degree in Homeland Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. She serves as the Coyote Crisis Collaborative’s Executive Board Vice Chair-Elect and is on the board of the Arizona Association of Emergency Managers (AzEM). She is a 2023 Flinn-Brown Fellow, a member of Arizona Women Leading Government, and an Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center Community Liaison.

In her free time, Judy enjoys traveling, learning to play the violin and banjo, volunteering as a chaplain and CISM practitioner for first responders, and singing with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus.