A survivor of the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm and long time emergency preparedness advocate, Susan Piper has close to 45 years of experience in public relations, marketing communications, and community organizing, most recently as Communications Manager for the Mayor of Oakland. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and earned a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Now retired, she has been an ardent proponent of emergency preparedness and wildfire prevention. She is the former  Chair of the Oakland Firesafe Council.