SSA Board of Directors, Committees

Officers of the Board

Ruth Harris, President
Heather DeShon, President-Elect
Peggy Hellweg, Past President
Kris Pankow, Secretary
Jacob Walter, Treasurer

Board of Directors

Annemarie Baltay (2026)
Susan Bilek (2026)
Ashly Cabas (2025)
Roby Douilly (2025)
Karen Fischer (2024)
Victor Huerfano (2026)
Diego Melgar (2025)
Zhigang Peng (2024)
Xyoli Pérez-Campos (2024)
Carl Tape (2024)
Aaron Velasco (2026)

Executive Committee
Ruth Harris, President
Heather DeShon, President-Elect
Kris Pankow, Secretary
Peggy Hellweg, Past-President

All Committees (click the name to view description):

Contact Executive Director Nan Broadbent with any questions.


Audit Committee
Susan Bilek, Chair
Roby Douilly
Xyoli Pérez-Campos
Jacob Walter (ex officio)

  • Purpose: The Audit Committee reviews the external auditor’s report.
  • Deliverables: The report of the Audit Committee will be presented to the Board for approval no later than the deadline for publication of audited statements in the September issue of SRL.
  • Committee Membership:  The committee shall consist of three sitting Board members.

Budget Committee
Jacob Walter
Kris Pankow

  • Purpose: The Budget Committee reviews the budget prepared by the staff and authorizes that it may be forwarded to the full Board for approval.
  • Deliverables: The committee will deliver the authorized budget to the Board for approval.
  • Committee Membership: Treasurer and Secretary of the Board of Directors.

Community Grants Program (2022-2024)
Karen Fischer, Chair
Victor Huerfano
Kris Pankow
Carl Tape

  • Purpose: The committee reviews and approves grants, based on available funding, submitted to the Community Grants Program.
  • Deliverables: The committee awards the Community Grants.
  • Committee Membership: The committee shall consist of four board members: Chair (elected Board member) (two-year term, subject to renewal), two elected board members (two-year terms, subject to renewal) and the Secretary, who represents the Executive Committee.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
Kate Scharer, Chair
Richard Alfaro
Jeff Bayless
Sue Bilek
Heather DeShon
Kevin Kwong
Lisa Grant Ludwig
Meghan Miller
Gabriela Noriega
Leah M. Salditch
Aaron Velasco

  • Purpose: The DEI Committee’s charge has four components:
    1. Recommend to the Board actions and initiatives that will improve DEI throughout SSA;
    2. Support the Board’s implementation of the principles and initiatives that foster DEI in all SSA activities;
    3. Document and report to the Board on an annual basis the DEI initiatives implemented within SSA and their outcomes; and
    4. Liaise with DEI groups in other geoscience societies to develop and share resources that improve the participation of under-represented groups in SSA and in geoscience more generally.
  • Deliverables: The committee will provide annual updates to the Board on DEI initiatives and their outcomes. It will also develop and share resources to increase participation of under-represented groups.
  • Committee Membership: Committee members shall be appointed for a term of up to three years by the President in consultation with the Executive Committee. All members of the committee shall be active members of SSA, and no member shall serve more than two consecutive three-year terms. The chair of the committee, at the time of appointment to this role, shall be a member of the Board other than an Officer.The DEI Committee shall have the following membership:
    • Early-career representative
    • Representative of SSA’s social science research community
    • Representative of minority-serving institutions
    • Industry representative
    • Representative based outside the United States
    • Chair of annual Nominations Committee (ex officio)
    • Government Relations Committee representative (ex officio)
    • Meetings Committee representative (ex officio)
    • Publications Committee representative (ex officio)
    • Honors Committee representative (ex officio)

Ethics Committee
Rick Aster, Chair
Maureen Long
Jessica Murray
German Prieto
Leah Salditch


Executive Committee
Ruth Harris, President
Heather DeShon, President-Elect
Kris Pankow, Secretary
Peggy Hellweg, Past-President

  • Purpose: The Executive Committee shall act in place and stead of the Board between Board meetings, as defined in the Bylaws.
  • Deliverables: The Executive Committee will report its actions to the Board at least as often as the annual Board meetings. The Secretary shall include the actions of the Executive Committee for the year in the written Secretary’s Report.
  • Committee Membership: The Executive Committee, as set forth in section 7.02 of the Bylaws, shall consist of the President, Vice President (referred to as President-Elect), Past-President and Secretary.

Government Relations Committee
Lisa Grant Ludwig, Chair
John Anderson
Rick Aster
Peggy Hellweg
Keith Knudsen
Bill Leith
Heather DeShon
William R. Walter
Deborah Weiser
Mike West
Ruth Harris (ex officio)

  • Purpose: The Committee on Government Relations (GRC) is charged with encouraging government support for research in seismology and related disciplines and promoting public safety. It works to enhance the use of science in public policy and in its implementation.
  • Deliverables: The committee will increase the involvement of members in public policy activities and provide relevant scientific information to decision makers, their staff, and members of the public.
  • Committee Membership: No specific requirements.

Honors Committee (2023-24)
Heather DeShon, Chair, 2022-2024
Meghan Miller
Jeanne Hardebeck
David Shelly
Brian Stump
Bill Walter

  • Purpose: The Honors Committee (HC) oversees and encourages the activities of all honors-related subcommittees: the Reid Medal, the Richter Award, the Press Award, the Award for Distinguished Service to SSA and the SSA Awards Encouragement Committee. The committee also designates members of the Society as SSA representatives to awards conducted jointly with other organizations: the COSMOS/EERI/SSA Bolt Medal and the EERI/SSA Joyner Lectureship.
  • Deliverables: The committee will designate members of the Society as SSA representatives to awards conducted jointly with the COSMOS/EERI/SSA Bolt Medal and the EERI/SSA Joyner Lectureship.
  • Committee Membership: The Honors Committee is chaired by a member of the Board of Directors and a representative of each subcommittee and may include the past chair of the Honors Committee. The terms of service are generally two years and are subject to renewal based on mutual agreement.
    • The Harry Fielding Reid Medal Subcommittee
      Jeanne Hardebeck (chair)
      Diane Doser
      William Ellsworth
      Samantha Hansen
      Fan-Chi Lin
      Morgan Moschetti
    • Charles F. Richter Early Career Award Subcommittee
      David Shelly (chair)
      Xiaowei Chen
      Colleen Dalton
      Marine Denolle
      Thomas Lecocq
      Huajian Yao
    • The Frank Press Public Service Award Subcommittee
      Christine Powell (Chair)
      Tim Aherne
      Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade
      Qingkai Kong
      Brian Stump
    • SSA Awards Encouragement Committee
      Bill Walter (Chair)
      Joan Gomberg
      Albert Kottke
      Marco Pilz
      Esteban Chaves
      Tina Dura
    • Bolt Medal Selection Committee
      Lori Dengler (SSA)
      Hamid Haddadi (Chair) (COSMOS)
      Ting Lin (EERI)
      Albert Kottke (EERI)
      Alberto Michelini (SSA)
      Carlos Ventura (COSMOS)
    • Joyner Committee
      Domniki Asimaki (Chair – EERI)
      Robert Graves (SSA)
      Silvia Mazzoni (EERI)
      Jonathan Stewart (EERI)
      Ricardo Taborda (SSA)
      David Wald (SSA)

Investment Committee
Peter Shearer, Chair
Doug Dreger
Jim Mori
Bill Walter
Mitch Withers
Jacob Walter (ex officio)

  • Purpose:The Investment Committee oversees the investment strategy of the Society’s reserves and related long-term investments, including the general reserves, quasi-endowment and restricted funds.
  • Deliverables:The chair will provide annual updates to the Board of Directors or when major changes to the investment strategy are undertaken.
  • Committee Membership: The committee will include five to seven members, with up to two current Board members. The chair is not required to be a Board member. The committee member term will be three years, subject to renewal upon mutual agreement.

Management Committee
Kris Pankow
Xyoli Pérez-Campos
Jacob Walter

  • Purpose: The Management Committee oversees the contract with the Executive Director on behalf of the Board.
  • Deliverables: No deliverables specified.
  • Committee Membership: The committee consists of the Secretary, Treasurer and an elected Director.

Meetings Committee
Zhigang Peng, Chair
Annemarie Baltay
Susan Bilek
Esteban J. Chavez
Yajing Liu
Leah Salditch
Max Schneider
Peter Shearer
Elizabeth Vanacore

  • Purpose: The Meetings Committee ensures the continuity and vision of the Society’s scientific meetings.
  • Deliverables: The committee will provide guidance to the Annual Meeting co-organizers on the proposed scientific content and support the recruitment of session proposals and abstracts; Develop proposals for the Fall meeting program and make recommendations to the Board of Directors; and Provide guidance, as needed, on all other meetings of the Society of a scientific nature.
  • Committee Membership: The committee consists of at least three and no more than nine members who will serve three-year terms that may be renewed by mutual consent. No more than three Board members shall serve concurrently on the Committee, and its membership shall reflect the diversity of the Society.

Publications Committee
John Townend, Chair
Ashly Cabas
Xyoli Pérez-Campos
Heather DeShon
Doug Dreger
Jessica Murray

  • Purpose: The Publications Committee provides general supervision over the scientific publications of the Society and develops Society-wide publications policies, seeking Board input and approval as appropriate. The Publications Committee chair is responsible for adjudicating any conflicts of interest, ethical misconduct and complaints from authors that cannot be resolved by the journals’ respective editors-in-chief. The editors-in-chief are accountable to the Chair, who is responsible for overseeing the recruitment of editors-in-chief, when necessary. The Chair works with the Executive Director who directs the Society’s publishing operation.
  • Deliverables: Each year the chair of the Publications Committee shall submit periodic written and oral reports to the Board of Directors.
  • Committee Membership: The Publications Committee consists of four-to-six members. Each member will serve a term of three years, which may be renewed upon mutual agreement, with the exception of the chair, whose term will be five years, subject to extension upon mutual agreement. The committee membership will include at least two board members at the time of their appointment, and may include non-board members who have strong, relevant experience in publishing. The committee will always include at least one sitting board member.