Mr. Kerns is a Contractor Emergency Management Specialist, working for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Consolidated Service Center (CSC) Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He has been part of the DOE CSC-Oak Ridge Emergency Management team since May of 2021. Mr. Kerns has over 35 years of experience with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) in the areas of aviation, Continuity of Operations/Government (COOP/COG), training & exercises, homeland security/homeland defense and emergency management. Mr. Kerns has a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, a master’s degree in Management and master’s certificate in Homeland Security/Defense.

Mr. Kerns was part of an Aviation Training Team (ATT) that prepared the flight deck of the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis for combat operations for a Third Fleet Aviation Maintenance Inspection (AMI) for "Enduring Freedom Operations", As a Tactics Officer, prepared over 100 squadron personnel in an initial Strategic Nuclear Surety Certification process, participated in COOP/COG activities at USSTRATCOM, NORAD and USNORTHCOM Combatant Commands, and was a DOD lead for major work groups participating in Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Exercise Program (some partnered exercises include: NEP/Capstone 14/Alaska Shield 14, ARDENT SENTRY 15, Cascadia Rising 2016, GOTHAM SHIELD 17, NLE 18, and Shaken Fury 19).