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M. Lewis (Lew) Fincher – Bio
Lew started his career with DuPont
in May of 1972, with assignments in many departments including
Operations, Control, and later Mechanical before finally
specializing a majority of his work in the field of severe weather
preparedness, specializing in hurricane preparedness response and
mitigation for all coastal sites located in the Atlantic Basin which
includes business assets in the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and the
Gulf of Mexico.
Lew got his start in the field of
hurricane preparedness in 1984 after 1983’s Hurricane Alicia caught
the DuPont LaPorte site along with much of the Greater Houston
Area’s Petro-Chemical Complexes unprepared for the quick
intensification of a category three impact. The following year Lew
took part in forming a committee that studied how the local site
could become better prepared for future events such as Alicia. One
of the results was a safety program that not only brought an
improved response and mitigation program for the business assets,
but also an off-the-job program for employees to help them prepare
their family and home. This program became so successful that Lew
was asked to meet with the Gulf Coast Leadership Team, composed of
all DuPont Site Managers, where he presented the idea of modeling
his program throughout the Gulf Coast and forming the DuPont
Hurricane Roundtable and its DuPont Coastal Severe Weather Alert
Team (DC-SWAT). Two years later, this program spread to all coastal
assets in the Atlantic Basin and including the Mexican business
sites on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and for a time off &
on-shore sites of the former subsidiary, Conoco.
As the Chairperson of both the
Roundtable and its Team, Lew would annually prepare the safety
program that was the model for all coastal sites in the Atlantic
Basin, be available to assist in pre-season audits, reviewing
procedures, plans and produce a hurricane safety video. This safety
program annually could reach over 100,000 people. During threats,
Lew would be directly in contact with that threatened site manager
and his staff for consulting on best practice and update that site
on the latest information on the storm using his wide reaching
contacts in the field of tropical meteorology and extreme wind
engineering. After each threat, he would review debriefing notes
from all sites threatened along with input from other contacts in
the industry and prepare the key learning’s for the following
season’s Roundtable and Safety Program. When Lew retired after more
than 30 years from DuPont, his very successful Roundtable and its
DC-SWAT had saved DuPont over $300,000,000.00, (three hundred million dollars) in
preventing lost production.
Upon retirement from DuPont, he and
his wife formed
Hurricane Consulting, Inc.
which brings decades of hands on experience assisting organizations in
developing hurricane preparedness, response, and mitigation programs
which are effective, yet simple to execute.
Hurricane Consulting, Inc.
audits existing, or can assist in developing plans to facilitate
clients in improving knowledge necessary to ensure successful and
safe response to hurricane threats.
Hurricane Consulting, Inc.
offers seminars on hurricane preparedness, which can be arranged at
your convenience, at your location. It is well respected by the
Media and service organizations, and used as consultants on numerous
hurricane subjects, including hurricane history.
30 Years of Service
With DuPont
•
Founder and Former
Chairperson – The DuPont Hurricane Roundtable & it’s Coastal Severe
Weather Alert Team
•
Past President – The
Houston Chapter of the American Meteorological Society
•
Chairperson – The
National Hurricane Conference’s Private Industry Committee
•
Awarded the National Hurricane Conference's
“Outstanding Achievement Award”
•
Awarded the National Weather Service's
Southern Region “Special Service Award”
•
Awarded the DuPont
“Safety Gold Cross”
•
Awarded the DuPont
AG-Products Chem Safety-Health-Environmental (SHE) Excellence Award
•
Member – The
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Lew Fincher
Vice President
– Hurricane Consulting, Inc.
P.O. Box 1426,
Friendswood, TX 77546
281-996-1098
Ph. /Fax
lew@hurricaneconsulting.net
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