Public safety personnel across the National Capital Region often remark how January 2025 felt like the longest year ever. Within three weeks, they supported multiple National Special Security Events and a major snowstorm. Then, on the evening of January 29, the unthinkable happened: a commercial airliner and a U.S. Army helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport. That was the night of the Potomac River collision.
Hannah Winant (ELP 2302), then-Deputy Director for Arlington County’s Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management, was getting ready for bed when her phone rang—a familiar rhythm for anyone in emergency management.
“I immediately went into response mode,” she recalled. “I changed back into work clothes and said to myself, ‘Okay, this is what we’re doing now.’ It wasn’t my incident to lead, but I knew we would be part of the response and recovery effort.”
She worked through the night, guiding her team’s alert and warning coordination, as well as supporting staff she deployed to the airport. Before dawn, she reported to the scene to help synchronize efforts among local, regional, and federal partners. As she rushed through the airport hallways, she quickly noticed familiar faces and realized she was in the company of fellow CHDS alumni, including two of her ELP classmates.
“I found myself relying on the CHDS network,” she said. “We were informally sharing information, standing shoulder to shoulder with other alumni, working the response together. That shared trust made collaboration smoother and more open.”
Within hours, nearly every member of her Executive Leaders Program cohort reached out to check in. “That kind of support reminds you that you’re part of something bigger,” she said. “It’s what CHDS builds.”
“I found myself relying on the CHDS network. We were informally sharing information, standing shoulder to shoulder with other alumni, working the response together. That shared trust made collaboration smoother.”
– Hannah Winant, Assistant Director, DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, ELP2302
Winant acknowledged both the CHDS network and her education at CHDS which prepared her for her fast-acting response. The conversations in the classroom and cultivation of “thought leadership” shaped her ability to pivot quickly and collaborate across jurisdictions.
“CHDS took a chance on me,” Winant said. “I’m a relatively young leader, still in the first half of my career. But sitting in a classroom with public safety professionals with 30+ years of experience—it changed how I lead.”
Those lessons carried her into her next chapter. In June 2025, she became Assistant Director at the Washington, DC, office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA), where she now oversees preparedness, communications, community engagement, and resilience initiatives.
HSEMA’s role is unlike anywhere else. The agency functions as a city, county and a state emergency management organization, handling local response and recovery operations, while also managing state-level programs like hazard mitigation, federal grant administration, and regional coordination.
“It’s a different vantage point,” she explained. “We’re responsible for day-to-day city operations, but we also handle programs that, in most places, would sit at the state level. And we do it in a city that borders two states and hosts every branch of the federal government. It’s not more or less important than other levels of emergency management, just different in its complexity.”
That interconnectedness, and the ongoing support from CHDS as her responsibilities continue to grow, was clear from her first week on the job. “I joined a regional coordination call and immediately saw two of my CHDS classmates on the line,” she said. “I didn’t know everything we were working on yet, but I knew they had my back.”
Among her current efforts is expanding DC’s network of community resilience hubs, neighborhood-based spaces designed to provide power, information, and connection before, during, and after emergencies. “That’s the heart of local government to me,” she said. “Meeting residents where they are and helping them prepare for what comes next.”
Earlier this year, Winant returned to CHDS—not as a student, but as a speaker. She joined a panel with regional leaders to discuss collaboration and adaptive leadership with the ELP cohort. “To be back in that classroom was surreal,” she said. “It was a highlight of my career.”
Winant has proven that people make a difference. The power of connection and trusted partners is essential. Whether she’s responding to emergencies or leading initiatives, she’s surrounded by fellow alumni who show up when it counts. That’s the CHDS force-multiplier in action.
