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PHS grad named top leader

Parkersburg native Greg Devereaux had just boarded an airplane at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, bound for Washington, D.C., when he received the distressing news on Dec. 2, 2015.

The sheriff called Devereaux to tell him there was an active shooting event, with people shot, in San Bernardino County, Calif. Text messages said it was unclear whether any San Bernardino County employees had been shot.

Devereaux, 64, knew he had to return immediately to California.

Devereaux has served as chief executive officer of San Bernardino County in Southern California for the past six years. The county employs 22,000 people.

“I jumped up and said I have to get off (the airplane),” Devereaux told me recently.

Fortunately, Devereaux was allowed to leave the airplane, parked outside the terminal, because he had carried his luggage on to the plane, he said. If all his baggage had been checked at the airport terminal, he would not have been allowed to leave the airplane.

A sheriff’s department helicopter picked up Devereaux at the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., and flew him back to San Bernardino.

He returned home at about 4 p.m. Devereaux would learn that several county employees had been shot in a terrorist attack by a married couple at a Christmas luncheon/Department of Public Health training event at Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

Devereaux said it took a while to piece all the information together. “We got bits and pieces” of information, he said.

As it turned out, 12 of the 14 people killed and most of the 22 people injured were San Bernardino County employees.

Devereaux said he knew some of those who were killed and injured.

The shootings occurred about 1.5 miles from Devereaux’s office in a facility that was not owned by the county.

Devereaux faced the challenges of helping those affected by the shooting and delivering services to county residents. The level of support shown within the county and from outside the region was outstanding and touching, Devereaux said.

Devereaux said he did not know the shooters, including Syed Rizwan Farook, who was a county worker employed as a health department inspector. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were later killed in a gun battle with police.

Devereaux, the sheriff and other county officials have been “interacting” with the FBI since the terrorist attack.

He said the San Bernardino Board of Supervisors has not taken a “stance” on the FBI seeking Apple’s help in hacking an encrypted iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino mass shooters. The board, which hired Devereaux, is looking at the iPhone issue, he added.

“We’ve been talking to the families (affected by the shooting) to gauge their thoughts on the issue,” Devereaux said.

Devereaux, who has a 10-year contract with the county, said he enjoys his job.

“I have a real opportunity to affect the quality of life for people here,” he said. San Bernardino County is home to 2.1 million people.

Devereaux, a 1969 graduate of Parkersburg High School, has been elected as a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, D.C. Other fellows have included former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, former Cabinet Secretary Donna Shalala and former Sen. Richard Lugar.

Chartered by Congress, the academy is an independent, nonprofit and non-partisan organization established in 1967 to assist local, state and federal government leaders in building more effective, efficient, accountable and transparent organizations, according to a press release.

“This is a great honor and a great opportunity for the entire county organization,” said San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos. “Our CEO being recognized as one of the country’s top local leaders shows the strength and resilience of San Bernardino County.”

In 2014, Devereaux received the Southern California Association of Governments President’s Award for Public Service Leader of the Year.

Devereaux has a B.S. degree in fine arts (1973) and a law degree (1977), both from West Virginia University.

Contact Paul LaPann at plapann@newsandsentinel.com

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