In Memoriam: Lynda Zambrano

On January 30, 2025, Domestic Preparedness lost an advisor and good friend, Lynda Zambrano. With ever-expanding community connections that stretched nationwide, Lynda dedicated her life to community service and had a unique ability to quickly befriend colleagues and strangers.

Lynda began her career in 1989 when she graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in biology, minoring in chemistry. After an internship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the Monticello Nuclear Plant in Minnesota and a job with the U.S. Department of Commerce, she pursued a business career in Seattle, Washington, and ran two of her own companies. In 1998, Lynda accepted a position at the Tulalip Health Clinic as the administrator and oversaw clinical operations for the next five years. She transferred to the Tulalip Police Department, where she assisted the police chief in growing the department and created the Tulalip Tribes Office of Emergency Management. She became the chairperson for the Washington State Region I Homeland Security Tribal Committee.

As the executive director of the Northwest and National Tribal Emergency Management Councils, she implemented numerous initiatives that profoundly impacted emergency management for Tribal Nations and Native Communities. For example, with her extensive background in finance, contracts management, and audit compliance, she was a prolific grants writer, assisting with securing more than 100 grants and tens of millions of dollars for Tribal Nations in Washington state and across the country. At Pierce College, Centers of Excellence for Homeland Security, she was an adjunct professor who authored and taught the Grants Writing and Management curriculum.

Lynda also helped co-found the Fresh Food Coalition and oversaw food and supplies distribution in 35 states to over three million people. Her work in Indian Country was recognized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She was inducted into the International Network of Women in Emergency Management’s Hall of Fame. Lynda was the proud wife of Richard Zambrano, who is a member of the Snoqualmie Tribe, mother of three, and family and friend to so many more.

During her career, Lynda worked with federal, state, local, and tribal governments, which provided a unique perspective to bring together different disciplines to work together in emergency management. One of Lynda’s last projects and biggest honor was the creation of the Lynda Zambrano Legacy Scholarship by the Cedar Spirit Foundation. Her spirit lives on to support and encourage education and leadership for those who take the reins now to make a difference in the world.