Safe America Prepared

Executive Staff

Len Pagano has spent more than 30 years communicating key messages - first as a journalist, and more recently, in building one of America's premier safety organizations.
As President, CEO and Founder of Safe America, Mr. Pagano has spent the past 16 years focused on emerging safety issues such as teen driver education, water safety, cyber safety, homeland security, youth safety and community safety awareness.

Mr. Pagano formed Safe America after a 20-year career in television and nonprofit management. His administrative experience includes management responsibilities with Chamber of Commerce organizations throughout the Southeast. Today, he leads a staff of 37 from Safe America's suburban Atlanta headquarters.

Through his leadership, the Safe America Foundation has developed educational and practical safety and preparedness programs for businesses and communities. These include safety product distribution, national youth programming, international travel security, and advocating that nonprofit organizations screen volunteers (to avoid predatory activities by adults). His numerous accomplishments include raising $25 million for injury prevention initiatives that have protected more than 150,000 infants and millions of adults.
Current Safe America programming includes: 'Prepared.Not Scared,' a national initiative in partnership with Motorola and NBC; 'SafeTeen America,' in partnership with Allstate Insurance; 'The Safest Kid in America Contest,' in partnership with Publix and Campbell's Soup; and the Safe America Teen Driving Institute.

Mr. Pagano graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia.  While Len has provided vision for Safe America's direction and growth, his wife, Mary Lou Pagano, has served as the heart of Safe America by directing its community outreach. Mary Lou and Len live in Marietta, Georgia, and are the parents of four Safe Americans - Lauren, Austin, Audra and Charles.

Dr. Betty Siegel was the founding chair of the Safe America Foundation and accepted the post as inagural President of the newly established Safe America Institute in September 2006.

Dr. Siegel was the first woman to head an institution in the 35-unit University System of Georgia, and the longest serving woman president of a public university in the nation. She was president of Kennesaw State from 1981 until July of 2006. Under her administration, the university evolved from a four-year college with an enrollment of 4,000 students and 15 baccalaureate-degree programs to its current university status, with enrollment exceeding 18,000 students and 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Before Kennesaw State, Dr. Siegel was an educator, administrator and leader at several college and universities. She received a Ph.D. from Florida State University, a M.Ed. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a B.A. from Wake Forest University, and an Associate of Arts from Cumberland College. She completed two years of post-doctoral study in Clinical Child Psychology at Indiana University and holds six honorary doctorates.

An internationally- and nationally-known lecturer and motivational speaker on ethical leadership, educational issues, and the concerns of women, she has lectured at more than 120 colleges and universities around the world.

Dr. Siegel was appointed to the 1997 Presidents' Summit on America's Future held in Philadelphia, represented Georgia on the Southern Growth Policies Board's 1998 Commission on the Future of the South, and currently serves on the Commission for a New Georgia.

Mary Lou Pagano directs the Community Outreach work done by the Safe America Foundation through the federally funded Cobb Safe Communities program.  Each year Mrs. Pagano coordinates the efforts of police, fire and EMS personnel as well as highway safety speakers to bring safe driving programs to Cobb middle and high school students, businesses, civic organizations and Senior Citizens. This program has received praise from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, elected officials and school educators.
In addition to managing the Cobb Safe Communities program, Mrs. Pagano brings the SafeTeen Georgia driving simulator program to low income and underprivileged teens in Cobb. This program funded by the Cobb Collaborative, reaches teens through the Osborne High School After School program, the Cobb County Boys and Girls Clubs, Girls, Inc, and Devereux.

Through Mrs. Pagano’s initiative, Safe America Foundation has been involved in the research, planning and development of a driving program for the Hispanic and non-English speaking population and a pilot study on teen text messaging while driving.

Mrs. Pagano attended Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. Her experience in this field includes Public Health and Psychiatric Nursing.

Mrs. Pagano is married to Safe America Foundation President and CEO, Len Pagano. They have been married for 33  years and are the parents of four children. The Pagano family has resided in Cobb County for 26 years.

Mr. Musselman is responsible for curriculum development and training for the Teen Driving Institute. A professional public seminar speaker, Larry is a licensed instructor with the National Safety Council and the Georgia Department of Public Safety.

As an experienced driving instructor, he has trained over 7,000 new drivers in the metro Atlanta area. He has trained teens and adults in basic driver education, adult driving skill assessment and enhancement, and instructed Defensive Driving courses. Additionally, he managed the training of 550 adult commercial delivery drivers under an exclusive contract with a major pizza delivery company in Florida.

Larry retired from Framatome Technologies (Franco-American Atomics) in 1997, capping a technical career in the management of Business Development in the Environmental Sciences and Nuclear Technologies. He was also involved with the development of the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Development (NERVA) program with the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory at the Nevada Test Site.

Larry received engineering training at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, and was one of the Navy's earliest cold-war era nuclear submarine reactor operators .

Staff Member Name -- Phone Ext. -- Email Address

Mike Bautsch -- 237 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Will Brown -- 235 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Joe Caprara -- 230 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Cullen Gossett -- 233 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Stan Jones -- 227 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Cathie Jordet -- 222 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Maureen Klinkmueller -- 241 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Risa Mendelson -- 238 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Larry Musselman -- 223 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Len Pagano -- 234 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Marylou Pagano -- 229 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Marcia Sasser -- 239 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Bob Surrusco -- 231 -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Brit Weber  (517) 206-1640  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it