Our Leadership

Our Leadership

In June of 2005 Major David Dalberg was appointed to The Salvation Army’s Metropolitan Division in the Central Territory where he presently serves as the Divisional Disaster Services Director.  He is responsible for overseeing Salvation Army disaster services throughout the Greater Chicago area including 12 surrounding counties.  These responsibilities include being The Army’s EDS liaison to state government and state-wide not-for-profit organizations as well as the City of Chicago’s Fire Department, Police Department, SWAT Team, and Office of Emergency Management & Communications.  In addition, Major Dalberg is certified to teach Salvation Army National Disaster Training courses as well as being certified to instruct several International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc. courses.   The Major is a member of the Army’s National/Central Territorial CISM Team as well and directs the Metropolitan Divisional CISM Team.

In March of 2011, Major Dalberg was deployed for six weeks to New Zealand where he served as Operations Chief and later, Incident Commander following the second of two earthquakes which struck Christchurch, New Zealand.

Major Dalberg served as National Disaster Services Coordinator for The Salvation Army from 1997 through 2004.   In this role, he was a national liaison with FEMA and other public and private disaster response organizations and served as The Army’s representative to National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters.  During the September 11 terrorist attacks, he served as overall coordinator for Salvation Army personnel from the United States and Canada as well as providing on-going CISM support and supervision including demobilizations at the completion of 14-day deployments.

Major Dalberg also served as Project Manager for the development and implementation of the Army’s National Disaster Services Training Program which received a three-year development grant of 4.2 million dollars provided by the Lilly Endowment.

Previous to serving at National Headquarters, Major Dalberg was responsible for Salvation Army disaster response during the Minnesota and North Dakota floods, served on territorial assessment teams related to the Oklahoma City bombing and the Northridge earthquake and became Incident Commander for the earthquake-related services.  For two years prior to his national appointment, he directed the Disaster Ministry Department for the Central Territory.  In addition, Major Dalberg has participated in a lead role in the on-site development, implementation, and supervision of the Army’s emotional and spiritual care services during several disasters and crisis deployments over the past several years.

Major Dalberg was commissioned/ordained as a Salvation Army officer (clergy) in 1966, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Urban Studies from Elmhurst College in Illinois (cum laude) in 1979, and received the Master of Arts degree in human resource development from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul/Minneapolis in 1995.