9/11 Legacy Foundation Adds Four Board Members Ahead of 25th Observance

STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 9/11 Legacy Foundation today announced the addition of four members to its board of directors: Pentagon first responder Sgt. 1st Class (Ret.) Chris Braman, retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sgt. (Ret.) Christopher C. Spence, independent historian, author, and fireboat engineer Jessica DuLong, and S&P Global Market Intelligence strategic program manager Adam Dikker.

Braman ran into the burning Pentagon on the morning of the attacks and stayed for sixty hours to help with recovery efforts. Spence was among the first American forces on the ground in Afghanistan in the weeks that followed. DuLong helped keep a then-seventy-year-old fireboat pumping water at Ground Zero after the city's fire mains failed. Dikker leads veteran programming at one of the country's largest financial information companies.

The four join a board led by former White House chief of staff Andrew Card, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former Federal Reserve vice chairman Roger Ferguson, Jr., and retired Lieutenant Generals Patricia Horoho and Marc Sasseville, among other distinguished members. The Foundation was founded by Ground Zero survivor Dr. Chris Meek to educate current and future generations about the lasting significance of September 11, 2001, through a first-of-its kind comprehensive curriculum, storytelling, and nationwide commemorative events.

"Our mission is to connect Americans to the history and memory of September 11 and the unity that followed. That work does not happen on its own. It takes people willing to tell hard stories honestly, and it takes people who know how to carry those stories into classrooms, workplaces and communities," said Dr. Chris Meek, founder and organizing committee chairman of the 9/11 Legacy Foundation. "Chris Braman, Chris Spence, Jessica DuLong, and Adam Dikker were doing that work long before we asked them to join our mission. We are fortunate to have their leadership and experience as we approach the 25th commemoration."

Sgt. 1st Class (Ret.) Chris Braman was serving as a cook and general's aide at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. He ran toward the point of impact rather than away from it, pulling survivors out through windows as fires spread, and the structure collapsed around him. He remained at the site for roughly sixty continuous hours as the noncommissioned officer in charge of the initial response and recovery team, and helped recover and tag sixty-three of the fallen. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Soldier's Medal. Braman lives with permanent lung damage and other 9/11-related health conditions, and speaks publicly about trauma, recovery, and resilience while advocating for first responders, veterans, and their families.

Master Sgt. (Ret.) Christopher C. Spence was among the first American forces on the ground in Afghanistan following the attacks. He served twenty-five years in the U.S. Army, seventeen of them exclusively in Special Forces, deploying throughout the Middle East with the 5th Special Forces Group, completing one tour in Afghanistan and three tours in Iraq. Spence took the first photographs of American Special Forces on horseback in Afghanistan, images then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used publicly to demonstrate the U.S. presence there. One of those photographs is held by the Smithsonian Institution and served as the template for America's Response Monument, the bronze statue in Liberty Park overlooking the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York. His unit's deployment inspired the book Horse Soldiers and the film 12 Strong. Since 2012, Spence has volunteered as program director for the 5th Special Forces Scholarship Fund, which provides merit-based scholarships to the children of current and former Special Forces soldiers.

Jessica DuLong was a marine engineer aboard the retired 1931 New York City fireboat John J. Harvey, which was called back into service after the attacks to pump Hudson River water to crews at Ground Zero after the city's fire mains failed. She had become the first woman to serve as an engineer aboard the vessel earlier that year, and went on to serve aboard for two decades, eleven of those years as chief engineer. An award-winning journalist and independent historian, DuLong wrote Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift, the definitive account of the maritime evacuation that carried an estimated 500,000 people off Manhattan in less than nine hours, the largest waterborne evacuation in history, surpassing Dunkirk. She lectures internationally on narrative craft and on the intersections of trauma and journalism.

Adam Dikker is strategic program manager for S&P Global Market Intelligence, where he leads enterprise programs spanning learning and development, onboarding, executive communications, and leadership across the division's technology organization. He serves as global lead for events and communications for VALOR, S&P Global's veterans employee resource group, which builds leadership skills and expands opportunity for veterans and their families, including an annual partnership with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. His work brings the Foundation a direct connection to the corporate and veteran communities whose support is essential to continued commemoration.

The 25th commemoration, on Sept. 11, 2026, is not an end point but rather a turning point for the nation. It will be the last major observance where a majority of survivors and loved ones are able to take part, and everything the Foundation builds is aimed at what follows: a country in which the memory of that day must be taught rather than recalled. More than 100 million Americans are already too young to remember the 2,977 lives lost at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The Foundation's commemorative programming, recorded first-person testimonies, and comprehensive curriculum are designed to outlast the 25th commemoration itself.

About the 9/11 Legacy Foundation

The 9/11 Legacy Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that the memory of September 11, 2001, and its enduring impact on our nation are always remembered. Through education, storytelling, and commemoration, the Foundation preserves stories of heroism, sacrifice, and resilience. By engaging survivors, families, first responders, and future generations, the Foundation works to honor those we lost and inspire a renewed commitment to unity, service, and vigilance. Learn more at www.the911legacy.org.

Contact: Christina Stroback
The 9/11 Legacy Foundation
319.936.9300
christina@the911legacy.org