2015 GOAL Awards - John Dunning

On Oct. 4, 2013, Dunning, the chief information officer for Wayne State College, was driving home from a business trip with a colleague. Aware of tornado warnings for Wayne, Nebraska, the duo was eight miles from town when the rain-wrapped storm unleashed. “I drove to a ditch and we bailed out of the truck as the windows imploded,” said John. As he ran to safety, the funnel’s high-speed winds slammed a commercial-sized steel dumpster into John’s side, crushing it. Pelted by flying debris, John suffered multiple fractures, lacerations and a traumatic brain injury.