New speaker selected for Hoover's 2023 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony

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The city of Hoover has found a new speaker for its 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony scheduled for this Saturday morning at the Riverchase Galleria after the initial speaker had to cancel.

The new speaker is Army Capt. Christopher Tanner, who spent more than 43 months in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and has been recognized for leading one of the most successful tactical campaigns to destroy and shut down large formation movements of enemy fighters during the bloodiest time period of Operation Enduring Freedom.

He is scheduled to speak in a 9 a.m. ceremony in the Galleria food court on Saturday, Sept. 9.

Tanner, a 2006 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, initially was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (air assault), where he served in a variety of leadership and staff positions, including combat deployments as an infantry rifle company commander and company commander of the division’s elite 101st Pathfinder Company.

Tanner led near-border operations in the most dangerous regions of eastern Afghanistan along the Pakistan border and is an expert on mountain warfare and focused, time-sensitive targeting. He also served at the division and brigade staff levels, including at the Combined Joint Task Force Headquarters in eastern Afghanistan under Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. John Campbell, planning and resourcing operations for eight combat brigades and 12 NATO countries.

Tanner now leads the Engineering Program Office for Hypersonics, Defense, and Space Programs at Kratos SRE (formerly Southern Research Engineering) in Birmingham.

He has 16 years of program management experience with the U.S. Department of Defense, Naval Special Warfare Command. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and various law enforcement and military training programs.

Tanner has served as an instructor for East Coast SEAL teams, the executive officer and assistant professor of military science for the U.S. Army ROTC detachment at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the senior rappel master nationwide for ROTC and vice president at Xtreme Concepts.

Tanner is a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, Pathfinder, Fast Rope Insertion Extraction System Master, Rappel Master, Combatives, Combat Lifesaver, and the Special Reaction Team courses.

He has received three Bronze Star Medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, a Commendation Medal, the NATO service medal and the German Armed Forces Military Proficiency Badge (Gold). He also has been a finalist for the National MacArthur Leadership Award and was recognized as one of Birmingham’s top 40 under 40.

Tanner, a natural born quadruplet, is a native of Mountain Brook and is married to Dr. Lauren Tanner, an attending trauma surgeon at UAB. They have a son, Patrick, and a daughter, Lily.

The original speaker for this Saturday, former Navy Seal Mike White, who is vice president and director of property management at Southpace Properties, had to cancel his appearance.

CLIMB TO REMEMBER

After the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in the Galleria food court, the city of Hoover plans to hold its third annual Climb to Remember in The Offices at 3000 Riverchase office tower attached to the Riverchase Galleria. Participants will repeatedly climb the stairwells of the building until they reach the equivalent of 110 flights of stairs, which is the number of stories that were in the twin towers of the World Trade Center before the buildings came crashing down.

The climb event is done in remembrance of the first responders who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center and gave their lives in an effort to save others.

The event also serves as a fundraiser for the Hoover Public Safety Foundation, with participants paying $30 to do the climb. Last year, 97 people participated in the climb, and combined with other donations, the event raised more than $3,500, said Kelly Peoples, the city of Hoover’s events manager.

Participants get a T-shirt and have breakfast and lunch provided, Peoples said.

Registration is open until the time of the event, but people can pre-register by going to eventbrite.com and searching for “9/11 Memorial Stair Climb.”