Riding the Wave-Project Management for Emergency Managers

About Riding the Wave-Project Management for Emergency Managers

Emergency management is a growing discipline as our world has become increasingly more complex, interconnected, and vulnerable to hazards both natural and human caused. The role of the emergency manager, including leaders in public safety, has expanded and become more vital to cities, counties, states, and large organizations, and much of this work can be contained and effectively managed within projects, be they longer term plans, disaster recovery, mitigation measures or short-term emergency responses to a disaster. This podcast series focuses on project management topics for emergency managers. Come with us as we ride the wave!

Publisher

Andrew Boyarsky

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 May 2017

Latest episode

5 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

76 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Aug 2026

   Measuring What Didn’t Happen: Quantifying Emergency Management Value

   Summary In this episode, I spoke with Fire Chief Dr. Eric Saylors. Dr. Saylors has spent 30+ years asking a question most of the profession struggles with: how do you prove the value of a disaster that never happened? In this episode he lays out a practical answer — define risk as threats, consequences, and vulnerabilities, recognize that vulnerability is the only one you actually control, and then get honest about what's sitting on the roulette table. Dr. Saylors shares the moment he reframed his department's budget for a skeptical mayor, why avoided-loss estimates rest on causal chains and case studies rather than statistical proof, and why arguing only for your own budget costs you credibility. He also covers the two-part story that moves elected officials, where AI genuinely helps with mass-casualty math, the Oakland Hills hydrant-adapter failure, and his work at HEN Technologies helping incident commanders get unstuck at "orient" in the OODA loop. Time Stamps 01:13 Intro and guest background 02:25 Outputs vs. outcomes — how should we define success? 06:15 What should you measure at project initiation? 10:45 How do you make an avoided-loss estimate credible? 13:20 What destroys credibility — and the $20M cut that started it all 14:50 Long-horizon projects vs. short political cycles (Galveston seawall) 19:40 AI, dashboards, and separating impact from activity counts 23:20 Translating technical findings across agencies and silos 26:15 Practical first steps for measuring an existing program 31:25 Realistic drilling and simulated environments 35:30 HEN Technologies and the cognitive load of command About Eric Saylors is the author of Quantifying a Negative (2015), Sense Making in Risk Assessments (2022), and The 7-Year Active Shooter Study (2026). He is a Fire Chief with over 30 years of experience and holds a Doctorate in Leadership from the University of Southern California. In addition to serving as Product Lead for HEN Technologies, Eric currently serves as Fire Chief of the El Cerrito–Kensington Fire Department, having previously spent 25 years with the Sacramento City Fire Department. Over the course of his career, he has served in every rank from firefighter/paramedic to Fire Chief, including engineer, captain, battalion chief, and assistant chief. His operational experience includes assignments on ambulances, fire engines, ladder trucks, a Type 1 HazMat team, and a heavy rescue unit. He has responded to and managed a wide range of incidents, including high-rise fires, large commercial fires, wildland-urban interface incidents, basement fires, and balloon-frame construction fires. Prior to joining executive leadership, he served as Battalion Chief 1 in downtown Sacramento, one of the busiest operational areas in the region. In addition to his doctorate, Dr. Saylors holds two associate degrees, a bachelor’s degree in finance, and a master’s degree in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. He regularly consults with fire departments nationwide on active shooter response, leadership development, succession planning, and post-incident analysis, and has published more than twenty articles on homeland security and fire service topics. Links LinkedIn for Dr. Eric Saylors https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-saylors-ed-d-09778188/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-saylors-ed-d-09778188/) Saylors, E. (2015). Quantifying the negative: How homeland security adds value. Homeland Security Affairs. (https://www.hsaj.org/articles/9307)https://www.hsaj.org/articles/9307 (https://www.hsaj.org/articles/9307) Saylors, E. (2023). Sensemaking in Risk Assessments: An Innovation Study. University of Southern California. https://www.academia.edu/122185501/Sensemaking_in_Risk_Assessments_An_Innovation_Study (https://www.academia.edu/122185501/Sensemaking_in_Risk_Assessments_An_Innovation_Study) Youtube (note- there are many more as well, on the Weekly Scrap and others) Weekly Scrap #206 - Eric Saylors, Responding to the Intentional MCI https://www.youtube.com/live/RM9GeuFoMpQ?si=FFvur0gLpgz0PCNP (https://www.youtube.com/live/RM9GeuFoMpQ?si=FFvur0gLpgz0PCNP)

2. 

   29 Jun 2026

   The Walls Are Closing In: AI’s Impact on Emergency Management, Governance, and De-Skilling

   Summary This episode features Justin Kates, Senior Business Continuity Advisor at Wawa and former government emergency management leader, discusses his Pracademic Summit talk on four pressures facing emergency management: legitimacy, growing expectations, doing more with less, and AI. He describes how generative AI is encroaching on non-routine tasks such as emergency planning, exercise design and after-action capture, risk analysis, and administrative work like grants and documentation. Kates warns about AI risks including bias, inaccurate outputs from information gaps, “AI work slop” that accelerates checkbox deliverables, and “bot battles” in competitive grant writing and review. He outlines governance needs—organizational guardrails, approved tools, avoiding shadow AI, training on limits and hallucinations, and continuity planning for outages—plus concerns about de-skilling and collateral-duty staff using AI to replicate professional functions. Using Daniel Susskind’s framework, he argues humans will remain essential for relationships, preferences, and moral accountability, and suggests project management methods and AI-enabled tools can reduce toil while preserving response reliability. Time Stamps 01:16 Meet Justin Kates 02:03 Four Walls Framework 02:59 AI Task Encroachment 05:45 AI Misuse and Risks 12:15 Governance and Guardrails 16:29 Deskilling and Human Limits 23:50 Reliability and Manual Fallbacks 25:26 Project Management With AI About Justin Kates currently serves as the Senior Business Continuity Advisor for America’s favorite convenience store, Wawa, Inc. In this role, he is responsible for architecting a new business continuity program for Wawa’s expanding footprint of over 1,100 stores with over 47,000 associates across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. Before Wawa, Justin served 17 years in government, most recently in the City of Somerville, MA as their Director of Emergency Management & Communications. In Somerville, he was responsible for implementing the City’s inaugural comprehensive emergency management program and initiating the integration of their citywide 911 and dispatch operations. Additionally, Justin served over a decade as Director of Emergency Management for two Mayoral senior leadership teams in the City of Nashua, NH, and as a homeland security consultant for the State of Delaware. He is a Master Business Continuity Professional (MBCP) affiliated with the Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) International, an Associate in Risk Management (ARM) with American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters (The Institutes), and is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) affiliated with the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). Justin attained a Bachelor of Arts concentrated in Emergency Management and Public Administration from the University of Delaware and a Master of Arts in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security. From 2021 to 2024, Justin served in succession as the 2nd Vice President, 1st Vice President, and President of IAEM USA Council. He also served as a member of the FEMA National Advisory Council in 2023 and 2024. Links LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kb3juv/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kb3juv/) The Walls are Closing In: AI and the Future of Emergency Management https://youtu.be/p6ePZ2Rg2B4?si=F2JtM4OpYnHzxqp9 (https://youtu.be/p6ePZ2Rg2B4?si=F2JtM4OpYnHzxqp9) The Future of Emergency Management https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38MW74IJkYU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38MW74IJkYU) Keeping Humans in the Loop https://domesticpreparedness.com/articles/keeping-humans-in-the-loop-the-future-of-emergency-management (https://domesticpreparedness.com/articles/keeping-humans-in-the-loop-the-future-of-emergency-management) A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond https://www.danielsusskind.com/a-world-without-work (https://www.danielsusskind.com/a-world-without-work)

3. 

   25 Jun 2026

   FEMA Reform at a Crossroads: What Local Emergency Managers Need to Know

   Summary I spoke with Dr. Charles Jennings, founder of John Jay College’s emergency management program, about the new FEMA reform blueprint calling for a roughly 50% workforce reduction, shifting responsibility to states, tribes, territories, and localities, simplifying individual assistance, and using parametric funding triggers. Dr. Jennings argues the moment reflects broader ideological federal bureaucracy reforms, with limited attention to concrete legislative and regulatory changes. He warns staffing cuts would directly reduce FEMA service delivery while public expectations remain high, and notes growing reliance on contractors to help jurisdictions navigate FEMA’s complex rules. He doubts parametric aid can avoid equity and accountability problems and says mitigation is slow due to heavy regulation and uneven local capacity. The conversation broadens to land use, insurance, climate-driven migration, and concludes with practical advice: know local risks, build interagency relationships, and train officials in fundamentals like NIMS. Time Stamps 01:13 Introduction 02:55 Why FEMA Reform Now 08:30 Workforce Cuts And Local Risk 12:50 Disaster Industrial Complex 18:51 Parametric Aid And Equity 22:54 Why Mitigation Moves Slow 29:30 Climate Migration And Land Use 36:31 Advice For Local Emergency Managers About Dr. Charles Jennings, Principal, Public Safety/Homeland Security and Urban Planning at Manitou, Inc., Prof. Emeritus at John Jay College, is a highly accomplished expert in emergency response, fire protection, and urban planning with extensive academic and practical experience. He has consulted actively across the US and Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University, complemented by an advanced degrees in fire protection management. Dr. Jennings has served in prominent roles, including Director of the Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies and Associate Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he developed and led programs in emergency management and public safety. He transitioned to Emeritus status in 2026. His applied experience includes leadership as First Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety in White Plains, NY, where he oversaw police, fire, EMS, and emergency management services, and implemented innovative safety and communication systems. With a diverse background in research, policy, and consulting, Dr. Jennings has contributed to national safety initiatives, fire prevention strategies, and first responder coordination at large-scale events. His work has been supported by numerous grants from agencies such as FEMA, NIST, NSF, and the U.S. Department of Justice, reflecting his influence in advancing public safety, emergency response systems, and urban resilience. Overall, he combines academic rigor with practical leadership to enhance safety protocols, improve emergency preparedness, and foster community resilience. Among his publications is the most recent edition of Managing Fire and Emergency Services, published by the International City/County Management Association. Links Contact Email cjennings@manitouinc.com (mailto:cjennings@manitouinc.com) LinkedIn Page https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-jennings-9b8b735/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-jennings-9b8b735/) Manitou Inc., Consulting Co. https://www.manitouinc.com/ (https://www.manitouinc.com/) Thiel, A. K., & Jennings, C. R. (Eds.). Managing Fire and Emergency Services. ICMA Publishing. https://icma.org/publications/managing-fire-and-emergency-services (https://icma.org/publications/managing-fire-and-emergency-services)

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