EM Weekly Podcast

This week we are talking about Inversion, and how it can be applied to Emergency Management. As well as I am wishing everyone a happy 4th of July (The American Independence Day Celebration).

This week we are talking to Brentt Blaser about responding to the Northern California’s firestorm in Sonoma. Brentt shares his story and the impact that the fire had on the county.
Guest Bio
Brentt Blaser is an experienced Emergency Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the public safety industry. He is skilled in Public Safety, Government, GIS, Emergency Management, and Preparedness. Strong community and social services professional with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Arizona State University.

Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brentt-blaser-a319ba5a/
Website: http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Home/



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This week we are talking to Camilla Barker-DeStefano, she is the founder of the Crisis Academy, a new online emergency management training platform. Camilla has a tremendous and exciting background, and her journey to emergency management is one that you will want to hear.
Guest Bio
Dr. Camilla Barker-DeStefano (Oxon) LLM LLB (Hons) FRSA AFHEA
Camilla is an academic international lawyer and consultant, specializing in the laws of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery at the international, regional, and national levels.
Camilla has worked in various research and advisory roles with organizations including the United Nations, British Red Cross, and Keeping Children Safe. Some of Camilla’s past projects have involved: establishing legal bases for humanitarian access in armed conflict; prohibitions on the use of explosive weapons; child safeguarding in the context of UN and regional peacekeeping; mission planning and security; international criminal cooperation (UN-Interpol-Europol); disaster preparedness; the protection of women and children in refugee and IDP camps; campaigns to raise awareness of and prevent sexual exploitation and abuse; measures to tackle extreme poverty; counter-terrorism (under NDA); and transitional justice and the rule of law.
Presently, Camilla is an independent consultant helping organizations to utilize applicable disaster laws to make their operations faster, easier, and safer, which ultimately means better protection for affected populations and higher value-for-money for donors. Camilla is also the founder of the Crisis Academy, online education, and professional development platform for emergency management and response professionals.
Camilla holds a DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford, where she was twice a Modern Law Review Scholar and Tutor in Public International Law; a LLM from Harvard Law School, where she was a Fulbright Scholar; and a First Class LLB (Hons) English and European Laws from Queen Mary, University of London, and the University of Bologna, Italy, where she was an Erasmus Scholar. Camilla’s doctoral thesis ‘The Unlawful Refusal of Emergency Humanitarian Aid’ was published as a paperback in 2019.


Related Shows

Links
Twitter:
@BarkerDeStefano
@crisis_academy
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/barker-destefano
www.linkedin.com/company/crisis-academy
Website
Instructor landing page: https://mailchi.mp/7dcf482f7afd/instructors
Student landing page: www.crisisacademy.org
Amazon link to book: https://amzn.to/2IthC3E
Email: [email protected]

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This week we are talking to Eric McNulty from the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard. We have had Eric on to speak about the NPLI; however today we are talking about the new book that has just been releases called You’re it.
Guest Bio

Eric is an active writer, speaker, and educator on leadership and, in particular, leading through crisis, change, and turbulence. He holds an appointment as associate director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI), a joint program of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and as Instructor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Eric teaches in numerous executive education and graduate level courses at Harvard as well as at M.I.T and the University of California, San Diego. He speaks to executive audiences around the world about the challenges of leading in the fast-moving, unpredictable circumstances.

Eric is co-author of the book, You’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When it Matters Most (PublicAffairs, June 2019) and author of Three Critical Shifts in Thinking for the Evolving Leader (O’Reilly. 2015) and Your Critical First 10 Days as a Leader (Safari, 2015). He is also the co-author, along with Dr. Leonard Marcus and Dr. Barry Dorn, of the second edition of Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration (Jossey-Bass, 2011). Eric is a co-author of a chapter on meta-leadership in the McGraw-Hill Homeland Security Handbook (2012) and many articles on leadership, decision-making, and negotiation.

Eric’s columns on leadership and management appear regularly at strategy+business, where he is a contributing editor. He seeks to stimulate honest conversations and return humanity to organizations. He has particular expertise in leading as a subject matter expert, whether a physician, engineer, or preparedness and response executive.

Eric holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics (with honors) from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master’s degree in Leadership from Lesley University.



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Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emcnulty/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RicherEarth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RicherEarth
Website: https://npli.sph.harvard.edu/
https://ericmcnulty.com/



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This week we are talking to Jerusha Kasch from Rice University about the role of the emergency manager and were they belong in the organization chart. This is one of the key parts to increasing the professional standards of the field of emergency management.

Guest Bio
Jerusha Kasch began her Emergency Management career as a young girl in a house hold that had a serious preparedness focus. Her family maintained a 1 year food/necessities storage process for 10 people. Once, for Christmas, she and all her siblings were asked what item they wanted to contribute to the food storage for a year as their Christmas gift. You will have to ask her what she chose.

Jerusha has officially worked as an emergency manager for over 10 years, but she pulls strongly on her other response backgrounds to support her emergency management role. Prior to her emergency management years, she has 18 years’ experience in multiple other response systems including, EMS, Law Enforcement, Hospital and clinical care. Jerusha has filled nearly all ICS command and general staff roles and has been extremely blessed over the years to consistently be in the right place at the right time, to be trained by skilled individuals. While Jerusha has attended several colleges and universities, she eventually finished her undergraduate and graduate studies at Portland State University, in Portland Oregon. Two of the universities she attended had mottos that were service based. “Enter to learn, go forth to serve” and “Let knowledge serve the city” are words that she has adopted in her life as a public servant. She takes them very seriously (with a splash of fun and humor, of course).

A great deal of Jerusha’s time is spent training others for emergency management roles. Jerusha has been a CPD certified ICS instructor for 10 years and during that time has taught many (too many to count) ICS course curricula in multiple states (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Texas) at the basic and advanced level. She was one of the first Master level PIOs in the nation and continues to teach advanced PIO courses for FEMA and Wiland & Associates.

Jerusha has been a member of several Incident Management Teams and has successfully built 4 Type III IMTs over the last 10 years.

Jerusha is originally from Alabama and is a HUGE University of Alabama (ROLL TIDE) fan. She is married to a super cool husband, mother to a blended family of 5 and a grandmother of 3. She loves adrenaline sports of all kinds and has a bucket list a mile long.



Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerusha-kasch-a00333160/
Website: https://emergency.rice.edu/

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This week we talk to Brian Sims of the Disaster Logistics Board. As you may have heard that infantry fights the battles, but logistics wins the wars. That saying is true. We have won wars by disrupting the supply lines. So in the context of Emergency Management, logistics is one of the critical elements that we need to address.

Guest Bio
Brian left the US Army Infantry in 2010 and began studying Social Work. In that time, he began volunteering for Team Rubicon, where he found a new mission, and served as a PIO and Communications Manager for the State of Florida, Program Operations Manager for the State of Hawaii, and was the Region IV Deputy Director of Program Operations. In that time he also studied Emergency Management at Barry University, furthering his professional education within the industry. Brian also has extensive experience within the DHS and FEMA’s ICS/NIMS/GISP training courses and certification structure. He has deployed in multiple roles with various volunteer-based organizations active in disasters, including, most recently, as an Incident Commander for a Regional LSA during the Hurricane Michael response.

A new Florida VOAD Member organization, The Disaster Logistics Board (www.disasterlogs.org), focuses on mitigating and managing Disaster Supply Chain issues. Their Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) seeks to solve “The Second Disaster” (spontaneous donations and volunteers) utilizing off the shelf technology in innovative ways, and to provide industry standard tools, technology, and techniques to organizations via strategic partnerships and boots-on-ground support.

The Disaster Logistics Board provides All-Hazards experience with the secure collection and distribution of Geospatial Intelligence, Mapping, and Logistics/Donation Management, in compliance with DHS data policies. They are strategically partnered with Esri ArcGIS Public Safety Division and Disaster Response Team, FL SERT, Volunteer Florida, Focused Mission, PanoSkin, and Boxstorm.


Related Shows

Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-sims-b6684396/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DisasterLogs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/disasterlogisticsboard/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DisasterLogs/
Website: DisasterLogisticsBoard.org


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This week we are discussing leadership and how we can shape the field of emergency management. Jocko Willink in his book Extreme Ownership lays out the path on how to be a good leader. Now it is time to take those principles and implement them in Emergency Management.

Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddtdevoe/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/em_weekly/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweekly/
Website: https://sitchradio.com/our-shows/em-weekly/

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This week we talk to Dr. Robert Schneider about the sustainability and emergency management. As we are in the Recovery, and Mitigation phases we need to consider the impacts of building codes, zoning and land use. Sustainability is part of what we as emergency managers do.
Guest Bio
Robert O. Schneider holds a PhD in political science and is professor of public administration at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He has researched and written on leading policy issues where science and politics intersect; his recent efforts have extended to emergency management (practice and policy), with a focus on sustainability and hazard resilience. In addition to numerous peer-reviewed articles, he has written and published two books: Emergency Management and Sustainability: Defining a Profession and Managing the Climate Crisis: Assessing our Risks, Options, and Prospects.
Links
Website: https://www.uncp.edu/profile/dr-robert-o-schneider
Email: [email protected]

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Today this is a bonus show just to talk to the EM Subscribers. We are doing some cool things here at the New Sitch Radio Studios in Orange County California.
https://sitchradio.com

This week we are talking about the Air Force PJ leadership style. Leading a dynamic organization such as an office of emergency management can be challenging. I had the opportunity to Lt.Col Joseph Barnard who worked his way from enlisted to lead the highly trained Air Force Para Jumpers Rescue Team (PJ). The insights that Joseph shares with us in this interview will change your paradigm on leadership.

Guest Bio
Bio - Joe Barnard is a retired USAF Lt Colonel. His 33 year military career started in
1982 when he joined the Army as infantryman at the age of 17 from his parents
home in Pembroke Pines, FL. After his Army career, which included living in Vicenza
Italy for two years, Joe returned to South Florida and worked varying warehouse
and delivery driver jobs as well as being a lifeguard at
several South Florida beaches.

In 1988, Joe joined the USAF, 301 st Rescue Squadron at
Homestead AFB as a Pararescueman. He remained in
the 301 st through Hurricane Andrew, and helped
facilitate the unit’s move to Patrick AFB. Joe married
Meghan in 1991. With a one-year-old son and another
on the way, in 1997, he took a position as a Pararescue
Instructor at Kirtland AFB, NM. Joe was qualified to
teach and lead all blocks of instruction: Aircraft and Jump Ops, Weapons-Tactics,
Technical Rope, C2 and Dirt Medicine. He was also a member of the Special Tactics
and Recovery Specialist (STaRS) Parachute Demonstration Team.

With a stern push from a young wife who wanted a better life for her family, in 1998
Joe started college and received his bachelor’s degree in 2000 by attending classes
every weekend from 7-5 both Saturday and Sunday, ultimately leading to his
commission as an officer in February of 2001. Joe was selected out of OTS as the 4th
Combat Rescue Officer, a new career field the Air Force created to lead and
command Pararescueman and SERE specialist. Joe completes his masters degree in
2007.

His last 15 years as an officer were a blur except for those two tours in Hawaii. Lots
of surfing and SEA travel. When not in the Pacific, multiple deployments presented
complex leadership challenges which he took head on. Post 9/11 years were
bookend by death of teammates and success in harrowing missions. In the middle
was a tour as the first CRO to command the Pararescue School, where he was fired
after a year. That assignment is a book in itself.

During his entire career, Joe unapologetically took on the overwhelming briefcase
attitude of the conventional Air Force with his backpack mentality on behalf of his
mission and men. Ultimate career satisfaction came as Joe was selected for and had
two amazing years as the 38 th Rescue Squadron Commander. He and his team did it
right, pushing forward many progressive training methods that are still in place
today.

As Joe turned 52, and his youngest son was a year away from College. It was time.
He had done all he could do. Admittedly, he grew dissatisfied with DoD direction
and with the vice grip sequestration and continuing resolution put on the force. He
purposely retired without fan fair. Fully satisfied that he left it all on the table and
energized to be a capitalist in his next life. But first…

A sabbatical at the end of 2016 and throughout 2017 was well deserved. As Joe had
done with his oldest son, he taught his youngest son to skydive and they took a
couple of surf trips to Costa Rica and Baja. Once he was in in college, Meghan and Joe
put their household belongings in storage and traveled Southeast Asia – Singapore,
Bali and Thailand for four months.
Back in the states, his job search started in early 2018. “It was fun, I interviewed
them more than they interviewed me. I want my second life to be epic.”

Joe settled on a small company that installs wireless infrastructure for Verizon and
TMobile. He loves it, its complex. He has daily influence over 32m in revenue, as he
quickly took to running the sales pipeline, P&L of three divisions, HR, logistics and
all operations. Likely not Joe’s final resting place.
“I desire more responsibility, complexity and a more progressive executive team to
work with, but I started in a great place for my capitalistic journey. I validated that
my military leadership traits and problem solving abilities absolutely transfer to a

for profit organization. I love every minute of it. Meghan and I have big plans for our
future.”
Joe and Meghan reside in Neptune Beach, a costal community in Jacksonville FL.
Concerned by the high divorce rate and broken families a military life can create.
They are developing a program to help young married Special Operation couples not
only stay, but thrive together during and after their service to this great nation.

Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephbarnard/
Email: [email protected]



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