Small businesses play an enormous role in U.S. success and we know that disasters threaten the already fragile existence of many. In this episode, I speak with Lucien Canton, a long-time leader and author in emergency management about the effec

#82 George and Jeb - Dress for EM Success

Jan 6th, 2020

How important is what you wear as an Emergency Manager and how do you know when to wear what? In this episode of the Complete EM Podcast, contributor Jeb Lacey of RS Network Consulting, and George Whitney, founder of Complete EM, have a little

#81 George and Jeb - EM Take Home Vehicles

Dec 30th, 2019

Do you drive a government or company vehicle in the course of your duty as an Emergency Manager? Do you take it home? Is it equipped with emergency lights and sirens? In this episode of the Complete EM Podcast, contributor Jeb Lacey of RS Netw

#80 Cat Graham - Humanity Road

Mar 14th, 2019

The tougher part of natural disasters and the better part of human nature will mean we will probably always have unaffiliated volunteer organizations helping emergency managers with disaster response and recovery. In this episode, we explore wh

#79 Robert de Groot - ShakeAlert

Feb 27th, 2019

What could you do if you had 5-seconds notice of a large, impending earthquake? A new technology called ShakeAlert now makes some advance warning of earthquakes possible. So, as emergency managers, we have to ask a few questions. What responsib

#78 Andrew Lockman - Emergency Drought Operations

Feb 13th, 2019

Most emergency managers think of drought as a slow-onset, slow-burn type of disaster that jurisdictions simply need to ride-out with conservation. Some jurisdictions haven't been so lucky. In this episode, an emergency manager who directed cri

#77 Mark Lucero - IPAWS

Feb 6th, 2019

Public alert and warning has again become an area of priority for emergency managers. Getting advance notice of imminent danger and valuable instructions to the public when they need it most - before a disaster can do irreparable harm - is argu

#76 Art Botterell - Emergency Messaging 2 of 2

Jan 29th, 2019

What does emergency messaging have to do with Y2K, social science, communications interoperability and a free market economy? In this second of two episodes with a pioneer in emergency messaging, we drive closer to defining the current problem

#75 Art Botterell - Emergency Messaging

Jan 22nd, 2019

In light of recent emergency messaging failures, it's time to ask...what's happening? Do local and state jurisdictions indeed have a duty to warn the public of emergency? If so, how are emergency managers impacted or otherwise bound to this d

#75 Art Botterell - Emergency Messaging 1 of 2

Jan 22nd, 2019

#74 Patrick Crawford - Feeding America

Dec 12th, 2018

Emergency managers have a lot to think about and, fortunately, have a large network of partners with which to consider risk, disaster needs and effective means of service delivery. One of those partners is the local food bank and their associa

#73 Ronda Oberlin - Improving Public Preparedness

Dec 4th, 2018

Many emergency managers agree programs need to invest more in public preparedness, but deciding how to make the best investments is tough. Designing a program that takes into account large, almost infinitely diverse populations seems impossible

#72 Barb Graff - EMAP

Oct 31st, 2018

If someone were to survey emergency managers and ask "what do emergency managers do?", chances are the answers would still vary quite a bit, but that's been changing. Since 2003, the Emergency Management Accreditation Program has been very exp

#71 Beth Zimmerman - Disaster Recovery

Oct 22nd, 2018

Most emergency managers understand that disaster recovery involves a lot more than SBA and FEMA assistance, yet few local programs have developed a recovery plan. Indeed, planning for recovery requires a lot of consideration, but there's tools

#70 Sonny Fong - 2000/2001 California Energy Crisis

Jul 25th, 2018

Anyone remember the 2000 energy crisis in California? Like too many unexpected events that created great impacts, the lessons learned and passed along to emergency managers have been few and far between. In this episode, a person at the center

#69 Don Boland-California Utilities Emergency Association

Apr 5th, 2018

Few organizations know more about operational dependency than utilities. Electricity is needed to operate water, wastewater, communication, transportation and other criticial infrastructure. In turn, electricity is dependent on natural gas, coa

#68 Corey Eide - Team Rubicon

Mar 13th, 2018

It's difficult to dispute that Team Rubicon (TR) has joined the disaster relief stage with surprising success and momentum. Then again, employing veterans and others who share a desire to serve in places where people desperately need help, well

#67 James Madia - Southern California Edison

Mar 6th, 2018

Utilities maintain some of the most critical infrastructure on the planet and a lot of work goes into making utilities stable, secure and resilient. In this epsiode, we speak with the manager of Southern California Edison's Emergency Operations

#66 Rebecca Enberg - Unaffiliated Volunteers and Unsolicited Donations

Dec 19th, 2017

If there's anything worse than seeing serious, unmet needs following disaster, it's seeing people and resources that can meet those needs, but having no efficient way to employ them. In this episode, we speak with the Volunteer Network Program

#65 Yuri Graves - Training and Learning Management

Sep 27th, 2017

With all that emergency managers must do to get their organizations ready for disaster, how much time can and should be invested in training? Yuri Graves, the emergency manager for the City of Henderson, NV, explains how much training plays a

#64 Glenn Pomeroy - California Earthquake Authority

Sep 21st, 2017

In September 2017, the National Flood Insurance Program received a 10-week reprieve from a $25 billion loan payment. The program is, quite literally, under water. In this episode, we speak with the CEO of another large, public, catastrophic lo

#63 Thad Huguley - Legislative Advocacy

Aug 23rd, 2017

"Lobbying" may have become a dirty word, but legislative advocacy is nothing less than essential for emergency managers who rely on federal grants to operate local and state emergency management programs. In this episode, the Director of Gover

#62 Sheriff Kory Honea - Lake Oroville Spillway Incident

Aug 14th, 2017

In January 2017, Lake Oroville operated like thousands of other flood control and water storage facilities in the US. Surrounding public safety agencies enjoyed good relations. A county EOP and dam EAP existed. Telephone trees were regularly t

#61 Joe Dougherty - Enhancing Public Information

Aug 8th, 2017

What allows an EM program to enjoy good public relations? Joe Dougherty, the Public Information Officer for Utah's Division of Emergency Management says it has a lot to do with finding a relatable and trustworthy PIO, and earnestly integrating

#60 Selina Hayes - Gender Equality in Emergency Management

Aug 2nd, 2017

Do we have gender equality in the emergency management profession? If not, what is a practical definition of equal, how are we measuring it and are we making good progress? How does gender equality affect our program outcomes? In this episode,