Summer Series #5 | The Private Sector and the Public Sector & Emergency Management - Interview with Jason Ferguson

Thanks for joining me this week for this Bonus Episode in our Summer Series! We tie together many of the themes we’ve been talking about over the course of the last six episodes, particularly how diversity in backgrounds and expertise is important in EM and how all different fields come together to influence and add to the Emergency Management conversation. My guest this week is Jeanne O’Donnell, Program Manager at LA County Office of Emergency Management. Having worked in the field for over 25 years, 16 of those at the LA County OEM, Jeanne has such a wealth of experience and information to share. She has worked as an EOC Coordinator, a Section Chief, and in various other positions during activations and exercises. She has also led the development of a number of countywide disaster plans including mass fatality, volunteer management, animal response, and donations management. In this episode we talk holistically about how Emergency Management overlaps with other fields, how these various perspectives and knowledge bases can be helpful for creative problem solving, and how we can create an environment for all stakeholders involved to work together. Jeanne shares wonderful stories and examples from her career and has great advice to share with EMs at any point in their journey to learn more. Enjoy!Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected], [email protected]:Sitch Radio https://sitchradio.comThe EM Weekly Show https://emweekly.comCrisis Cafe https://crisis-cafe.mn.co/feed

I’m so excited to welcome to the podcast this week my guest, Sarah Thompson. Sarah is the Senior Manager of Operations in Relief and Recovery at the Canadian Red Cross in Ontario, Canada. We focused a lot of our conversation around the topic of data and the importance of good data management. We also discussed how data can be used as the foundation for effective communication in Emergency Management, making sure that we and the teams we work with develop skills or work with experts in organizing and interpreting data so that we are able to pull valuable insights from the information that we have access to. Finally, Sarah also shares some insights from her experience in organizing deployments for the Red Cross as well as some advice and lessons that she has learned throughout her career. I really enjoyed speaking with her and I’m so happy to be able to share this interview with you! Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected], [email protected]:Sitch Radio https://sitchradio.comThe EM Weekly Show https://emweekly.comCrisis Cafe https://crisis-cafe.mn.co/feed

This week on EM Student I am talking to Jason Ferguson, a servant-leader with over 17 years of experience across the Public Health, Emergency Management, Higher Education and Veteran Service sectors. In his career, he has fostered safe, healthy, and vibrant communities on university campuses; increased access to affordable medications and housing for under-resourced individuals living with HIV/AIDS; helped military veterans reintegrate into civilian life by training them for domestic and international disaster response missions; and assisted communities in the cycle of preparing for, responding to, recovering from, and mitigating against disasters of all types. In our conversation, we talk about his experience working in the private and public sectors, both at his current position as the Deputy Director of Emergency Management at SnapNurse, and in his previous roles. He gave me an overview of what it is like to work at these various types of organizations and had some great advice for people entering the EM field. I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason, and I am sure you will too. Here it is!Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected]

Join me this week for a conversation with Communications Manager for the City of Oxnard, Katie Casey. We discuss strategies and projects that Oxnard is utilizing to best serve its community.Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected]:Sitch Radio https://sitchradio.comThe EM Weekly Show https://emweekly.comCrisis Cafe https://crisis-cafe.mn.co/feed

Join me this week for a conversation with Jeff Schlegelmilch, the Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, about how the fields of Economics and Emergency Management come together, how data and research can be used to affect EM policy, and what really is the most effective way to prepare our communities for potential disaster.Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected] Center for Disaster Preparedness of the Earth Institute at Columbia University: https://www.ncdpcourses.org/

Join me this week for a conversation with Kelly McKinney about how to navigate the field of Emergency Management. With extensive experience working in Emergency Management in New York City for the last 20 years, Kelly presents a wealth of insight and advice on how to approach your career growth in the field of EM. Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected]

Show Notes: We’re back! Join me this week for an all new episode as I speak with two guests about their experiences seeking EM education and training to break into the EM field. Matthew Pederson is an Emergency Management Specialist in the Response division at FEMA Region 9 who shifted into working in Emergency Management full time after volunteering and pursuing many EM training and education opportunities, and Michael Teener is a recent graduate from North Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science in Crisis, Emergency, and Disaster Management. Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected] Links: FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI)FEMA Center for Domestic PreparednessUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC)National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center (NERRTC) at Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX)

We are now in the sixth and final week of the EM Student summer break, which means that we are going to be back next week with all new content! I am super excited to share it with you, and I hope that you’ll come to join us for it!Until then, I’ve put together an episode this week that is a two-parter. The first episode is a fascinating interview that Todd DeVoe conducted with Chris Eagle, who is a Chief of the Forest Fire Management, in Victoria, Australia. And the second episode is Todd’s explanation of some decision-making frameworks that can be used in Emergency Management. Hope you enjoy it!Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected]:Mid-Atlantic Center for Emergency Management: https://macem.org/Home.aspxAirMethods: https://www.airmethods.com/careers/ Sitch Radio https://sitchradio.comThe EM Weekly Show https://emweekly.comCrisis Cafe https://crisis-cafe.mn.co/feed

We are in the fifth and second to last week of the EM Student summer break, and this time I have a wonderful interview that Dan Scott did, sitting down with Dr. Alyssa Provencio, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of Central Oklahoma and coordinator of the disaster management certification at UCO. They discuss the underrepresentation of women and people of color in the field of emergency management, some reasons why this is the case, why it matters, and ideas for how we can change this going forward to increase diversity in the field. Resources: Certificate in Disaster Management at UCO: https://www.uco.edu/programs/jcgs/cla/certifications/certificate-in-disaster-management Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emweeklyTwitter: https://twitter.com/EM_Weekly Website: https://sitchradio.com/shows/em-student/ Email: [email protected]:Mid-Atlantic Center for Emergency Management: https://macem.org/Home.aspxAirMethods: https://www.airmethods.com/careers/ Sitch Radio https://sitchradio.comThe EM Weekly Show https://emweekly.comCrisis Cafe https://crisis-cafe.mn.co/feed

Today, for the fourth week of the EM Student summer break, I’ve slotted an episode that was actually a joint broadcast for EM Student and EM Weekly, so we have both Dan Scott and Todd DeVoe talking to Dr. Carol Cwiak and Brandi Hunter about the role of mentoring in career development for Emergency Managers. Dr. Cwiak is an associate professor and internship coordinator at South Dakota State University’s Department of Emergency Management and Brandi Hunter is a practicing emergency manager and founder of the organization, Aspiring Emergency Managers Online, working to connect entrants to the EM field with seasoned professionals. Resources: AEMO: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspiringemergencymanagers/ South Dakota State University, Department of Emergency Management: https://www.sdstate.edu/safety-security/emergency-management The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38390751-the-infinite-game This is Marketing by Seth Godin: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40549476-this-is-marketing Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader by Christopher Connors: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53563191-emotional-intelligence-for-the-modern-leader The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571656-the-happiness-equationAntifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13530973-antifragile Stories that Stick by Kindra Hall: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42772139-stories-that-stick Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/em-student