Biography
Dave is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM), and has worked over 3 decades as a public safety professional, working both in the private and public sectors, including local, county, & state government. Dave has served various leadership roles: 2 years as Vice-Chair of the University & Colleges Committee (UCC) for the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) from 2007 to 2009; and the Board of Director’s for California Emergency Services Association (CESA), Southern Chapter from 1999 to 2007 (CESA is a statewide organization comprised of emergency management professionals representing the public and private sectors).
Dave is currently the Director of the Emergency Management Department for Santa Clara University (SCU), reporting to the Assistant Vice-President of University Operations. Dave's current duties at Santa Clara University focus on crisis planning, mass notification policy & procedures, public policy development related to the Higher Education Act, crisis communications, use of social media and interagency coordination. In January 2014, Dave was elected to the Board of Director's for the Santa Clara County Emergency Manager's Association.
Santa Clara's Emergency Management program is responsible for the administration of the campus emergency/disaster response, mass warning system & activation, planning & coordination, and EOC operations & readiness. Santa Clara University operates a comprehensive "all-hazards" emergency management program for the SCU campus and SCU-affiliated administrative offices in the south bay region of the SF Bay Area. Dave continues to serve as the project administrator for an integrated, multi-modal Mass Notification System (MNS), merging independent hardware systems (outdoor sirens, SMS/text, VOIP, etc.) using modern integration methods.
Prior to returning to the SF Bay Area in 2013, Dave was selected in 2006 as the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), first full-time emergency manager to pioneer development UCLA's comprehensive emergency management program. Under David's leadership, UCLA's Emergency Management Office administered the campus emergency/disaster response, mass warning system & activation, crisis and emergency response, public safety field staff coordination & planning, maintained 24/7 EOC operations & readiness, and supervised a full-time EM Specialist and Interns. In 2009, Dave accepted two awards on behalf of the UCLA Emergency Management Offices, pioneering efforts to develop one of the first fully integrated and interoperable emergency mass notification systems nationally among major Universities.
In 2009, David and several campus emergency managers and IACLEA campus police officers were invited by FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) to assist in the development of the first incident management training course developed specifically for Higher Education (IS-100HE - Introduction to the Incident Command System ICS) for Higher Education). http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=is-100.he
From 2010-2012, David led several modernization projects for UCLA: a renovation of the Executive Operations facility, which supports the Emergency Management Policy Group (EMPG), led by the UCLA Chancellor; and oversaw renovation & modernization of the campus Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and creation of 4 Departmental Operation's Center's (DOC) to improve internal crisis coordination and planning.
Dave has served as a subject matter expert and consultant for numerous projects. His current focus is on mass warning & notification systems; mass casualty incident management; and crisis communications.
Dave earned the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) credential through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) in 2006. In January 2010, Dave appeared as a technical expert on the History Channel’s docudrama "After Armageddon" http://shop.history.com/detail.php?p=255666
With over a quarter century experience as an emergency manager, Dave has experienced a wide variety of emergencies. From 1981-1990, as a paramedic in Oakland, California - Dave worked in wide number of mass casualty incidents & special events, including plane crashes, bus and mass transportation collisions, a December 1986 mass shooting of 9 people (with six deaths), culminating with the Loma Prieta SF-Bay Area (World Series) earthquake in 1989. Dave managed the medical field disaster operations for the Loma Prieta Earthquake (1989) and I-880 "Cypress" Freeway collapse for 6 days, and assisted in the coordination of the Presidential Disaster Declaration visit by George H.W. Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle. Dave has worked in urban, suburban, and rural systems throughout his career.
From 1990 to 1999, Dave served as an EMS Administrator in Monterey County, and the Fresno, Kings, Madera EMS Agency developing regional medical/disaster plans and serving on several state Task Forces. Dave’s disaster experiences include the El Nino floods (Central Valley) in 1998, El Nino storms & floods in 2002 and 2004; and working in conjunction with the City of Los Angeles in hosting delegates for the 2000 Democratic Convention and related protests (anarchists) response, coordination, and planning.
