Ron Cantin

Ron Cantin
President

Currently serving as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for EMSI, Inc., Ron joined our company in 2007, bringing over 25 years of experience in incident and emergency management to our clients.

As a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, Ron served two tours of duty as a senior member of the prestigious National Strike Force: first serving as Executive Officer of the Pacific Strike Team from 2000 to 2003, then again as the Commanding Officer of the Gulf Strike Team from 2005 to 2007.  Critical to the application of ICS in the Coast Guard, Ron directed the startup and execution of the ICS training and implementation program for the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area and served as a member of the Coast Guard ICS Training Coordination Team establishing and directing a Coast Guard-wide ICS training program from 2003 to 2005.  During this time, Ron also established and coordinated the Pacific Area Incident Management Assist Team (IMAT).  Ron completed extensive training in hazardous materials incident response and oversaw responses to numerous oil and hazardous materials incidents throughout his service and quickly became a certified hazardous material Incident Commander. In 2006, he became the first Type 1 Incident Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Throughout his time with the Coast Guard, Ron gained extensive experience in a wide range of local, regional, and national level incidents and special events.  In 1999, Ron worked on the John F. Kennedy Jr. maritime search and recovery operation and, in 2001, he served as the Planning Section Chief for the Capitol Hill Anthrax incident.  Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Ron served as the USCG Incident Specific Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) and Incident Commander in Louisiana.  In this capacity, Ron lead over 2,000 responders, mitigating the effects of over eight million gallons of crude oil originating from nine different simultaneous medium and major oil spills, and recovering tens of thousands of hazardous materials containers from the highly sensitive environmental areas of coastal Louisiana.  A proven incident leader, he provided experience, leadership, and insight while assigned as the Incident Commander of both the USCG’s Pacific Area and Atlantic Area IMATs. Ron is additionally certified as a Facilitator from the Coast Guard Leadership Development Center.

Since joining EMSI in 2007, Ron has taught and coached ICS and incident management to thousands of responders, in the classroom and on exercises and responses, from government and industry response teams around the world.  During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Ron spent nearly nine months advising and coaching government and industry responders on incident management at the Incident Command Posts in Houma, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, as well as the Area Command in New Orleans, LA.

Ron is a recognized national and international incident management expert.  Since joining EMSI, he has worked closely with the oil and gas industry preparing companies to respond to highly complex scenarios on a global basis.  Indicative of his expertise, Ron holds ICS qualifications as a Type 1 Incident Commander, Type 1 Operations Section Chief, and Type 1 Planning Section Chief, in addition to numerous hazardous materials response certifications.