Retiring as the Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management for the Northern Region of the Forest Service, Greg joined the EMSI cadre in 2006 as an Incident Command System (ICS) Trainer and Emergency Management Consultant for a wide variety of agencies and organizations.
Throughout his successful 34 year career with the USDA Forest Service in Fire & Aviation Management, Greg gained valuable knowledge and experience in incident management. He began working within the Incident Command System in the mid-1970s while stationed in southern California and was exposed to large, complex incident management operations on wildfires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, agricultural disease suppression, pollution response, and a number of planned events. Demonstrating exceptional judgment and experience, Greg routinely served as both a Type 1 and Type 2 Planning Section Chief and Operations Section Chief during his career. Of note, Greg also qualified and served as a National Type 1 Incident Commander (1995-2000) and as a National Area Commander (2000-2005).
Since leaving the service, Greg has served as a lead instructor and course coordinator for ICS training presented to a myriad of federal, state, and local agencies, industry, and non-governmental organizations. Greg has also lent his expertise as a field instructor for the Illinois Fire Service Institute, University of Illinois, and the State of Hawaii, Department of Public Health. Additionally, Greg serves as a coach, mentor and trainer for the National Fire Academy’s All Hazard Incident Management Team Training and has participated in emergency exercises for the U.S. Coast Guard, National Capitol Region Incident Management Team, and the U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Emergency Support Teams.
During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill response, Greg served as an ICS advisor to the Unified Area Command located in Robert, Louisiana. As part of this Area Command, he was critical to the oversight of several operating Incident Management Teams in the area, as well as helping the Area Command set overall strategy and priorities, allocate limited resources according to established priorities, and assess progress towards accomplishing objectives.
Continuing to serve the emergency response community, Greg served as a Director and then President of the Southern California Association of Forester’s and Fire Wardens. He additionally served as the chair of the National Interagency Joint Firefighter Apprenticeship Committee.
Greg holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Forest and Watershed Management) from the University of Arizona. He also held ICS qualifications as an Area Commander, Type 1 Incident Commander, Type 1 Operations Section Chief, and Type 1 Planning Section Chief.