You know how to run your operations, but can you keep them running through a crisis?
Your focus should be on your business.
Not on managing a crisis.
Some crises are sudden. Others emerge over time, tied to growth, calls for oversight, or a change in leadership.
Some risks slow your operations. Others damage trust. Both are easier to manage if you see them coming.
I help organizations recognize what could go wrong, plan for it, respond when it happens, and learn from it afterward.
Together, we can build plans and run exercises so your team stays focused and your operations keep running.
Who I work with
Public sector
Cities, counties, and public agencies work under scrutiny from many directions: oversight bodies, monitors, reform mandates, audits, public records, leadership changes, and shifting public sentiment. The challenge goes well beyond providing the best service. It's maintaining public trust. One misstep by one person can become an agency-wide crisis. I've worked inside that pressure. I help agencies plan for it, respond to it, and rebuild afterward.
Regulated and public-facing private industries face much of the same pressure, and the same experience applies.
Even the agencies that help others through emergencies need help with their own.
Public safety firms
Technology, policy, and risk mitigation companies serving public safety and emergency response need someone who knows how emergencies actually play out, what responders need, and what gets used in the field.
Businesses
Most businesses expect profit and growth; not all are prepared for instability and disruption. I help in three areas: keeping operations running through a disruption, maintaining steadiness through a change in leadership, and preparing for what could damage your reputation.
Nonprofits
Nonprofits run lean, but they still answer to donors and boards and are responsible for their staff, volunteers, and participants. A responsible plan doesn't have to be big, but it does have to be realistic and sized to fit a budget.
Emergency and contingency planning for programs, events, volunteer teams, and field operations. Flexible engagements, from a single plan to the full cycle.
Engage one service, or the full cycle.
Some organizations handle most of the work in-house and want help with specific pieces. Others want support from start to finish, before, during, or after a crisis.
1. Assess
Operational and reputational risk assessments.
Risk, threat and hazard assessments.
Identifying what could disrupt operations or damage trust.
2. Prevent
Policy development that meets requirements and works in daily operations.
Internal controls, compliance and audit readiness.
Oversight, monitor and reform response.
3. Prepare
Crisis, continuity and emergency operations plans.
Proven leadership structures for key staff during a crisis.
Training plans.
Tabletop exercises and drills.
Budget justification for preparedness programs.
4. Perform
Activation and response support.
Situation briefings for leadership during an incident.
Guidance for decision making in sensitive situations.
5. Review
Post-action reviews any time after an incident, to learn what happened and why.
Corrective action plans.
Lessons learned built into future plans and training.
I have a strong network of experts. If an issue is outside my scope, I can make an introduction or bring in a subcontractor.
Where a crisis can start
Operations
A key system fails, a site closes, a supplier stops delivering, or a disaster disrupts the area. What matters is how quickly the work resumes and whether your team already knows its role. I help build the plans and run the exercises so they do.
Leadership and change
A call to change can come from an oversight mandate, a reform effort, or new leadership with new expectations. Sometimes taking it seriously means handling it like a crisis.
A good policy meets the requirements it was written for. It also has to be clear, teachable, workable in daily operations, and defensible when questioned.
Sometimes adopting the change is harder than writing the policy. People must work a new way, those watching must see the change is real, and operations must keep running throughout.
When change is introduced thoughtfully, people understand the benefit, and trust follows.
Reputation
One incident, one decision, or one piece of information, true or not, can put an organization's reputation at risk. I help you identify what could damage trust and plan a response. When the issue is clear, I help you decide how to move forward, working with your counsel and communications team.
Selected experience
From more than two decades of crisis management, including work inside a 55,000-employee organization.
150+
leaders coordinated under one crisis and continuity plan
6,000
employee work arrangements and accommodations managed through back-to-back crises
100+
policy and operational changes delivered under a reform mandate
100%
compliance on a 30-point external audit, with corrections completed in two weeks
150+
policies reviewed and improved each year, including oversight requirements
$16M+
secured in grants and budget for training and facilities
Why an outside consultant
A focused solution to a specific problem.
I'm happy to help with one or two problems. The goal is to solve them and move on, not to create a permanent position.
No benefits, no annual reviews, no promotion path. When the problem is solved, I step back. Follow-up reviews are available when you want them.
As an outside advisor, I have little to no stake in internal politics and nothing to gain from any particular outcome. My goal is to get you through it.
Bringing in outside help isn't an admission of failure. It's a decision to deal with the issue.
An outsider can say what employees and stakeholders can't, take on the hard issue so no one inside has to carry it alone, and help leadership move an organization off old habits.
Posting a new role can signal a weakness to staff, competitors, and the public. An outside advisor avoids that. No job posting, no new title, no announcement.
I work alongside your legal, communications, policy, risk, HR, and security teams, not in place of them.
What I bring to every engagement:
Discretion.
Candor.
Intention.
Adaptability.
Decisive action.
Discreet by design.
I don't disclose who I work with.
No one needs to know the scope of the work.
You can address a risk without announcing it.
Your concerns stay between us.
About
For more than 20 years, I served as an NYPD police officer and first grade detective, a critical care EMT, and a firefighter, and I provided medical relief in remote parts of Central America. I worked the front lines and also sat at the table where the plans are made.
For twelve of those years, through several changes in leadership, I advised the top executives of a 55,000-employee organization on crisis plans, risk and compliance programs, and large-scale operations, and delivered policy and operational change under a reform mandate. I know what a plan says on paper, what it takes to carry it out, and how to check that it's being followed.
My degree in professional and technical writing, combined with real-world operational experience, helps me turn complex requirements into clear direction people can act on under pressure.
I've represented the NYPD on international goodwill tours to Canada, Japan, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, and across the U.S. I've shared operational practices with national, international, and private-sector counterparts, and briefed C-suite leaders from large corporations on risk controls as they prepared for board service. Today I work independently with businesses, nonprofits, public agencies, and the firms that build tools for public safety.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
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Facing a challenge, planning ahead, or know an organization that is? Tell me about it. I'll respond personally.