Confidence Through Competence™: How to Shift Your Mindset and Use IPAWS With Authority

When a disaster strikes, government officials must send clear, precise and timely emergency alerts through IPAWS. However, many officials lack the soft skills and confidence needed to press the “send” button.

Fear of making a mistake and hesitation in using IPAWS leads to far too many instances where an alert goes out too late or not at all – resulting in more lives lost and more property damage.

The secret to overcoming this fear and uncertainty? Shift your mindset. Learn to fear inaction rather than mistakes. Government officials can build confidence through competence™ - and learn to stop hesitating during an emergency.

Watch this on-demand webinar to learn:

• How to use IPAWS successfully - and with authority
• Best practices for a comprehensive emergency alerting program
• How to create muscle memory through training and education
• The importance of continuous improvement and learning from mistakes

Expert Panel:

Eddie Bertola, Founder of Bertola Advisory Services (panelist)

Peter Gaynor, Vice President, Resiliency and Disaster Recovery, Hill International (panelist)

Troy Harper, Vice President, Public Sector, OnSolve (moderator)

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Bios:

Eddie Bertola is the founder of Bertola Advisory Services and a subject matter expert in mass notification strategies, emergency messaging, missing person alerts and engagement with the public during emergencies. He consults with FEMA/IPAWS, federal, state, local, territorial and tribal leaders, and private sector companies. He is a Reserve Pea Ridge Arkansas Police Officer, a member of the Arkansas Troop L Child Abduction Response Team and the FBI Task Force for Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking. He worked for the California Highway Patrol for 15 years, concluding in the Counterterrorism and Threat Awareness Section as the lead statewide instructor for emergency messaging, the AMBER Alert and other missing person alerting.

Peter Gaynor is the Vice President, Resiliency and Disaster Recovery at Hill International. His experience includes serving as FEMA Administrator, the Acting Secretary for Department of Homeland Security and Director for both state and local emergency management agencies. He oversaw FEMA’s first ever operational response to a nationwide pandemic. He has more than 14 years of experience in emergency management and served for 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Troy Harper is Vice President, Public Sector, at OnSolve, where he leads the company's Federal, State and Local Government operations, Public Utilities and Higher Education business efforts. Harper joined OnSolve in 2013, bringing more than 20 years of public safety and emergency management leadership. His career includes extensive planning, response and recovery activities for 12 federally declared disasters, weather emergencies, manmade incidents and wildfires, including one of Florida’s most devastating wildfires. Harper also served as the appointed 911 Coordinator and managed a multi-jurisdictional Public Safety Operations Center. He served in the U.S. Air Force and holds numerous federal and state certifications. His experiences with emergency management, law enforcement, fire rescue, public health and search-and-rescue bring a successful methodology and approach for resiliency to OnSolve.