An Article Out Loud Flashback from the Domestic Preparedness Journal, April 26, 2017.
“Emergency management” is a term broadly defining a field that includes federal, state, and local government agencies, voluntary organizations active in disasters, and private sector stakeholders that conduct a variety of activities to prepare for, mitigate against, respond to, and recover from incidents. However, “emergency management” does not accurately describe the discipline or represent the most valuable skillset of emergency managers and their agencies: complex problem solving.
Narrated by Randy Vivian.
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Chas Eby
Chas Eby is the deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Emergency Management (MDEM), where he oversees its operations, administration, and programs, including the recently established Maryland Office of Resilience and State Disaster Recovery Fund. In 2021, Chas led Maryland’s COVID-19 mass vaccination site campaign, during which the 13 state sites administered over 1.2 million vaccinations. Prior to joining MDEM, he was the chief planner for Emergency Preparedness at the Maryland Department of Health and served as the pandemic influenza coordinator during the 2009-10 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Chas holds an M.A. in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. Chas has completed the FEMA National Emergency Management Executive Academy (2015) and a 2022 detail to FEMA headquarters. He was a 2019 Henry Toll Fellow at the Council of State Governments and an ELBI Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security in 2014.
