Erik S. Gaull

Emergency Manager, First Responder, Technology Consultant

Erik Gaull is a consultant and technology expert specializing in public safety, emergency management, counterterrorism/homeland security, organizational resilience, and enterprise risk management. He has substantive experience in all three levels of government – in City Hall in both Washington, D.C. and New York City; in the New Mexico State Department of Health; and in the U.S. House of Representatives. He has had direct service delivery roles as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, paramedic, and park ranger in Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C. since 1980.

Erik has led and provided subject matter expertise on projects for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Navy, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Election Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, World Bank, and numerous local governments, educational, and private sector clients in the United States, Europe, Canada, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

Erik is the Secretary-elect of the International Association of Emergency Managers (USA Council) and presently serves on the Executive Committee of the DHS Emergency Services Sector Coordinating Council and as a Tri-chair of the National Homeland Security Consortium. He previously served for nine years on the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s First Responder Resource Group and for nine years as the Emergency Services Sector Chief of InfraGard National Capital Region.

Erik holds five premier peer-conferred professional designations – Certified Emergency Manager®, Certified Information Systems Security Professional®, Certified Protection Professional®, Certified Business Continuity Professional®, and Project Management Professional®. He is a graduate of the Emergency Management Institute’s National Emergency Management Executive and Advanced Academies and is a seasoned law enforcement officer, Nationally Registered Paramedic, Pro Board-certified Fire Officer III and Fire Instructor III, and hazardous materials technician. Additionally, Erik has earned FEMA’s Master Exercise Practitioner, Master Continuity Practitioner, Advanced Professional Series, and Professional Development Series designations.

From 2000 to 2002, Erik was the Director of the Operational Improvements Division of the Office of Mayor Anthony A. Williams in Washington, D.C. On September 11, 2001, he helped manage the District’s Emergency Operations Center. In the months following, he developed the District’s “First Hour of Action Plan for Senior Officials” and assisted with the development of numerous other plans, policies, procedures, and exercises. Additionally, Erik was a key liaison for the Mayor and City Administrator in the intergovernmental response to the Anthrax attacks of 2001. Mayor Williams appointed him to the Mayor’s Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program Advisory Committee in 2002 and the Mayor’s Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee in 2001.

Erik earned an MBA and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University and a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University. He was an instructor at the National Fire Academy for 20 years and an adjunct faculty member in the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and at the George Washington University Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine.

Erik is the most senior reserve officer in the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and a Life Member (and the longest-serving responder) in the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he is currently a Firefighter/Paramedic III. In 2017, Erik received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama for his public safety volunteerism. Erik and his family live in Cabin John, Maryland.