National Strategic Advisor- Disaster Resilience
Responsibilities include:- Serve as Freese and Nichols' National Strategic Advisor for Disaster Resilience, advising the firm on the technical direction for disaster resilience-related services.
- Advance FNI's technical excellence and national reputation in disaster resilience, emergency management, hazard mitigation, recovery, and whole-community resilience through thought leadership, innovation, and industry engagement.
- Provide strategic advisory services for complex resilience initiatives, helping clients address risk, preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, and long-term adaptation challenges.
- Partner with practice leaders and the Strategic Initiative Leader to define, develop, and continuously improve disaster resilience service offerings across planning, engineering, emergency management, funding, and program management disciplines.
- Champion integration of disaster resilience principles into FNI's planning, design, and program delivery practices.
- Lead the development of technical frameworks, methodologies, best practices, tools, and guidance that strengthen consistency and quality across disaster resilience projects and services nationwide.
- Identify emerging trends, evolving policies, funding programs, technologies, and industry practices that create opportunities for innovation, service expansion, and improved client outcomes.
- Mentor and develop technical staff across practices, building organizational capability in resilience planning, emergency management, disaster recovery, climate adaptation, and related disciplines.
- Advise firm leadership on strategic investments, capability development, emerging technical needs, and opportunities to enhance FNI's competitive position in the disaster resilience market.
- Serve as a senior technical reviewer, mentor, and subject matter expert for key resilience projects, ensuring delivery of high-quality, innovative, and defensible solutions.
- Build and maintain relationships with national organizations, government agencies, universities, research institutions, and industry leaders to strengthen FNI's visibility, credibility, and access to emerging best practices.
- Represent Freese and Nichols through conference presentations, technical publications, industry committees, research initiatives, training programs, and client education efforts that elevate the firm's national profile.
- Support strategic pursuits by providing technical credibility, executive-level client engagement, industry intelligence, and subject matter expertise for major opportunities involving resilience, emergency management, recovery, infrastructure adaptation, and disaster funding programs.
- Foster collaboration across practices and geographies to create integrated resilience solutions that leverage the full breadth of Freese and Nichols' planning, engineering, environmental, program management, and funding expertise.
Qualifications- 12+ years of progressive experience in disaster resilience, emergency management, infrastructure resilience, public sector consulting, disaster recovery, hazard mitigation, flood risk management, planning, engineering, program management, or a related field.
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, planning, emergency management, public administration, environmental science, public policy, or a related field.
- Demonstrated success leading business development, client engagement, strategy development, and/or market growth in a public sector consulting environment.
- Experience working with local, regional, state, and/or federal clients involved in disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, infrastructure resilience, or public funding programs.
- Ability to translate complex policy, funding, technical, and operational issues into clear market strategies, client solutions, and actionable implementation plans.
- Strong executive presence with the ability to build trust with clients, internal stakeholders, technical leaders, teaming partners, and firm leadership.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through influence across practices, geographies, disciplines, and organizational structures.
- Strong understanding of the disaster lifecycle and the relationships among preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, funding, infrastructure planning, and long-term resilience.
- Excellent communication, facilitation, writing, and presentation skills.
Preferred: - Experience supporting disaster resilience, emergency management, hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, or infrastructure resilience programs for local, state, or federal agencies.
- Knowledge of federal and state funding programs, including FEMA, HUD CDBG-DR/CDBG-MIT, Hazard Mitigation Assistance, and similar resilience and recovery funding sources.
- Experience developing, managing, or supporting pre-disaster advisory contracts, on-call contracts, technical assistance programs, or disaster recovery engagements.
- Established relationships with public sector clients, emergency management organizations, funding agencies, and resilience stakeholders.
- Demonstrated success in business development, strategic planning, and executive-level client relationship management.
- Ability to translate complex technical, funding, and policy issues into actionable business strategies and client solutions.
- Experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing outcomes across multiple disciplines and organizational boundaries.
- Strong executive presence, communication skills, and ability to build trust with both clients and internal stakeholders.
- Professional registration or certification such as PE, CFM, AICP, PMP, or similar credentials.
- Active participation in relevant professional and industry organizations.
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