Riding the Wave: Applying Project Management Science in the Field of Emergency Management

This book provides a foundational project management methodology relevant to the emergency management practice, and explains and demonstrates how project management can be applied in the context of emergency and public safety organizations.

Andrew Boyarsky, MSM, PMP, CBCP, cABCF, is President of Pinnacle Performance Management, and an emergency management and disaster recovery specialist with 30 years of experience in project management and 23 years in emergency management, business continuity, and disaster recovery. He is a Clinical Associate Professor and teaches at NYU, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and at Yeshiva University. In the early 1990s, he developed and managed large-scale emergency medical and mass care response projects overseas in former Yugoslavia and in the Caucasus with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Catholic Relief Services/Caritas Internationalis. From 2007-2016 Prof. Boyarsky was Project Manager for Coastal Storm Plan Training working on behalf of the NYC Office of Emergency Management, responsible for training over 30,000 City staff for emergency sheltering operations, and managed additional training programs in logistics, recovery, special medical needs, and disability, access, functional needs, and pandemic response.

His clients have included FEMA, the Regional Catastrophic Planning Team of NY-NJ-CT-PA, New York City Office of Emergency Management, New York City Health Department, Los Angeles Emergency Management Department, Baltimore City Health Department, Westchester County (NY) Office of Emergency Management, and NYC Human Resources Administration. He has developed emergency management programs and training curricula for mass care functions (evacuation and sheltering), logistics, post disaster recovery assistance, mass fatality incidents, pandemic response, and the use of social media for emergency management organizations. In addition, Prof. Boyarsky was involved in the deployment and management of large-scale emergency sheltering in New York City during Hurricanes Irene and Sandy and planning during the pandemic response.

He has been a speaker on E-learning and virtual world course development at the NOAA Games and Simulations Conference, Federal Consortium on Virtual Worlds Conference, the Defense GameTech Conference, Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum, and at the North American Simulations and Gaming Association Conference. As a Clinical Associate Professor, he has developed and helped launch several certification programs in project, emergency, and risk management. He has a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, Masters in the Science of Management from the Hult International School of Business (formerly the Arthur D. Little School of Management), and earned his PMP certification in 2003, CBCP in 2019, cABCF in 2020. He also hosts a podcast series Riding the Wave: Project Management for Emergency Managers, and volunteers with the Community Emergency Response Team in South Orange, NJ, where is resides with his family.