Bob Palestrant has over 40 years of experience serving as a registered nurse, firefighter/paramedic, emergency manager, and in the discipline of homeland security. As Director of the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security for Miami-Dade County, Florida, he coordinated multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional responses to disasters and large-scale emergencies, and as a member of a coalition of Emergency Managers from the 11 largest U.S. cities, worked with the Council of Excellence in Government to standardize and improve methods of increasing the preparedness and the ability of cities to respond to disasters on a national basis.As the first Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Chief of the Domestic Preparedness Division, Bob established and managed the Terrorism Response Bureau and was responsible for all Homeland Security-related issues and management of major pre-planned events. He also served as the Southeast Florida Fusion Center Terrorism Liaison Officer Program Coordinator, and was on multiple regional, state, and national homeland security-related committees and work groups. He has been instrumental in multiple activations at the command level including several major hurricanes, Superbowl XLI and XLIV, multiple mass casualty incidents, aviation disasters, and mass shootings. As a member of the Florida Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team, he was on several deployments including the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. Bob was a technical consultant for the show "Without Warning," broadcast on both The Discovery and The Learning Channels and has been a panel member or given presentations on emergency management, aircraft rescue and firefighting, and homeland security issues at multiple conferences and symposiums across the country and internationally. He has earned multiple instructor certifications, received numerous service awards and honors, and in 2021, was selected as the Government Technology & Services Coalition-Homeland Security Today’s State Homeland Security Person of the Year.He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and earned his master’s degree (cum laude) in Homeland Security from American Military University.
Listed skills include Emergency Management, Disaster Response, Homeland Security, Preparedness, and 41 others.