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Charlie Fisher is Vice President for Strategic Advisory Services for James Lee Witt Associates, part of GlobalOptions Group, Inc., the leading disaster preparedness and response firm based in Washington, DC.
Mr. Fisher oversees teams of emergency management and subject-matter experts working to assess the preparedness of public, not-for-profit and private sector organizations. They work with officials at all levels of the organization to identify and analyze gaps in preparedness for natural disasters and acts of terrorism and help the organizations implement recommendations to address those gaps and enhance preparedness. Their clients include major electric utilities such as Pepco which provides power to the Washington D.C. region, and major cities such as Philadelphia, the second largest city on the U.S. East Coast, and the first to conduct a comprehensive review of emergency preparedness following Hurricane Katrina. The review included the status of evacuation plans, the protection of critical infrastructure such as utilities, airports and marine ports, as well as the community's ability to handle a disaster requiring extensive medical care and facilities. A key aspect of the review was a focus on identifying and assisting those vulnerable populations during a major disaster.
Mr. Fisher also leads forensic reviews of what went wrong in response to a disaster event such as a review of various agencies' performance for the Governor of Pennsylvania following a late-winter storm which resulted in thousands of people stranded for up to 20 hours on the highways of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining James Lee Witt Associates, Mr. Fisher was a consultant for the electricity, natural gas, telecommunication and transportation industries.
He led the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates public utilities and the transportation industry, from 1995- 2001, a period of great tumult in the U.S. telecommunications and energy sectors with deregulation, restructuring and the creation of new institutions such as regional transmission organizations. While there, he oversaw the implementation of several emergency preparedness and safety programs, including enhanced emergency communications, power outage, natural gas and rail and highway safety initiatives.
Mr. Fisher has testified before government bodies at the local state and Congressional levels, addressed organizations in North American and Europe and has worked with utility and critical infrastructure experts from five continents. He is a member of the Sprint Utility Advisory Board. He was the keynote speaker for the Emergency Management Conference in Melbourne Australia last summer.
He has also chaired his local chamber of commerce, Rotary Club, community recycling organization, regional transportation alliance (vice chair) and helped found the foundation for a sustainable community and community leadership collaboration in North Carolina.
An Illinois native, Mr. Fisher is married with three sons and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. | 