Video of Esri National Security and Public Safety Summit 2019

Brian Fontes has served as the Chief Executive Officer for the National Emergency Number Association since June 2008. As CEO, he is responsible for all aspects of the Association. He is currently on the Board of Directors of two committees, an institute, and a university. Previously, Fontes was Vice President of Federal Relations for Cingular Wireless and Senior Vice President for Policy and Administration at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA).

Fontes received a Ph.D. in Mass Media/Telecommunications from Michigan State University's Department of Telecommunications.

I am Russ Johnson, Director of Public Safety and Homeland Security Solutions for Esri.
Prior to joining ESRI I spent 30 years in public safety the Federal Governement. Upon retiring I was Chief of Fire Operations for the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California and was heavilty invovled in the Firescope program. Prior to retiring I was a Type I National Incident Commander and spent many years working in and with the Incident Command System. My role at ESRI is to coordinate with public safety users and our software development staff to assure we are providing tools and services based on user needs, and requirements. We frequently are involved in supporting our users and other organizations for local, regional and national exercises.

I am the director of public safety solutions at Esri where I am coordinate strategic initiatives across public safety and national security. In this role, I serve as Esri’s subject matter expert (SME) on the use of GIS technology for emergency management and humanitarian affairs, including program leadership and incident management for the Esri Disaster Response Program (DRP), a 24×7 GIS support team that provides help to organizations around the world during disasters.

My career began in state government building a nationally recognized GIS program focused on planning for, and responding to, bio-security threats on the nation’s agricultural system. I was appointed the first Geographic Information Officer (GIO) for the State of Missouri to coordinate GIS technology initiatives across all state agencies and serve as GIS advisor for the Governor’s Homeland Security Advisory Council. This led to the development of the first shared situational awareness application for the State.

Additionally, I worked at the local government level to support strategic planning, system implementation, and migration to a new computer aided dispatch (CAD) system for Montgomery County, Texas. I've participated as an innovation and expert group member for the United Nations related to GIS, and most recently worked as the Director of State and Local Government for the NAPSG Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to building the public safety community’s GIS capacity and capability.