Business Continuity & Crisis Management
Richard Shierer
Senior Vice President
Giuliani Partners LLC
Represented Exclusively by the Washington Speakers Bureau

 

Richard Sheirer joined Giuliani Partners LLC as a Senior Vice President on April 8, 2002 after concluding his 34-year career in public safety serving the City of New York.  In his present position Mr. Sheirer consults with various clients on security, safety, preparedness and business continuity as well as on regulatory and other issues.

Mayor Giuliani appointed Richard Sheirer Director of Emergency Management in February 2000 after Sheirer had served 28 years with the New York City Fire Department and almost four years with the New York City Police Department.  Sheirer's career began as a Fire Alarm Dispatcher in December 1967, rising through the supervisor and management ranks to become Chief of Dispatch Operations in 1989, Assistant Fire Commissioner in 1992, and Deputy Fire Commissioner in 1994.  In April 1996, the Mayor appointed Sheirer Deputy Commissioner of Administration and Chief of Staff to Commissioner Howard Safir at the New York City Police Department.  In February 2000 Sheirer was appointed Director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management and on December 31, 2001, Mayor Giuliani's last personnel action of his administration was to appoint Sheirer New York City's first Commissioner of Emergency Management and the City's Director of Homeland Security, a position he held until his retirement.

Among his accomplishments at the Fire Department were the policy to provide improved life-saving resuscitator services for the public; planning for Operation Sail 1976 and other major special events; implemented a successful multi-agency False Fire Alarm reduction effort; developed the FIRECAP program where children and adults can turn to the firehouse in their community or to any Firefighter for assistance and the FIREWORKS KILL project, which continues to significantly reduce(d) the use of illegal fireworks, which has historically been the cause of numerous injuries and fires. 

While at the NYPD, he worked closely with local, state and federal law enforcement on various issues, including even more aggressive efforts to further reduce illegal fireworks; had oversight responsibility for all major department bureaus and played a key role in the development of the Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect (CPR) Strategy; the major drug initiatives in Northern Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan and the creation of the Gang Suppression Unit.  He was responsible for the planning and coordination of major events such as the Yankee World Series; the John Glenn and Sammy Sosa parades; and was an initial member of the City's Thanksgiving Day Parade Task Force, a role he continued while heading OEM.  Additionally, the Mayor appointed Commissioner Sheirer as the City's Director of Public Safety and Security for the Millennium Celebration and OpSail & International Naval Review 2000.  

Commissioner Sheirer managed OEM, the agency which is the "eyes and ears of the City."  Under his direction OEM served a number of roles, among them: monitoring on- going emergency responses throughout the City; becoming the "arms and legs of the City" as the on-scene coordinating agency for multi-agency incidents; OEM directs overall general emergency planning, as well as the City's specialized planning for mass transit emergencies involving New York City Transit, MTA, AMTRAK, Port Authority Airports and Trans Hudson Tubes as well as response to Weapons of Mass Destruction – Chemical, Biological and Nuclear acts of Terrorism.  Under Commissioner Sheirer, the City implemented the largest Public Access Defibrillator Program in the world; he re-energized the Citywide Rodent Task Force; managed outbreaks of the West Nile Virus with the Department of Health; planned for Coastal Storms which may result in the evacuation of  250,000 to 900,000 New Yorkers to pre-planned reception areas and shelters.

After September 11, 2001, OEM coordinated the largest response, recovery and cleanup effort in American history at the World Trade Center.  After losing the OEM  offices and its Emergency Operation Center (EOC) in 7 World Trade Center, at that moment in time when the City needed it most on 9/11; under Sheirer's direction the OEM staff used all their experience, expertise and ingenuity to rebuild an EOC, which was  critical to the success in coordinating the enormous inter-agency operation.  In addition, Commissioner Sheirer and the OEM staff worked with the Mayor's Office to address the needs of families of uniformed and civilian victims, including coordinating efforts with the New York Commission for the United Nations, Consular Corps and Protocol to address the unique needs of foreign citizens and their families affected by the attack.

In October 2002, "in recognition of his outstanding dedication and effort in organizing the recovery operation at Ground Zero following the Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 and of the contribution made to helping the relatives of  the British victims" Mr. Sheirer was awarded an Honorary CBE (Commander of the British Empire) bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II.

Mr. Sheirer has appeared on CNN, Dateline NBC, CBS' 48 hours, FOX News, MSNBC, The History Channel and New York Metropolitan area television and radio stations. He has been profiled in New York Magazine "Man behind the Mayor," and in the Wall Street Journal.

Commissioner Sheirer graduated from St. Francis College, Brooklyn, in 1976 with a BA in Political Science and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from St. John's University in January 2002, an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Manhattanville College in May 2002 and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Baruch College in May 2002.  He has been married to Barbara (Winston) for 33 years. They reside on Staten Island and have five sons, Matthew, Joseph, Christopher, Andrew and Paul.