Solutions For Safe Campuses - Campus Safety Assessments, Emergency Preparedness, Crisis Response Training, Management Studies
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Gregory Thomas, M.S.
Senior Associate
EMAIL: Gregory@Margolis-Healy.com
As the former Deputy Director of Planning and Response in the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Gregory Thomas assisted communities and schools around the nation in the assessment and improvement of their current levels of emergency preparedness. Prior to his position with Columbia University, he served as the Executive Director of the Office of School Safety and Planning with the New York City Department of Education (DOE), the largest school district in the United States. As the senior law enforcement/security official for the DOE, Mr. Thomas worked closely with federal, state and local officials to address security and disaster related issues that arose for the many schools in the lower Manhattan area affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As a result of this work at the request of the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of State, in February 2002, Mr. Thomas served on a select panel of international school safety officials that discussed and implemented strategies to prepare schools for the possibility of terrorist attacks.
Recognized as one of the nation’s top school safety and experts and conference speakers, he has been featured in various national media venues such as the U.S. News and World Report, the New York Times and the cable news show Fox and Friends, and has coauthored three books on school safety for the Janes Information Group, including the most comprehensive book published to date on school safety – the 450 page Janes Safe School Planning Guide for All Hazards. He is the author of a recently released book from Random House publishers titled Freedom from Fear: A Guide to Safety, Preparedness and the Threat of Terrorism, which offers advice to readers on how to prepare themselves and their families for a worst case scenario like a natural disaster or an act of terrorism.
During his over twenty-two years of public service, Mr. Thomas has held various executive positions in the fields of criminal justice and public safety. He has served as an Assistant Commissioner with the New York City Fire Department, as Associate Director of the City University of New York/New York City Police Department Cadet Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, as a senior investigator with the Mollen Commission, the mayoral commission that investigated corruption within the New York City Police Department, and as a First Deputy Inspector General with the New York City Department of Investigation.
