Joe Powers is a 29-year fire service veteran and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor’s in Health Sciences. Both locally and internationally, Powers works with fire departments to improve operational response, reduce organizational workload, and tie data to strategic decision-making. He worked for 20 years in Henrico County (VA) as a shift commander, strategic planner, accreditation manager, and innovator. Powers became the first Deputy Chief of Community Risk Reduction at the Charlottesville, Virginia Fire Department, a position he built from the ground up. In Charlottesville, Powers believed the industry’s value was found in response and in building more resilient communities through risk assessment, partnerships, and matching resources to needs. By tying social service, community health, and mental health resources together, Powers and his teams matched resources to the community to decrease the workload in emergency response. Additionally, Powers worked closely with the Center for Public Safety Excellence, the International Association of Fire Chiefs as a board member for the Fire & Life Safety Section, and the Vision 20/20 Project as a steering committee member. He continues to speak frequently at conferences on topics like community risk reduction, strategic planning, and fire service data.

Jennifer Flaig currently serves as the Director of the Human Capital Division for Emergency Services Consulting (ESCI). She brings over 20 years of experience to the ESCI team developing and directing testing and training programs for public safety departments throughout the United States. She has developed hundreds of valid, defensible public safety exams to assess all ranks within the fire service from firefighter to Fire Chief.

Flaig holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Her areas of expertise include job analysis, test validation, test administration, candidate development, diversity training, performance evaluation, supervisory/ leadership training, and organizational assessment. In her role as Director, her responsibilities include new business development, employee development, budgeting, and the coordination, delegation, and implementation of all client programs.

Flaig has designed a public safety test preparation book, supervisory training programs, and leadership training programs. She has also developed and implemented innovative testing approaches that minimize group differences (adverse impact), as well as innovative scoring procedures designed to increase assessor consistency and test reliability. Additionally, Flaig is an adjunct professor at George Washington University in Arlington, VA, and the current President-elect for the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington (PTC-MW).