Biography
Ryan Christen has 25+ years of experience responding to and commanding local, state, and federal disasters as an urban and wildland firefighter and member of a Federal Disaster Medical Assistance Team (Florida One - DMAT). Since retiring from the Fire Service as a Battalion Chief and Special Ops Commander, Ryan has leveraged his field experience and formal education to transition into a second career, providing direct operational leadership and executive advisory support to public and private entities as well as local and state emergency management agencies. Throughout his career, Ryan supported agencies/events in 26 states across the country and received numerous service awards, including recognition by the American Legion as the State of Florida Firefighter of the Year in 2012.
Ryan has recently supported the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) through multiple federally declared statewide disasters, including the largest wildfire and flood recovery events in state history. This support has included co-authoring 6 disaster declaration requests to the Whitehouse under two separate presidential administrations. During the 2022 and 2023 statewide floods, Ryan led the Cal OES Advanced Planning Unit to guide inundation projections and inform the pre-positioning of critical state rescue and response assets to support the protection of vital community lifelines during a series of severe winter storms. Following the events, Ryan transitioned from advance planning to lead recovery operations statewide across 54 of California’s 58 counties through a joint State / FEMA command office, coordinating activities for more than 1,200 combined recovery staff. In other missions supporting Cal OES, Ryan has led special projects, including an inter-agency team to develop a pilot program to deliver remote service enrollment opportunities to persons experiencing homelessness at the point of need under the Direction of the Governor to identify innovative solutions for the homelessness crisis.
Ryan also supported the State of Maryland and the U.S. Capital Region, in recent years, has provided on-site support to the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) during COVID-19. Serving as the Future Resource and Logistics Planner, Ryan pioneered a unique strategy to analyze data from across the state and develop a predictive model to identify projected resource needs based on an algorithm extrapolating needs based on COVID-19-positive hospital admissions. Ryan also co-authored a detailed methodology report in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, resulting in the State of Maryland receiving a Global Innovation and Technology Award from the International Association of Emergency Managers.
Today, Ryan travels the country, continuing to support local and state government and private entities through times of crisis. Ryan maintains his home residence in Fort Walton Beach, FL, where he enjoys the Emerald Coast surfing and fishing between projects. Ryan holds a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) earned at Barry University in 2012 and is passionate about helping disaster-impacted areas and socially vulnerable communities after disasters, as well as assisting agencies to enhance performance, processes, and service delivery to expedite the recovery process. Through his experiences as a fire chief, public/private consultant, and emergency management advisor, Ryan has had an opportunity to provide leadership and mentorship to not just agencies, but many young people new to the public safety and emergency management fields. Having found his experience at Barry University extraordinarily rewarding and valuable, it has springboarded his successes since graduation in 2012, and Ryan sought to join the Alumni Board of Directors. Serving the board allows Ryan to return to his alma mater to share his experience and lessons learned to mentor graduates, help them maximize the tremendous education opportunities at Barry University, and prepare them for becoming our nation’s next generation of leaders.