Erik Gaull '80 is a Nationally Registered Paramedic, seasoned law enforcement officer, fire officer and instructor, and hazardous materials technician who has spent the past 40 years providing critical services to the general public. He also serves as a consultant and educator, specializing in emergency management and public safety.

Gaull entered Hotchkiss in 1979 for a postgraduate year. "My career in emergency medical services and related fields all started with the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class at the School. I chose Hotchkiss over Northfield Mount Hermon because the EMT class was offered on campus. It was a dream come true - an opportunity to fulfill an aspiration I had had since I was young. I loved what I was learning and the achievement it represented for me. Several members of the faculty held great significance for me, including David Coughlin and Ted Davis, who taught my EMT class; Francis Keefe, my corridor master and German teacher; and Bob Haiko, who taught photography. Hotchkiss was outside my comfort zone, and it challenged me and prepared me for the non-academic aspects of college in a way that a day school never would have."

Gaull matriculated at Columbia University following graduation. "I really had no idea what I wanted to study and wound up choosing Urban Studies. I initially majored in Computer Science, but that proved impossible because of my total inability to understand - or tolerate - Calculus, combined with limited computer access (this was before personal computers). I became a German major before realizing that the job market for German majors was pretty limited. In my junior year, I took a class on urban history and loved it. Urban Studies was interdisciplinary, so I could take just about any class in the College as long as I could tie it back to urban subject matter in some way."

During his time as an undergrad, Gaull volunteered as an EMT for the Central Park Medical Unit and served as a founder and director of the Columbia Area Volunteer Ambulance, a student-run ambulance service that is still in existence. By the late-1980s, he had expanded his experience by not only working and volunteering as a paramedic, but also by participating in firefighting and law enforcement. In 1986, he joined the Cabin John Park Volunteer Fire Department in Montgomery County, MD, and the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad before moving to New Mexico in 1990 to assume the role of State EMS Training Coordinator. There, Gaull also served as a paramedic/firefighter, neonatal flight paramedic, and as a deputy sheriff with the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office Reserve Division.

Returning to the DC area in the mid-1990s to pursue a Master's in Public Policy, he enrolled at Georgetown. "I discovered that this was a relatively unknown degree that would limit my options to jobs related to policy analysis. I thought that a Master's in Business Administration would be a useful addition, and since I had two years of tuition-reduction eligibility (my father was a professor at Georgetown), I took an Executive M.B.A. (which allowed me to continue working full-time), completing that in 1998."

Gaull spent several years at a management consulting firm for public-sector emergency services before leaving in 2000 to become the Director of the Operational Improvements Division of the Office of Mayor Anthony A. Williams in Washington, DC. On September 11, 2001, he helped manage the District's Emergency Operations Center. In the months following, he developed the District's "First Hour of Action Plan for Senior Officials" and assisted with the development of numerous other plans, policies, procedures, and exercises. He also served as a key liaison for the Mayor and City Administrator in the intergovernmental response to the Anthrax attacks of 2001. Mayor Williams subsequently appointed him to the Mayor's Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program Advisory Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committees.

While continuing his commitment to volunteer, train, and teach, Gaull began independent consulting and project management in 2002. He revised the emergency operations plan and delivered emergency management training for a large East Coast university, designed a new global corporate security strategy for a Fortune 25 company, and led a security and threat analysis for the Inter-American Development Bank. He has consulted on the continuity of operations projects for the Federal Elections Commission, National Transportation Safety Board, and several other federal agencies. In 2011, he took a job as Director of Resiliency Operations/World Bank Program Manager, spending a year establishing and managing a 24/7 global next-generation security/intelligence operations center (SOC) at the World Bank. He continues to serve on several committees for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he provides subject matter expertise and represents the interests of emergency managers and first responders in ways that improve their safety and effectiveness.

As an expert witness, Gaull has testified in cases with an emergency medical services nexus. "I have worked for both plaintiff and defense attorneys helping to provide a clear picture of the 'standard of care' (i.e., the training and operational expectations) of EMS providers. In one case, my expert report was used by the plaintiff's attorney to obtain compensatory damages in the millions of dollars for the family of a six-year-old girl who was left brain-damaged when she received grossly negligent care by emergency responders who responded after she was electrocuted (due to faulty wiring) at a major casino. Monetary damages will not restore her quality of life, but it makes me happy to know that I was pivotal in establishing the gross negligence of the casino that led to award."

Gaull has been trained in numerous areas related to emergency response and emergency management. He is a graduate of the FBI and DEA Citizens' Academies, a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center-certified Active Shooter Threat Instructor, an Adjunct Instructor at the DC Metropolitan Police Academy, and a PADI-certified Open Water SCUBA Instructor. He was an instructor at the National Fire Academy for 20 years and an adjunct faculty member in the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and at the George Washington University Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine. His commitment to and philosophy about both learning and teaching stem from the realities that first responders and emergency managers face every day. "Emergency managers and first responders deal with continually- evolving threat landscapes, and much of what we do involves perishable knowledge and skills. To stay safe and provide the best service/protection possible, emergency managers and first responders owe it to themselves, their families, and their communities to continually learn, refresh, and practice."

For Gaull, one of the biggest areas of challenge in emergency management is "getting people, companies, and government agencies to invest in preparedness and risk mitigation. Most emergency managers acutely feel the frustration of trying to convince someone that real threats exist for which they should be prepared. It seems as if the only time that people pay attention to emergency managers is after something bad has happened - by then the costs of response and recovery are much higher. COVID is a great example. Politics aside, people just have to acknowledge that COVID is not a joke, hoax, or the seasonal flu. I'm very worried that people will let their guard down now that the vaccine is being administered to the general public.

"I am also concerned about climate change and the risks to our infrastructure and the environment posed by sea-level rise and the increased frequency of disasters induced by extreme weather. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, of the 10 years with the largest acreage burned by wildfires, nine have occurred since 2000, including the peak year of 2015. Data is not available yet for 2020, but it is sure to be the largest area on record. This year has also been the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, with 30 named storms, 13 of which became hurricanes and six of which were major hurricanes. These events (and many others) are directly linked to climate change.

"My other more continual worry is that being prepared for emergencies/disasters is a function of privilege. Let me explain. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (and most state and local emergency management agencies) tells citizens that they need to have enough supplies/food on hand to survive on their own for 72 hours after a disaster strikes. That's a lot easier to do if you're well-off. If, however, your big worry is how you're going to feed your family tonight or tomorrow, you're not going to be stockpiling 72 hours' worth of food and supplies for an event that may never occur. A large percentage of families in the United States live paycheck to paycheck - according to the Federal Reserve, fewer than 40 percent of households have more than $400 in a savings (and those are pre-pandemic numbers). That is not a lot of financial cushion to weather an individual or community emergency/disaster. These are the things that keep me up at night - not terrorism, earthquakes, or hurricanes."

Currently, he is the principal leading a 35-person emergency management consulting practice at the Cadmus Group, a leading FEMA contractor, but he continues to work as a firefighter/paramedic and as a police officer. "I remain an active volunteer because I really love being an emergency responder. It is challenging and rewarding work that I would still be doing even if I were in a different line of remunerative work. However, it is undeniable that being 'boots-on-the-ground' with the fire and police departments gives me a level of credibility in my consulting work, which is largely strategy, leadership, and business development, that many others in emergency management consulting do not have."

As a principal in his company, he works to identify new business opportunities and strategize/actualize ways to win those opportunities. "I'm continually grappling with new issues and thoughts and how to represent our competencies and experience in a winning way." Gaull says that his life as an emergency responder provides a needed contrast and balance to consulting. "In the field, no two days are the same - ever. That's what I like about it. Typically, I'll come into the station (police or fire), get an assignment, and get to work, with time spent training or proactively trying to fix problems before they become emergencies. This lifestyle is a huge contrast to my office/home office work as an emergency management consultant. This keeps both parts of my life energized, fresh, and fun."

Gaull is the most senior reserve officer in the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and is a Life Member (and the longest-serving responder) at the Cabin John fire department. Among many recognitions, in 2017, Gaull received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama for his public safety volunteerism.

His year in Lakeville proved to be highly significant, and Gaull has served and supported Hotchkiss since graduating. "Not only did that time lead me to my career in emergency services - I grew up there. Although I attended Horace Mann from nursery school through 12th grade, I consider my core high school friendships to be my friends from Hotchkiss." His advice to current students thinking about a career in emergency management: "Get a well-rounded education, and learn what you need to learn to get an entry-level position in emergency management after college (or with a few college electives). However, you will have a much easier time excelling in the field if you have superior writing and analytical skills. I always joke that I can teach a smart consultant what they need to know about emergency management in about a year, but I can't teach them how to write or think - that's what Hotchkiss and a good college education are for."