Recent events have made school officials take a fresh look at their plans for disasters and school related emergencies. Whether the event is a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake or a man-made emergency like a targeted school shooting or an act of terrorism, schools need to take steps to bring all of the local, state and federal resources together as they develop their safety plans to ensure that that the unique needs of the children and staff will be addressed in the response to a school based disaster. As the former senior law enforcement/security official for the New York City school system during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the workshop speaker will provide the audience with some of the lessons that were learned from this disaster and will share ways that school officials can work with their community and government partners to develop effective emergency response and crisis management plans.

As the Deputy Director of Planning and Response in the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Gregory Thomas assists 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.

A recognized conference speaker who 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, Mr. Thomas has co-authored 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.

Mr. Thomas' professional affiliations include membership in the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the largest organization of minority criminal justice officials in the United States, with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), where he served as an assessor of police departments and law enforcement agencies across the nation, and membership on the professional advisory board of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement which is based at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Mr. Thomas also serves on the Board of Directors of the Hope Program, an award winning New York City based program that helps impoverished New Yorkers find and keep jobs.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Thomas completed public school in New York City, and attended college at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University (L.I.U.) where he received his Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice. As a result of his exemplary graduate work at L.I.U., Mr. Thomas was inducted into Alpha Phi Sigma, the National Criminal Justice Honor Society.

In recognition of his professional and civic accomplishments, he received the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund Awards for Outstanding Community Service and Outstanding Board Leadership, and a distinguished alumni citation from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). He is the first recipient of the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from The University of Maryland-Eastern Shore