Ryan Nicholls Distinguished Alumni 2011

Ryan Nicholls is the Director for the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management. His office is responsible for coordination of disaster planning and preparedness for all of Springfield and unincorporated Greene County. Through continual maintenance and enhancement of the community’s Emergency Operations Center, his office also oversees all disaster response and recovery coordination. They are responsible for all natural and man-made community hazards’ analysis and mitigation planning. In addition, they also oversee the work towards improving the public’s disaster readiness, grant administration for Homeland Security grants, disaster training program for first responders, multi-level disaster exercise program, community safety assessments related to disasters, severe weather monitoring, Local Emergency Planning Committee administration, and coordination of the Greene County Homeland Security Regional Response Team. The Office also support several regional efforts related to emergency management.

Ryan has served on the national mitigation projects review panel for three consecutive years, is currently serving as a member of the State Emergency Management Agency Director’s Advisory Committee, is coordinator for the Region D Regional Disaster Planning committee, is vice-chair for the local Community Organizations Active in Disasters, and is Deputy Commander for the Region D Disaster Incident Support Team.

Ryan has completed a Masters Degree in Fire and Emergency Management at Oklahoma State University and the Certified Emergency Manager from the International Association of Emergency Management. He completed his GED at Ozarks Technical Community College where he also spent three semesters working toward his degree. He lives in Willard with his wife and five kids.