Articles

Keynote Speaker - Janurary 2020

Rocky Vaz, Director of the Office of Emergency Management, City of Dallas

Topic:  Dallas Tornado Overview

Rocky Vaz is Director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) for the City of Dallas. As a member of the Executive Management Team, Mr. Vaz coordinates the City’s Emergency Management programs. He is responsible for oversight of the City’s efforts to effectively prevent, respond to, and recover from natural and man-made disasters. In this capacity, Mr. Vaz is also responsible for managing homeland security grant programs administered by the City, including the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). 

Under his leadership, the City of Dallas has achieved full accreditation through the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), the second largest City in the nation to receive this accreditation. Mr. Vaz has overseen the expansion of Dallas Alert, the City’s emergency notification system, and a city-wide community preparedness initiative meant to educate Dallas residents about the hazards they may face and empower them to be prepared.

During his tenure, Mr. Vaz has successfully coordinated the City’s response to several large-scale event/disasters. Most recently, Mr. Vaz managed the Emergency Operations Center during the 2014 Ebola event, the 2015 Flooding, 2016 Police shooting in Downtown Dallas, 2016 Mega Shelter Operations for Hurricane Harvey Evacuees, 2016 Natural Gas Explosion and evacuations and the 2019 EF3 Tornado.

Before his appointment, Mr. Vaz worked in the City’s Intergovernmental Services Department, where he managed the City-wide Fund Development/Grants section. In this role he was responsible for applying for the grants, creating the homeland security division grant monitoring processes and protocols, and completing federal reporting requirements.

Mr. Vaz serves on various local, Regional, State and Federal committees on Emergency Preparedness, Disaster Recovery, Homeland Security etc. Mr. Vaz also chairs the DFWA UASI Executive committee. Mr. Vaz is a founding member of the National Homeland Security Association and served in various capacities including President of the NHSA Board for three years. He continues to serve on the Executive board as the past president.