Every year, Private & Public Business, Inc. (PPBI) honors an individual by presenting the PPBI Best Practices Award. The award recognizes those individuals that exemplify superior leadership in furthering the understanding and development of the relation between the public and private sectors in communicating, planning, and developing processes and practices for emergency management and response to critical incidents.

This year’s recipient is Anthony Mangeri, CEM, assistant professor, manager of fire and emergency services initiatives, American Public University System.

Professor Mangeri is a leader in university outreach efforts to extend higher education opportunities to members of the military, business continuity, and emergency management fields. His encouragement as a professor has been demonstrated by his presence at conferences, meetings, and exhibitions across the nation. He has tirelessly supported students, the Epsilon Pi Phi Honor Society, the International Association of Emergency Managers and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, ASIS International and members of all branches of U.S. Armed Forces. His foresight in bringing the AMU message to DRJ is on the cutting edge of bridging the gap between business continuity and emergency management through higher education and service to others.

PPBI recognized Professor Mangeri for his tireless efforts in supporting the education, excellence and best practices as demonstrated by:

Professor Mangeri is on the faculty of the School of Public Service and Health. He has more than 25 years of experience in crisis management and public safety services at federal, state and local levels. He offers extensive experience in crisis management to include, disaster response and recovery operations, hazard and threat reduction and emergency planning.

In addition to teaching at APUS, Professor Mangeri is also a practitioner providing technical expertise and consultation services to public and private sector clients with an emphasis on local, state and federal homeland security matters, emergency services, disaster recovery operations, and governmental affairs.

He has been a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician for more than 25 years. He earned the rank of Assistant Chief-Safety Officer, serving as the fire department’s health and safety officer for three years. He remains active as a volunteer firefighter and instructor.

For more than 10 years, Professor Mangeri served as New Jersey’s hazard mitigation officer. He administered the state’s Hazard Mitigation Grant, Flood Mitigation Assistance and the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Programs. During the attacks of September 11, 2001, he served as the Operations Chief at the New Jersey Emergency Operations Center coordinating New Jersey’s response to the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Professor Mangeri earned a Master of Public Administration from Rutgers’s University and is a Certified Public Manager. He is also a certified fire service instructor, Hazardous Materials Technician and completed a Fellowship in Public Health Leadership in Emergency Response sponsored by the Center for Public Health Preparedness at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Recently, Professor Mangeri was awarded the designation of Certified Emergency Manager by the International Association of Emergency Managers.

Professor Mangeri’s selection was unanimous by the PPBI Board of Directors based upon his outstanding contributions to the field. Professor Mangeri was awarded this honor with a presentation of a plaque at the Disaster Recovery Journal’s Spring World Conference in Orlando on March 27, 2012, by PPBI Chairman Deidrich Towne, Jr. and Dr. Tom Phelan.

In his acceptance, Professor Mangeri said, “I am flattered and humbled. Ever since I was the state hazard mitigation officer, I have always been a strong advocate for public private partnerships. It is the only way that a community can be truly resilient and sustainable in the face of crisis. My faith and family have given me a sense of community. I simply am grateful to have an employer and position that allows me to serve and partner with so many organizations to build awareness of the university and offer support to their missions.”

Kevin Schaller, of Resiliency Partners, LLC, is a security, business continuity, and crisis management consultant and presenter at DRJ conferences. He is a 2010 Masters graduate of the American Public University School of Emergency & Disaster Management.