Donald L. Schmidt has 30 years of experience in the public sector and the private sector. He has extensive experience in risk assessment, loss prevention, hazard mitigation, emergency management and business continuity planning within a diverse range of industries. He is a published author of multiple books and numerous articles on the subjects of risk management, emergency management, business continuity, and terrorism. For more than two decades he has helped to write important standards on disaster/emergency management and business continuity. He is a member of the professional development faculty of DRI International (the Disaster Recovery Institute) teaching courses on developing and auditing emergency management and business continuity programs. He is also an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy teaching a graduate course in business continuity and disaster recovery.

Don received his BS degree, summa cum laude, in Fire Science from the University of Maryland. He is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), a Certified Business Continuity Lead Auditor (CBCLA), a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM®), Master Professional Continuity Practitioner (Level II), and he has attained the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) designation from the Insurance Institute of America.

Don is a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), the Association of Contingency Planners (ACP), and the Northeast Disaster Recovery Information Exchange (NEDRIX). He is a 30-year member of the National Fire Protection Association serving as Chair of the Technical Committee on Emergency Management and Business Continuity, which is responsible for NFPA 1600, “Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs.” He is a principal member of the Technical Committee on Pre-Incident Planning, which is responsible for NFPA 1620, a member of the United States Technical Advisory Group to the ISO 223 Societal Security technical committee, and a member of ASTM E54.02 Working Group 8908, which is developing a standard guide for school emergency preparedness.