Meet Matt Cronin
Director, Solutions Architecture
Hometown: Grew up in Northern Virginia. My senior year of high school I moved to Florida and spent 13 years there before relocating to Georgia (Augusta, now ATL)
College/Education: Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Certificate in Public Administration from Florida Atlantic University (FAU).
Favorite Activities Outside Work: I enjoy spending time outdoors at parks with my family (including 4 kids) and playing golf with friends and family even though I don’t play nearly as much as I would like to.
Background in Emergency Management: I worked for 8 years with the Palm Beach County (FL) Division of Emergency Management. In my last role, I was the Administration and Finance Manager for the Division and was also responsible for all Emergency Operation Center (EOC) technology. In 2011, I was hired by ESi to be a Project Manager for Professional Services (3 years) and oversaw many large projects such as the rollout of WebEOC for the State of Michigan and the State of Missouri, then WebEOC Product Manager (5 years), and recently moved into my new role, working closely with emergency management clients all along the way.
What Do You Love Most About Your Job?: I love solving the business problems of our clients and prospects. That is, hearing their challenges and what they are trying to accomplish and finding a solution using our highly adaptable technology to solve that problem. It’s crazy to me that some very large organizations are still managing disasters using pen and paper or email. I enjoy showing these organizations there is a much better way! In my new role, I enjoy speaking to people who may not know what our technology can do especially, or in some cases, they think they know because they worked with it years ago but soon come to realize they had no idea how much our technology and capabilities have evolved over the last few years.
Why Juvare? It is very rewarding to know how important our technology is for public safety throughout the U.S. and the world. Our clients are the best and the ways they customize and use our technology is always exciting to see. Juvare is laser focused on meeting the needs of Emergency Management and Healthcare clients and taking on challenges head-on like never before. The Juvare Exchange is a good example of this. Connecting all of our local, state, federal clients as well as the private sector is no easy task but we’re doing it! The team that has been put in place is second to none and I’m honored to be a part of it.
Most Important Quality in Successful Emergency/Incident Management Professionals: That’s a tough question since there are really so many qualities required but I would say one of the most important qualities is calmness. That may sound like an odd quality, but as Rorke Denver said at our conference a few weeks back, “Calm is contagious.” When things are really bad, it’s important to stay calm. I learned that early in my career during the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons in Palm Beach County. Staying calm is critical when you have multiple conflicting priorities. It allows you, and those around you, to think more clearly on the job at hand, make better decisions, and more effectively respond to the emergency.
What is the Future of Emergency/Critical Event Management? It’s been great to see how the field of emergency management has continued to become more formalized and recognized over the years. The one thing that is constant with EM, is change. Emergency managers will continue to face new types of hazards and a host of other challenges that come with the territory. New technologies will emerge and Juvare will be here to evolve with our clients to support these changes.
Favorite Vacation Destination? I enjoy visiting our National Parks. My favorite so far was Yellowstone.
Book You’re Reading Now: Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration – by Ed Catmull.
Favorite Quote: “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar