I’m pleased to share that I’ve joined Ladris as a Strategic Advisor, working with the company’s leadership team on product strategy, operational applications, and market adoption of its disaster modeling and decision-support technology.
For much of my career, I’ve focused on helping public safety and emergency management organizations understand risk, anticipate threats, and make better decisions before incidents occur. That work has taken different forms, from training and writing through The CP Journal to working directly with agencies on risk assessments, preparedness planning, and operational readiness.
One of the challenges I’ve seen repeatedly is the gap between understanding a threat and having the ability to do something about it.
This is especially apparent in evacuation planning and operations. Knowing that a wildfire or flood could threaten a community is one thing. Understanding how the incident might develop, which neighborhoods could be affected, how long it will take to move people out of harm’s way, and when those actions need to begin is something else entirely.
That’s part of what interests me about Ladris. The company is developing technology that helps public safety agencies model potential disaster scenarios, evaluate their consequences, and make more informed decisions before and during emergencies. These capabilities create opportunities to move beyond simply recognizing that a threat exists and toward understanding what it will take to respond effectively.
I think there's a tremendous opportunity to make these capabilities more useful to the people responsible for protecting their communities, particularly when decisions need to be made quickly and with incomplete information. And that’s where much of my work with Ladris will be focused.
I’ll be working with the team to bring operational perspectives into product development, better understand the challenges facing public safety agencies, and identify opportunities to expand the use of these capabilities across the industry.
As Leo Zlimen, Ladris’s CEO, explains:
We’re building technology to help public safety agencies make better decisions, which requires understanding how agencies actually operate. Patrick brings that perspective, along with experience helping organizations adopt new approaches to preparedness and operational decision-making. We are committed to surrounding our team and customers with the very best talent, because having great people creates great outcomes. Patrick is one of these people.
I’m also looking forward to using this relationship to explore questions we’ve been discussing through The CP Journal, particularly around evacuation decisions, the time required to act, and how organizations can make better use of predictive information.
As the work develops, I expect there will be opportunities to share what we’re learning, highlight practical applications, and bring more public safety practitioners into the conversation.
An Invitation to Participate
One of my priorities in this role is to make sure the perspectives of the people who will ultimately use these capabilities are reflected in how they’re developed.
If you work in law enforcement, fire service, emergency management, or another public safety discipline, I’d welcome the opportunity to hear about the challenges you’re facing with evacuation readiness, how you’re currently approaching them, and where better information or technology could make a difference.
That might involve a conversation about your agency’s needs, participating in a practitioner discussion, or providing feedback on emerging capabilities. You don’t need to be considering a new technology purchase to participate.
If you’re interested, please reach out. I’d welcome the conversation.
There’s a lot of work ahead, and I’m looking forward to getting started!