Most recently, Justin served the City of Somerville, MA as their Director of Emergency Management & Communications. In this role, Justin initiated development of Somerville’s inaugural comprehensive emergency management program and the integration of their citywide 911 and dispatch operations.
Prior to joining the Somerville Mayor’s Office, Justin served over ten years as Director of Emergency Management in two Mayoral senior leadership teams at the City of Nashua, NH. He led the strategic shift of Nashua's emergency management program from a formerly response-oriented collateral function in the Fire Department to a consolidated and highly-skilled team excelling in hazard mitigation, recovery planning, and community risk management. While in Nashua, Justin was responsible for coordinating the response and recovery of Presidentially Declared Disasters Tropical Storm Irene, the "Snowtober" Nor'easter, Superstorm Sandy, Winter Storm "Nemo," Winter Storm "Juno," and Pandemic COVID-19. Before his time in Nashua, he served five years as a homeland security consultant for the State of Delaware, managing a range of initiatives from emergency communications infrastructure projects to citizen preparedness education programs.
He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) affiliated with the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and was awarded "NH Emergency Management Director of the year" in 2015 and "Greater Nashua 40 Under Forty" in 2019. Justin is a graduate of the University of Delaware, where he majored in Emergency Management and Public Administration. He is currently finishing a thesis titled "Gaps and Overlaps: The Dilemma of Simultaneously Distributing and Consolidating Disaster Risk Reduction Functions Across Government" as part of a Master's Degree in Security Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security. In 2021, Justin was elected by peers from across the United States to serve as the 2nd Vice President of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and will serve as 1st Vice President, President, and Immediate Past President in succession over a four year period. He also serves as Treasurer of the National Association of Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation and is both a member of the FEMA National Advisory Council and FEMA Region 1 Advisory Council. Justin has taught Crisis Management as an Adjunct Professor at Daniel Webster College, Public Health Emergency Preparedness as an Adjunct Instructor at Rivier University, and numerous FEMA state-delivered courses for the NH Fire Academy, NH Homeland Security & Emergency Management, and Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. He served as Chair of the NH Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NH VOAD) from 2018-2020 and served five years on the Volunteer NH Board of Directors including as Vice Chair from 2020-2021.