We all heard about the devastating tornados in Joplin, Missouri and the horrific flooding in Minot, North Dakota this year. But places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Eagle, Alaska; and Bordeaux, Tennessee may seem less familiar to us as disaster areas. Not to Rich Serino ’71. In your role as Deputy Administrator of FEMA, you’ve been on the ground in disaster areas just after – or even during the destructive havoc of nature’s wrath.
In your first two years in office, you have stood in solidarity with those afflicted, whether they be in makeshift shelters, Red Cross facilities or standing in the rubble of their own homes. “I met a woman in Alabama, who was just standing in front of her house,” you recall. “There was literally nothing left of her home, and she had lost one member of her family. But she said, ‘Help others, I have enough.’”
CM helped launch this vocation, you say, crediting a senior independent study class that placed you as an orderly in cardiology at Mass General Hospital. At Boston State College, the calling continued, and you volunteered on an emergency squad.
Joining Boston’s Emergency Medical Services in 1973, you rose through the ranks, becoming Chief of Department in 1999. As Chief, you oversaw hundreds of emergency responders and led the agency’s expansion to one of national prominence and recognition. Boston, you say, gave you experience in emergency management like no other city could. “During the Haiti crisis, I was working 16-hour days for three weeks,” you recall. “But on the flip side, I worked the Blizzard of ‘78, which was 24 hours, 7 days a week. The city of Boston was definitely good preparation before coming to the federal government.”
Whether serving as Incident Commander at the Boston Marathon, Democrat National Convention or Fourth of July fireworks, you earned a reputation at Boston EMS as a cool operator, one that President Obama saw fit to oversee the nation’s emergency response in what has clearly become a decade of drastic events. In that decade, you have balanced experience with further education, earning degrees and certificates at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School.
At FEMA, you have worked with an extraordinary staff and you have learned, as you put it, that all disasters are local. “People expect FEMA to come in and fix everything, but FEMA’s just a part of the team,” you say. “Private businesses are part of that team, and engaging faith-based communities are, too. Because they know everyone locally better than anyone else, and our job is to support the locals.”
"Rich brings a wealth of experience particularly in building a team and installing strong management structures," FEMA administrator Craig Fugate says. "Because Rich is often times perceived to be an easy-going people, people think he's soft, and that's not true. Rich has got a backbone, he's got steel, and when he has to he can be very forceful. But he has a very calm demeanor that helps people get through some very difficult times. "
Perhaps there’s no better example of emergency preparedness than in Minot, North Dakota this June, where you were struck by the local and state response. The entire town went underwater, but, you say, “they didn’t lose one life. I made a point to tell the governor and firefighters that the work they did saved lives.”
Despite its success, your career is only one part of you. You have raised three children with your wife Doreen, herself an emergency expert as an ER nurse at Boston Medical Center. With two of your children – Peter and Jessica – in education and a third, Bryan, in law for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, you have certainly passed on that spirit of service to community and country to your family.
For a career devoted to the service of to city, state and country, for his leadership and solidarity with the distressed, poor and dispossessed, and for his unwavering poise in the direst of emergencies, we honor Richard Serino ’71 with the Vince in Bono Malum Award for Professional Achievement.
We all heard about the devastating tornados in Joplin, Missouri and the horrific flooding in Minot, North Dakota this year. But places like Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Eagle, Alaska; and Bordeaux, Tennessee may seem less familiar to us as disaster areas. Not to Rich Serino ’71. In your role as Deputy Administrator of FEMA, you’ve been on the ground in disaster areas just after – or even during the destructive havoc of nature’s wrath.
In your first two years in office, you have stood in solidarity with those afflicted, whether they be in makeshift shelters, Red Cross facilities or standing in the rubble of their own homes. “I met a woman in Alabama, who was just standing in front of her house,” you recall. “There was literally nothing left of her home, and she had lost one member of her family. But she said, ‘Help others, I have enough.’”
CM helped launch this vocation, you say, crediting a senior independent study class that placed you as an orderly in cardiology at Mass General Hospital. At Boston State College, the calling continued, and you volunteered on an emergency squad.
Joining Boston’s Emergency Medical Services in 1973, you rose through the ranks, becoming Chief of Department in 1999. As Chief, you oversaw hundreds of emergency responders and led the agency’s expansion to one of national prominence and recognition. Boston, you say, gave you experience in emergency management like no other city could. “During the Haiti crisis, I was working 16-hour days for three weeks,” you recall. “But on the flip side, I worked the Blizzard of ‘78, which was 24 hours, 7 days a week. The city of Boston was definitely good preparation before coming to the federal government.”
Whether serving as Incident Commander at the Boston Marathon, Democrat National Convention or Fourth of July fireworks, you earned a reputation at Boston EMS as a cool operator, one that President Obama saw fit to oversee the nation’s emergency response in what has clearly become a decade of drastic events. In that decade, you have balanced experience with further education, earning degrees and certificates at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School.
At FEMA, you have worked with an extraordinary staff and you have learned, as you put it, that all disasters are local. “People expect FEMA to come in and fix everything, but FEMA’s just a part of the team,” you say. “Private businesses are part of that team, and engaging faith-based communities are, too. Because they know everyone locally better than anyone else, and our job is to support the locals.”
"Rich brings a wealth of experience particularly in building a team and installing strong management structures," FEMA administrator Craig Fugate says. "Because Rich is often times perceived to be an easy-going people, people think he's soft, and that's not true. Rich has got a backbone, he's got steel, and when he has to he can be very forceful. But he has a very calm demeanor that helps people get through some very difficult times. "
Perhaps there’s no better example of emergency preparedness than in Minot, North Dakota this June, where you were struck by the local and state response. The entire town went underwater, but, you say, “they didn’t lose one life. I made a point to tell the governor and firefighters that the work they did saved lives.”
Despite its success, your career is only one part of you. You have raised three children with your wife Doreen, herself an emergency expert as an ER nurse at Boston Medical Center. With two of your children – Peter and Jessica – in education and a third, Bryan, in law for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, you have certainly passed on that spirit of service to community and country to your family.
For a career devoted to the service of to city, state and country, for his leadership and solidarity with the distressed, poor and dispossessed, and for his unwavering poise in the direst of emergencies, we honor Richard Serino ’71 with the Vince in Bono Malum Award for Professional Achievement.
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