Many people ask me about paths towards becoming an emergency manager. While there are some traditional paths of second careers coming out of the first response community or the military there continues to be multiple or singular paths that can be forged by individuals. I continue to believe that gaining an education via a professional degree program is the course of the future.
BUT, I'd like to highlight a great example of someone following their passion and using their skills to accomplish which everyone wants to have. To get paid for what you love to do and not consider it work. This then is what Gisli Olafsson has been able to accomplish with his personal career path. Read his bio below and become inspired to find your own path towards a career in emergency management. Remember, it does not happen overnight and you have to pay your dues as Gisli did.
Gisli Olafsson has been a Disaster Management - Technical Advisor for Microsoft Corporation since September 2007. In his capacity, Gisli is responsible for providing guidance to international organizations, such as UN, IFRC, World Bank, Commonwealth, USAID and NATO, on the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance response to natural disasters.
Gisli joined Microsoft as Lead Program Manager in the Microsoft SQL Server team in June 1998 after more than 15 years of successful experience as a software developer and program manager for companies such as Xerox, Medtronic and Nervus Systems. Gisli was part of the leadership team for the Icelandic subsidiary of Microsoft from its establishment in 2003, until he started in his current role in 2007.
Gisli is one of the key members of Microsoft's Disaster Response team which provides assistance to governments and leading response organizations dealing with natural disasters and pandemics worldwide.
Gisli is also a team leader for Iceland's international Urban Search and Rescue team (ICE-SAR) which is recently achieved a classification as a medium USAR team by the UN. Gisli has years of experience as an incident commander and served as part of Iceland's Gisli Olafsson Disaster Management - Technical Advisor Microsoft Corporation
National Search and Rescue Command for years. Gisli was a lead member of King County's Emergency Operation Centre's Support team while living in Seattle and took part in coordinating over 100 disaster management and SAR incidents.
In recent years Gisli has participated in disaster field missions in connections with floods in Ghana (2007), Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (2008), Hurricane Ike in Texas (2008), Sichuan Earthquake (2008), Pandemic Outbreak (2009), West Sumatra Earthquake (2009) and most recently as the team leader for ICE-SAR in the Haiti Earthquake (2010).
Through the combination of his years of field experience in national and international disaster management with his deep knowledge of technology Gisli has a unique insight into how technology can be applied to solve some of the most challenging collaboration issues arising within the field of disaster response. As a result Gisli is frequently asked to provide training on ICT and information management to international organizations such as UN OCHA, European Civil Protection Mechanism (EU MIC) and International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent (IFRC).
Gisli holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science and Chemistry from Copenhagen University (Denmark 1993). Gisli held a position as a lecturer at University of Reykjavik from 2001-2003, teaching third year computer science student´s about web services and service orientated architecture. Gisli has been a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) since 2007.
