Anthony Hurley has 42 years of experience working in the utility / critical infrastructure sector, and specializes in operations, emergency management, business continuity and physical security. He celebrated 37 years with a Fortune 200 corporation, serving in management roles for five (5) of their electric utilities across three states (OH, PA and NJ). He retired in 2017 as Vice President of Operations for an electric utility that served 1.1 million customers, where he managed an operations workforce of 1,250 professional and represented employees. Post-retirement he joined Witt O’Brien’s, a global leader in emergency and risk management, serving as Managing Director of their Utility Practice. He worked with clients throughout the continental United States, the Caribbean and the Middle East, until his departure in 2020.
Hurley has an extensive background in both emergency and physical security management. His experiences include the preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery of countless thunderstorms, ice storms, floods, wind events, tornados, and hurricanes. His engagement has included events impacting his own utility, providing assistance to other utilities, and serving as an Advisor. Many of these events were national emergencies, with some being recognized by Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Emergency Recovery and Emergency Assistance awards. Hurley’s hurricane deployments include Isabel (NJ), Francis (FL), Ivan (FL & AL), Katrina (LA), Rita (TX), Irene (NJ), Sandy (NJ), Harvey (TX), and hurricanes Irma and Maria (U.S. Virgin Islands). He has also responded to numerous natural disasters in OH, MI, KY, MD, NJ, WV, PA and PR.
When hurricane Irma devastated the Caribbean, he was deployed to the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) as part of the Bloomberg Response Team, where he served as the Advisor for power restoration to the USVI Governor, and the Governing Board Chair of the USVI Water and Power Authority. That assignment continued as hurricane Maria impacted the islands weeks later. USVI Governor Mapp named Hurley to the USVI Hurricane & Resiliency Task Force Board, to assist in the development of long-term mitigation and resiliency solutions, where he continued to support this Task Force and his USVI assignments into 2019.
Hurley was presented with the 2018 Distinguished Service Award at the 2018 National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, Florida, in ‘recognition of sustained and significant contributions to one or more fields of hurricane-related activity knowledge over a career’. He was also recognized by the U.S. Virgin Islands “In Appreciation of Dedicated Service to the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Recovery after Hurricanes Irma and Maria”.
Understanding the importance of EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, he has completed the FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP) program, the FEMA Professional Development Series (PDS), FEMA Advanced Professional Series (APS), and is a FEMA Certified Instructor of the Incident Command System (ICS). He is an Adjunct Instructor at the FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland, instructing on ICS, Public Works, Debris Management, EOC Operations, Exercises and Drills, and the Liaison Program. His committee work includes serving on the Planning Committee for the National Hurricane Conference (NHC), as well as the Chair of both the NHC Utilities Topics Committee, and the Homeland Security Topics (All Hazards) Committee. He is also a member of the All-Hazards Consortium, which focuses of fleet movement and information sharing.
With our ever-changing world as it relates to PHYSICAL SECURITY, professionals must insure that they have and maintain the tools necessary to meet today’s challenges. He maintains board certifications as both a Certified Protection Professional (CPP®), and Professional Certified Investigator (PCI®), and has achieved the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Professional Designation (CPD).
He is associated with the NYU School of Professional Studies in New York City, as a course developer, guest speaker and Adjunct Instructor of emergency management and security management courses. In 2014 he was appointed to serve as Vice Chair of the Infrastructure Advisory Committee (IAC) of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security & Preparedness (NJOHS&P), and Energy Sector Chair, until his retirement. He was an active member of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) Electric & Gas Security Working Group until his retirement from the utility in 2017.
He is an active member and Past Chair of the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS) Utilities Security Council, which represents electric, nuclear, natural gas, communications, water and wastewater, and hydro dam utilities. He is also a member of the ASIS Global Terrorism, Political Instability, and International Crime Council. Hurley has delivered webinars and presentations, and has taught at security courses hosted by ASIS International. He remains a member of the Austin, Texas chapter of ASIS.
Throughout his career, Hurley has received specialized emergency management, security and terrorism training from numerous agencies. These include the United Nations (UN), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (USDHS), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He is a graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy (Cleveland FBI Field Office), and is a member of the Austin, Texas chapter of Infragard (FBI Alliance). He continues to maintain an elevated security clearance through the USDHS Private Sector Program.
Anthony Hurley