Brad Gair

Brad Gair serves as a Senior Vice President and Principal for operations and major project delivery at Tidal Basin. He is a distinguished leader in emergency management, renowned internationally for his pivotal roles in managing some of the most significant disasters and emergencies of the 21st century. With over 25 years of experience, Brad’s unparalleled expertise in strategic consulting and program management for disaster recovery, emergency management, resilience planning, homeland security, critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, crisis communications, and executive training and scenario-based exercises have shaped effective resilience strategies, making a profound impact in government and the private sectors.

Before joining Tidal Basin, Brad served as a Senior Managing Director at an emergency management consulting firm for over seven years. While there, he led several major emergency management planning and disaster recovery programs, including the San Jose, CA Coyote Creek Flooding incident, offered strategic advisory counseling to the Commission to Rebuild Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, led COVID-19 advisory projects nationwide, and lived on the island of St. Croix for over six years to effectively lead the U.S. Virgin Islands’ (USVI) disaster response, recovery and resilience programs related to the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. 

Prior to 2017, Brad has served in numerous additional senior leadership roles, including:  

• The first-ever Vice President of Emergency Management and Enterprise Resilience at NYU Langone Medical Center, where he secured a historic $1.4 billion FEMA grant for Superstorm Sandy recovery initiatives and established a top-tier emergency management program, created innovative methods for improving enterprise resilience, developed an Emergency Operations Plan, chaired resilience committees, enhanced department and research lab resilience assessments, led executive leadership tabletop exercises, and developed training materials, such as videos for critical incident responses. 

• In the immediate aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, appointed as the Director of Housing Recovery Operations by Mayor Bloomberg to lead lead all housing recovery efforts to provide temporary and permanent housing solutions for tens of thousands of city residents for the NYC Mayor’s Office. While serving in this role, he led strategic planning for a $2 billion, 25,000-unit housing recovery program, developed the $650 million Rapid Repairs program for 20,000 NYC residential units within 90 days, secured over $1 billion in additional funding for NYC’s public infrastructure, implemented a $60 million emergency hotel shelter program, and secured over $35 million in philanthropic funding for repairs and assistance to immigrant families. 

• President of Good Harbor EM, LLC and Principal at Good Harbor Consulting, LLC, where he led critical infrastructure protection projects, including the NJ Turnpike Exit 14 Resiliency Plan and the NJ/NY Port Resiliency Project. He also managed a major planning support contract for New York City’s Emergency Management, assisting the Regional Catastrophic Planning Team across NY, NJ, CT, and PA, and acted as Special Advisor to the UAE’s National Crisis & Emergency Management Authority, contributing to the establishment of the agency and furthering his contributions to international markets. 

• Deputy Commissioner for the NYC Office of Emergency Management, where he managed the Field Response Operations unit, rebuilt and supervised the city’s 24×7 emergency operations center, developed interagency training programs, implemented Notify NYC, the city’s emergency public warning system, implemented New York City’s Incident Management System and provided support to other jurisdictions during major disasters. 

• Federal Coordinating Officer with FEMA where he led significant disaster recovery and resilience efforts, including the $21 billion federal recovery post-9/11 in NYC and initiatives after Hurricane Katrina.  

Brad holds a bachelor’s in geography from Villanova University and a master’s in geography from the University of Arizona. He is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) and a Chartered Geographer with the Royal Geographical Society. He has earned certificates in executive leadership programs from Harvard University and the Federal Executive Institute. He has also earned the Service to America Medal from the Department of Homeland Security’s Partnership for Public Service, the City of New York Mayoral Commendation for his contributions to the World Trade Center Human Remains Recovery Project, and the Big Apple Innovation Award for his Superstorm Sandy recovery work.  

Brad is a trusted partner who is dedicated to transforming and empowering communities through innovative solutions and strategic leadership. His commitment to community resilience shines through in every endeavor. His instrumental roles in leading multi-billion-dollar federal recovery initiatives underscore his exceptional capabilities, deep understanding of complex challenges, and ability to navigate complex challenges and secure substantial grants for critical facilities.