Alumnus Assists Others with Emergency Planning

Through his company, Emergency Preparedness Solutions LLC, Tim Riecker ‘00 helps organizations, cities, event venues and other entities create plans to respond to everything from an active shooter to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He and his wife, Dr. Robin Riecker, founded the company in Utica, N.Y., in 2012, to provide assessment, planning, training and hands-on exercises to better prepare a response to emergencies and disasters.

“The work I do is absolutely my passion,” said Tim, a business administration major who served as chief of operations for Student Association Volunteer Ambulance Corps (SAVAC) during his time at SUNY Oswego. “The depth that can go into this work is endless, from high-level plans to detailed checklists for the people taking action. While there are many standards across emergency management, those standards must be applied thoughtfully to meet the unique needs and circumstances of every client.”

As a small business owner, he is also responsible for day-to-day operations and calls on the business administration knowledge he gained at Oswego.

“It’s an interesting and multifaceted job,” he said. “The fundamental practices and services we provide come from knowledge and experience of being an emergency manager. My degree in business administration has helped me with all the necessary areas of running my own business: accounting and book keeping, marketing, communications, project management, organizational management, contract law and more.”

His clients span the whole country and multiple time zones, which affects his work schedule as does the nature of the work.

He has been drawn to this high-intensity, high-impact work since he became a volunteer firefighter and EMT even before coming to Oswego and joining SAVAC.

When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, his company was quick to be called to assist former, current and new clients. Although each kind of emergency—whether that is an infectious disease, weather event, active shooter or nuclear disaster—is unique, he said the fundamentals of planning are the same.

“Just like planning, the fundamentals of response are the same, but then we leverage different tools and resources to the solve the problem we are faced with,” he said.

Tim said that all families and individuals should also have emergency plans for themselves.

To learn more about Tim’s company, visit epsllc.biz. Check out his and other alumni-owned businesses in the Oswego Alumni Business Directory at alumni.oswego.edu/businessdirectory.

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