Ed Balderas
As an emergency management professional with over ten years of experience, I have worked with various agencies and organizations to help ensure the preparedness and safety of many communities. Throughout my career, I have demonstrated strong leadership and program management abilities, including expert skill in project management, public speaking, and team building. My expertise in grant and financial management has enabled me to secure critical funding and resources to support efforts across all disaster phases, while my passion for serving the public has driven me to seek out innovative solutions to complex problems. I am committed to using my knowledge and experience to keep communities safe, and to continue to promote emergency management best practices.
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Education
Current Employment and Contract
Emergency Management Coordinator
City of Rowlett
March 2014 - Present
As my primary employment, I am responsible for implementing the City's comprehensive emergency management program, overseeing the OEM division's staff/volunteers/contractors, working with local/state/federal stakeholders, and leading the City through emergency and disaster events.
Incident Support Task Force
Texas Division of Emergency Management
August 2017 - Present
Contracted through the City of Rowlett, I serve as a veteran member of the TDEM ISTF mutual aid system. When activated, I deploy to various disasters across the State of Texas to support local and state response and recovery efforts.
Current Professional Volunteer Roles
Vice Chair
North Central Texas Public Works Emergency Response Team
February 2018 - Present
Due to the immense amount of public works mutual aid provided to the City of Rowlett after the 2015 EF-4 tornado, I successfully sought the appointment of the Vice Chair position for the regional NCT PWERT mutual aid system. As Vice Chair, I have deployed resources for multiple emergencies and disasters and managed the working group's grant-funded equipment cache.
Emergency Management Support Team
Emergency Management Working Group - NCTCOG
April 2017 - Present
As a volunteer member of the regional EMST, I provide assistance to local emergency managers for exercises and disasters.
I was fortunate to have been one of the first to deploy, under the precursor EMST system, to the DDC 4 Garland EOC, for the DFW Ebola 2014 event. I was also fortunate to have received the first significant deployment of EMST personnel for the 2015 Sunnyvale-Garland-Rowlett EF-4 tornado.
Previous Employment
Adjunct Lecturer
UNT Emergency Administration and Planning Department (EADP)
Spring Semester 2015 & 2016
As an Adjunct Lecturer, I taught and managed the EADP 3010 - Introduction to Emergency Management undergraduate course. Each class had over 40 adult learners.
This not only provided me with valuable adult teaching experience, but also helped to reinforce my practical emergency management experience with the history and theory of emergency management.
System and Incident Management Intern
North Texas Tollway Authority
May 2013 - August 2013
As a requirement of my MPA program, I participated in paid internship program with the SIM department at the NTTA.
This experience provided me with practical exercise development, an insight into emergency management within public enterprise organizations, and valuable transportation infrastructure knowledge.
TEMAC Disaster Recovery Advisory Committee
Since 2022, I have served on the TEMAC Disaster Recovery Advisory Committee where I have pushed for increased communications and policy updates regarding the FEMA PA/IA process, LTRC/COAD development, the household insurance crisis, and other matters. This has provided a platform for me to advocate for local needs in the State's disaster recovery process.
Management and Leadership Style
My experience with organizing, managing, and leading teams of various sizes, capabilities, backgrounds, and disciplines has helped me developed a flexible set of management and leadership styles that I can implement to bring success to my organization and my team.
I often take a more centralized and command approach for very fast-paced task completion environments (e.g., emergency situations). However, I still try to incorporate collaboration and input when and where possible. In more slow-paced task and project completion environments, I take a more democratic, servant leader, and coaching approach after I know we have clear communication channels, well-established procedures, and the necessary skill sets. Obviously, the management style will have to change depending on the task or project at hand and I am good at adjusting to changing conditions. One management and leadership skill I would like to improve on is how to better inspire and motivate employees, especially those who don’t see themselves as public servants and aren’t motivated by public service as I am.
To me, developing a capable and high-performing team whose members are able to achieve both organizational and personal professional success is what makes me the most proud. Therefore, I carefully consider the type of management and leadership style necessary on a task, project, individual, team, and/or organizational basis.
Outside of Work
I believe that a successful work-life balance is required to achieve greatness in the workplace. I try to apply this not only to myself, but also to those who work for me.
I love working in the field of emergency management, because it is often an extension of my personality and life outside of work. Below are some examples.
