Matthew West on Emergency Management for School Districts

Matthew West began his career as a peace officer in 2000 and has transitioned into risk management in 2018. Matthew received his B.A. in American Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2002 and received his M.A. in Homeland Security (with honors) from American Military University in 2013. He holds a Master Peace Officer certification for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and is a TCOLE certified instructor.

Matthew has been part of numerous disaster responses as a first responder, to include Hurricanes Rita and Ike. During his deployment, Matthew began to realize the lack of preparedness and vulnerabilities communities lacked, as well as those shortfalls for those responding to these events. His experiences is what guided him toward his graduate studies in Homeland Security and writing his thesis on the vulnerability of an EMP event on the U.S. power grid. Matthew is also a Boy Scout leader and amateur radio operator.