Andrew Abernathy, a senior consultant at Guidepost, specializes in emergency management, crisis management, and economic development planning with a proven track record of successfully leading and delivering complex projects within budget and time constraints. He is an experienced crisis and emergency management professional and has developed hundreds of preparedness plans, including Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs), Comprehensive Emergency Management Plans (CEMPs), and Continuity of Operations Plans (COOPs). Mr. Abernathy also has extensive experience in designing and facilitating HSEEP compliant exercises, ranging from drills, tabletop exercises (TTXs), functional exercises (FEs), and full-scale exercises (FSEs).
Prior to Guidepost, Mr. Abernathy worked in emergency management consulting supporting dozens of clients ranging from federal, state, and local governments to strengthen preparedness, respond to and recover from disasters, and build community resilience. He has provided critical Emergency Operations Center (EOC) support for response and recovery operations for federally declared disasters, including wildfires in the State of California and working as an embedded consultant with Salt Lake County Emergency Management during COVID-19 response and recovery operations. He has also provided technical assistance to state and local governments on $250M+ in federal funding, including the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), specifically Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Mr. Abernathy’s work has also included several high-profile emergency management program assessment and design projects for Fortune 500 clients, including Meta (formerly Facebook), the Walt Disney Company, and Airbnb/Airbnb.org.
Prior to his time in consulting, Mr. Abernathy worked for the Sonoma County Economic Development Board where he led business resilience and recovery initiatives following the Sonoma Complex Fire, the Kincade Fire, and multiple Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). He managed the implementation of a five-year economic and business recovery plan that resulted in the execution of strategic projects including affordable housing, business retention and expansion, sustainability initiatives, workforce development, tourism, and financial support for small businesses, including a $1M revolving loan fund. His work directly impacted the Santa Rosa Junior College receiving a $8.1M federal disaster grant from the Economic Development Administration to build a 10,000 square foot construction training center that includes a lab space, designed to facilitate learning in both traditional and technology-based construction methods, specialty trades, and green building technologies following the devastation of the Sonoma Complex Fire in 2017.
did you know?
Andrew is an avid skier. He has skied in Alaska, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, washington, new hampshire, vermont, and Oregon. Andrew encourages everyone to try winter sports
