Joe is the Deputy Coordinator General (Emergency Management and Response) for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). He has been with the Australian Government since December 2016, during this period he has held several positions and was the last serving Director General of Emergency Management Australia. As Deputy Coordinator General, Joe is responsible for overseeing Australian Government and national Crisis Coordination for all hazards, national preparedness, running of the national situation room, national operational capability building and exercising and lessons.  

Joe has more than 40 years’ experience in security and disaster management and has held a number of key senior positions. Joe is the conceptual architect for the National Coordination Mechanism (NCM) and has led more than 600 NCM’s and he is the author of the Crisis Appreciation and Strategic Planning methodology. Joe was the author of the CASP doctrine and is also an accredited level 3 Incident Controller.   

Joe was deployed to Victoria to establish and lead the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre to coordinate the response to COVID outbreaks in the Aged Care sector. Joe led the centre for 3 months until the situation was stabilised and transitioned to recovery.   

Joe has held several senior executive positions over the past 15 years, such as Director General Emergency Management Australian, Chief Officer and of the Victorian Country Fire Authority, Deputy Emergency Management Commissioner Victoria, Deputy Chief Officer CFA, Deputy Emergency Services Commissioner, Victoria and State Marine Pollution and Hazardous Material Controller.  

Joe has had direct involvement in coordinating and responding to major emergencies in Australia and internationally, at the Strategic, Operational and Tactical levels.  Some examples are; Repatriation from the Middle East Operations 2024 and 2021, 2022 Eastern Australia Floods, Leading the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre 2020, Black Summer Bushfire 2019-20, Far North Queensland Floods 2018-19, Cyclone Debbie 2017, Tasmanian Bushfires 2016, Wye River Bushfires 2016, Nepal Earth Quake 2015, Somerton Building Waste Fire 2015, Hazelwood Mine Fire 2014. NSW Bushfires 2014, 2011 Victorian Floods, 2009 Black Saturday Fires in Victoria.  Joe has also served in the Australian Defence Force. 

Academic Qualifications: Harvard Executive Crisis Leadership Program, 2023, Executive Fellows Program ANZOG 2021, Masters of Business, Graduate Diploma in Disaster Management, Diploma in Security Management.