Matthew Honza is an experienced Emergency Management and Public Health professional with a decorated history of leadership, program management, and regional collaboration in various roles serving the North Texas region over the past 20 years. He served as the Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC) for North Richland Hills, coordinating the City’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Before his stint as EMC, he served as Assistant EMC of the Tarrant County Office of Emergency Management, the Strategic National Stockpile Coordinator for Tarrant County Public Health, and the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Texas is no stranger to disasters, and Mr. Honza has responded to many: Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, Katrina, Rita, and Harvey, the H1N1 pandemic, the Dallas Ebola outbreak, COVID-19, and too many severe weather events to count. To increase the response capabilities within Texas, Mr. Honza served as a lead instructor for over 25 Incident Command System (ICS) courses offered in the North Central Texas region. As an experienced planner, he has been responsible for many planning “firsts” in North Texas, including the first Family Assistance Center Plan (with accompanying tabletop and functional exercises) and Residential Waste Management Plan utilized during the 2014 Ebola Outbreak in Dallas. He has also been responsible for many exercise “firsts” in North Texas, including the first Family Assistance Center tabletop and functional exercises conducted in the region. In addition, he has designed and planned for over 50 realistic, challenging, and relevant training/exercise scenarios that meet the strategic and operational objectives for local, County, and State level stakeholders.
Mr. Honza serves as the Vice President of Texas Programs and is responsible for managing all projects in Texas (and beyond).