Bill Raisch serves as the founding Executive Director of The International Center for Enterprise Preparedness (InterCEP) at New York University. The Center is the world’s first major academic center dedicated to private sector emergency preparedness. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and focuses on education, research and special projects in support of emergency management, business continuity and public-private partnerships.

Bill is also the founder of the Emergency Corpstm Program, a nationwide initiative sponsored the Greater New York Safety Council. At New York University, he is continuing the Emergency Corpstm Program’s focus on corporate preparedness training and research. His activities include private sector emergency response teams and the development of emergency management and business continuity programs. He has provided training to over 1,000 organizations in preparedness and related topics in conjunction with subject matter experts from FEMA, FBI, OSHA, New York City Office of Emergency Management, the Counter-Terrorism Division of the New York Police Department, the Fire Department of New York and numerous private sector experts in business continuity, legal affairs, emergency management and other areas.

As an advisor to the Federal 9-11 Commission, he provided expertise on private sector preparedness and emergency management issues. In support of the Commission, he developed and led a series of executive session roundtables focusing on issues of private sector preparedness and also provided expert testimony to the Commission during its public hearing schedule.

As Chairman of the Working Group on Private Sector Preparedness, he works to promote preparedness in conjunction with some of America’s largest corporations as well as small and medium-sized businesses, industry and professional associations, non-profit organizations and critical public sector entities. The Working Group in cooperation with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recommended the new Private Sector Emergency Preparedness Standard in support of the 9-11 Commission’s activities and those of the Department of Homeland Security. Under his leadership, The Working Group also developed recommendations for and is actively involved in the implementation of a comprehensive private sector preparedness initiative including strategies for both incentives and education. 

He continues to forward the development of business incentives for preparedness through a recently awarded grant of $1.3 million from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation made to InterCEP for this initiative.

Mr. Raisch is a member of the national professional committee responsible for the ongoing promulgation and evolution of the Private Sector Emergency Preparedness Standard (ANSI-NFPA 1600 Technical Committee on Disaster/Emergency Management & Business Continuity). He also serves as a member of the Private Sector Committee of the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) and as a member of the Homeland Security Standards Panel of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
At the request of the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA, Mr. Raisch served as the first private sector liaison to the Federal Government for the newly established Emergency Service Function for Economic Recovery.

Mr. Raisch is a member of FEMA’s Master Trainer Program and has developed several targeted emergency management training programs in consultation with FEMA and other authorities. He has received extensive training at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute at the National Emergency Training Center where he developed a practicum training program on the “Development and Review of Organizational Emergency Management and Continuity Plans.” Bill has developed an organizationally focused adaptation of FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team program. He has also participated in training from NYPD’s Counter-Terrorism Division, the Disaster Recovery Institute, the US Coast Guard, the American Red Cross as well as other organizations.

In support of the Greater New York Safety Council and in consultation with OSHA, Mr. Raisch developed the Safety Training And Resource Network (STAR) which, through a grant from the Department of Labor, provides workplace safety and health training to over 2,000 participants annually.