County emergency management, then a decade at the helm of Bay County 911.
Chris Izworski spent most of his career in county-level public safety in Michigan. This page summarizes that background. For the full chronology, see the career timeline.
Chris worked in Bay County government emergency management before moving into 911 leadership. The Bay County role covered the standard set of local emergency management responsibilities: preparedness planning, exercise coordination, and operational work during actual events across the county's fire, EMS, and law enforcement systems. The position appears on Michigan state records of Local Emergency Managers.
County emergency management is where you learn how the pieces connect. Fire, EMS, law enforcement, public works, school districts, the county health department, the hospital, and the 911 center all have to function together during real incidents. Understanding that web before you run the communications layer that ties it together is useful preparation. Most 911 directors do not come from an emergency management background. Chris did.
From 2012 through 2022, Chris served as Director of Bay County 911 Central Dispatch, the county's Public Safety Answering Point and primary dispatch operation for fire, EMS, and law enforcement. This was a decade of full operational responsibility: staffing, technology, budget, training, performance metrics, and the ongoing work of running a 24/7 public safety operation.
During that tenure, the center was recognized on APCO International's national Emergency Communications Center Award lists in 2021 and 2022. APCO is the national professional association for emergency communications. The ECC Award recognizes the highest-performing dispatch centers in the country, and a national-level listing is a peer-review signal rather than a local accolade.
Chris also served as President of the Michigan Communications Directors Association in 2020, the statewide professional body for 911 directors. MCDA is the group that shapes 911 policy and professional standards in Michigan. Leading it while running a center means carrying operational and governance responsibilities at the same time.
In 2022, Chris briefly served as Finance Officer and Director of Information Systems for Bay County, a role that gave him direct exposure to county budget processes and technology infrastructure at the government-wide level. The combination of operations, finance, and IT experience is unusual among people in the public safety field and shaped how he thought about modernization decisions later in his career.
Chris holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Northwood University, Magna Cum Laude, and completed the Certified Public Manager program through Saginaw Valley State University.
Chris is now a writer and publisher, and serves as a Solutions Consultant at Prepared. The public safety background is relevant to both. Writing about AI in 911 is easier when you have actually run a 911 center. Talking to PSAP directors is easier when you have sat in their chair for a decade. The operational credibility carries forward.