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Cortez Trotter is Vice President and Director of James Lee Witt Associates' (JLWA) Midwest Regional Office where he is involved in the expansion of GlobalOptions Groups services in the Midwest Region including risk management and security, investigations and litigation support. Prior to joining JLWA, Trotter was the City of Chicago's first ever Chief Emergency Officer, following his retirement from the Chicago Fire Department (CFD). As the Chief Emergency Officer, he oversaw long-range planning strategies for man-made and natural disasters, and lead preparedness, response and recovery efforts during emergencies for the Chicago Police Department, CFD, Chicago Department of Public Health and Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC).
As the City's Chief Emergency Officer, Trotter oversaw the City's response to several key emergency incidents including the extended South Side power outage which resulted in the temporary relocation of thousands of residents, and the City's response to a Chicago Transit Authority train fire and the subsequent evacuation of more than 1,000 passengers. In addition, Trotter directed revisions to the City's Central Business District (CBD) Evacuation Plan and conducted a precedent setting evacuation exercise to test the effectiveness of City's plan, and tenants' preparedness using more than 3,000 building tenants from four commercial high-rise buildings after joint planning efforts with the City's public safety departments, the building management firms, and building tenants.
During his tenure as Fire Commissioner of the CFD, the second largest fire department in the United States, Trotter managed over 5,000 sworn members and an annual budget of over $430 million. He made the CFD a leader in the fire service industry by implementing several best practices, including sweeping changes to the department's high-rise incident command policies. These and other safety reforms established Chicago's fire department as an innovator in high-rise life safety, and led to the department's first-ever international high-rise life safety conference that attracted more than 1,200 first responders and building owners and managers. Demonstrating his commitment to enhancing external training and readiness, Trotter created and produced three Chicago-specific DVDs that focused on the public's role in commercial and residential high-rise life safety, and mass evacuation of the CBD. Each of the DVDs were made available free of charge to Chicago's high-rise building owners, tenants and residents, with extensive high-rise life safety public education seminars and practical drills led by members of the CFD's Public Education Division.
A strong believer in technology solutions, Trotter elevated business practices in the City's 100 firehouses by replacing 100 year old manual administrative procedures, with high-speed computer and software solutions linked to, and driven by, the CFD's own robust, self-sustaining network.
Before being named Fire Commissioner, Trotter served as the City of Chicago's Executive Director of the OEMC. In his role as Executive Director, Trotter was charged with overseeing the City's $217 million, "state-of-the-art" 911 call center. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Trotter's responsibilities were broadened to include the creation of the City's first ever Office of Emergency Management. These new responsibilities also included becoming the City's homeland security liaison to the newly established U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Mr. Trotter was a Business Major at Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois and most recently completed the Department of Homeland Security's Executive Leadership Program at the prestigious Naval Postgraduate School. He is the recipient of several awards and recognitions including: being featured on the cover of Fire Chief Magazine for his progressive leadership style; being recognized by Jones Lang LaSalle Corporation for effective incident command at the LaSalle Bank high-rise fire; and receiving the American Heart Association's Chairman's Award, the Chicago Suburban Human Relations Commission Award, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Excellence in Leadership Award. | 