Steve Hagerty is the Founder and President of Hagerty Consulting, one of the nation’s leading emergency management consulting firms. Steve also served as the 21st Mayor of Evanston, IL, and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).

Hagerty now employs more than 450 professional emergency managers nationwide – helping clients prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters, including federal, state, and local governments across the United States (US), as well as global companies and large private non-profits. Steve has personally served clients after some of our nation’s largest disasters, including 9/11, the California wildfires, Hurricane Katrina, and most recently, Hurricane Ida, the Surfside building collapse, and the global COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to disaster response and recovery missions, Hagerty regularly helps clients prepare for emergencies by developing plans to meet the challenges they face with emerging threats, including mass casualty incidents, cyber threats, and terrorist attacks. To evaluate and improve these plans, Hagerty regularly conducts tabletop and full-scale exercises with hundreds of participants and after-action reviews post-incident (s).

During his tenure as mayor, Steve successfully led Evanston through a challenging and turbulent period. This includes leading the city to address the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Steve’s leadership, Evanston had one of the lowest COVID-19 positivity and fatality rates and the highest vaccination rates among urban ring cities nationwide. Upon leaving office, Evanston was recognized as one of ten All-America Cities by the National Civic League.

Prior to founding Hagerty in 2001, Steve spent eight years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), developing expertise in the federal disaster programs and building a multi-million-dollar annual disaster recovery practice.

Steve is a graduate of Syracuse University and holds a master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse. He serves on the Maxwell School advisory board and, in 2007, gave the convocation address to the graduates.

Degrees

Master of Arts - Public Administration - Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs

Bachelor of Arts - Syracuse University