With hurricane season on the horizon, May is the perfect time to learn your risks and better understand how hurricanes can affect you, your family, and your community. At Hagerty, our Response professionals understand the demands communities face as they confront hurricane season and work tirelessly to tailor our support as clients’ needs and missions evolve. This month, we are highlighting some of Hagerty’s Response personnel to discuss how their career paths and professional experiences led them to the Hagerty team.
1. Tell us about yourself and how your career path led you to Hagerty.
Sarah Peters: Before working at Hagerty, I worked at a recruiting and staffing firm supporting healthcare staffing. I knew that regardless of where my career took me, I wanted to continue supporting and helping people. A friend reached out with the opportunity to learn about Hagerty. After speaking with Hagerty staff and learning more about the firm, I knew it was the right fit for me.
Grace Maliborski: I have been lucky to begin my emergency management career at Hagerty! I joined in 2022 as an intern for Hagerty’s Recovery division before moving to a full-time role as a Response Associate. Prior to joining the team, I studied public health at Saint Louis University (SLU), which is where my interest in emergency management began.
2. What role do you play in supporting Hagerty’s response to disasters?
Sarah Peters: When responding to a disaster, I support the team by collecting our professional’s mobilization and client-required documents, tracking the mobilizations, and helping our staff locate hotels, rental cars, and flights. I also support the readiness team by tracking staff we have available via our Response Cadre and On-Call team.
Grace Maliborski: In my current position, I play a couple of different roles in supporting Hagerty’s response work. I have been deployed to disaster sites to be the boots-on-the-ground support, worked on a client’s project management team, and contributed to Hagerty’s readiness efforts.
3. What do you find most rewarding about working in the field of emergency management?
Sarah Peters: The most rewarding part of working in emergency management has been knowing that even though my work is behind the scenes, I am helping people whose lives have been affected by disaster.
Grace Maliborski: The part of working in the emergency management field that I find the most rewarding is being able to participate in high-profile current events and connecting those in need to the services that are able to support them.
4. What is one piece of information that you have learned working in the response division that you think people should know?
Sarah Peters: I have learned that disaster comes when least expected, and you can never be too prepared.
Grace Maliborski: If I could shed light on one thing I have learned while working in Hagerty’s Response division, it would be the high number of intelligent, hard-working, and dedicated individuals that are willing to mobilize, at a moment’s notice, to support those in need affected by a disaster.
5. What are you passionate about outside of work?
Sarah Peters: Outside of work, I love reading, walking, and spending time with friends and family.
Grace Maliborski: Outside of work, I love hot yoga, thrifting, and enjoying all the fun and exciting activities in my neighborhood in New York City (NYC)!
To learn more about Hagerty’s work coordinating facilities and personnel to serve disaster-impacted communities, visit our Response page here.
Sarah Peters is a Mobilization Coordinator for Hagerty’s Response division with more than eight years of experience in account management, sales process, and relationship management. In her role at Hagerty, Ms. Peters has supported the documentation, mobilization, and coordination of response personnel to emergencies and disasters across the country.
Grace Maliborski is a Response Associate and passionate emergency management professional with a background in public health. At Hagerty, Ms. Maliborski has contributed to projects with multiple types of organizations involving disaster response and recovery efforts. She holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Biosecurity and Disaster Preparedness from SLU.