Mikal Orr

Prior to my current degree program, I built more than twenty years of progressively responsible leadership experience in emergency management, public safety, operational coordination, and organizational readiness across state, regional, and local organizations. My work has focused on leading complex, high-consequence operations; coordinating cross-functional teams; supporting executive decision-making; and improving organizational performance in environments where continuity, resilience, and risk management are critical.

My experience includes statewide emergency operations leadership with the Texas A&M Forest Service, regional healthcare and critical infrastructure coordination with the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, disaster recovery and mitigation work with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and operational leadership with the Amarillo Fire Department. Across these roles, I have coordinated with government agencies, healthcare systems, industry partners, utilities, emergency response organizations, and executive stakeholders to support strategic planning, incident management, resource allocation, after-action improvement, training, and enterprise-level preparedness. This background has given me a strong foundation in operational resilience, stakeholder alignment, decision-making under uncertainty, and leading systems-level improvements that are directly relevant to executive and private-sector leadership.