Welcome to Day 1 Of The EMS Leadership Summit

About the Session:
With over 1.6 million EMS calls annually, the FDNY operates at a scale few systems face—while navigating the same workforce challenges impacting EMS nationwide. In this session, Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore shares how leadership is responding to burnout, staffing shortages, and pay disparities—and what it takes to build a more sustainable EMS system. A candid conversation on what needs to change—and how leaders can drive it.

About the Speaker:
Lillian Bonsignore, the 37th Fire Commissioner of the FDNY, began her career as an EMT in 1991 at Station 14 in the South Bronx. She responded to the 9/11 attacks as an EMS Academy instructor and advanced through the ranks, becoming a Lieutenant in 2005, Paramedic in 2007, and Captain in 2010. She later served as Deputy Chief and, in 2016, Chief of the EMS Academy, overseeing training for 13,000 members. Appointed Chief of EMS in 2019, she became the first woman to hold a four‑star EMS rank and led FDNY EMS through the COVID‑19 pandemic. She retired in 2022.

About the Session:
Clarity is a leadership discipline that drives trust, speed, and results. This session challenges leaders to say what is real—not what is convenient—by communicating early, removing language that dilutes accountability, and addressing disagreement with intention. Participants will explore how honest, direct communication strengthens teams and accelerates execution. Rather than avoiding conflict, effective leaders handle it with courage and clarity. This presentation equips attendees with practical strategies to move beyond survival mode and lead with transparency, confidence, and sustainable impact.

About the Speakers:
Asbel is a nationally recognized expert in healthcare revenue cycle operations and co-founder of Solutions Group Services, a tech-enabled consultancy helping healthcare systems recover revenue, streamline workflows, and reduce manual work.
With 20+ years of experience across EMS and hospital-based care, Asbel partners with CFOs and operational leaders to solve complex challenges—from denial trends to policy shifts—with practical, real-world strategies.
He also brings deep policy expertise, having chaired federal advisory committees and testified before Congress to help shape smarter reimbursement models. Known for his clarity and candor, Asbel bridges strategy with execution to drive lasting results.

About the Session:
According to Gallup research, there has been a notable rise in global unhappiness over the last 15 years and leaders have largely missed it. The pandemic, social unrest, and the political climate have impacted people’s relationship with their jobs and further exacerbated workforce shortages. Our leadership teams are a microcosm of the community as a whole and many are struggling to see a path forward. As a reactive profession, we often fail to paint a picture of a brighter future. However, during difficult times, hope is often the unspoken jet fuel that drives our teams towards tomorrow. It is not just a desirable trait but is the essential foundation of successful leadership. This session will highlight the three most powerful tools any leader can have, hope, optimism, and resiliency

About the Speaker:
Scott Moore, Esq. is a founding partner of Werfel, Moore, & Kelly Law Group, LLP, a national firm that advises mobile healthcare agencies on a wide range of human resources and labor law issues. He has been an active EMT for over 34 years. Scott is a licensed attorney and a certified consultant, specializing in human resources, employment law, reimbursement, and compliance issues. Scott is a Massachusetts, Illinois, and Texas state licensed attorney, and is the legal commissioner for the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS)

About the Session:
Leaders often analyze systems but rarely themselves. Using the SWOT framework (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), Ray Barishansky guides participants through a focused self-evaluation.

Drawing on 30 years of experience, this session explores how personal blind spots and emotional intelligence impact communication, trust, and crisis management. It challenges leaders to apply strategic thinking to their own performance and lead from the inside out.

About the Speaker:
Dr. Raphael M. Barishansky is a veteran EMS and public health leader with over three decades of experience. He previously served as the Deputy Secretary for Health Preparedness at the Pennsylvania Department of Health and led Connecticut’s Office of EMS. An accomplished author and speaker, he now works as an independent consultant, helping organizations nationwide navigate complex emergency preparedness and leadership challenges.

About the Session:
Burnout in EMS is often framed as an individual problem, but the reality looks very different in practice. Burnout is engineered. Extended shifts, mandatory overtime, and a workforce that frequently spans multiple agencies create conditions where fatigue and stress accumulate over time. In that environment, burnout is not surprising, it is expected.

At the same time, the leaders closest to the workforce, shift supervisors and frontline officers, often receive little formal training in how to lead people. Yet their behavior directly shapes how stress is experienced on a daily basis. Under the same workload, one team may remain engaged while another burns out. The difference is rarely just the work itself. It is how the system is led.

This session presents a systems-level approach to burnout in EMS, focusing on how organizational design and leadership behavior interact to either produce or prevent it. Participants will gain a practical framework and concrete strategies to address burnout at its source rather than continuing to manage its symptoms.

About the Speaker:
Andrew Holter is an organizational psychologist and former EMS Chief with over 20 years of experience in public safety and healthcare. As the founder of FR Strategies, he specializes in applying industrial-organizational psychology to improve performance, culture, and leadership outcomes. Currently serving as a Director of Administration for a large county health department, Andrew uses data-driven, evidence-based practices to reduce burnout and enhance employee engagement across complex organizations.