ODPS Homeland Security Executive Director's Office

William Vedra

Executive Director, Ohio Homeland Security

A member of the Ohio Homeland Security division staff since July 2004, Director Vedra previously served as Deputy Director of the Office of Domestic Preparedness, coordinating the state's overall efforts to prevent, respond to and recover from major homeland security incidents. His duties also included providing oversight for state and local coordination of infrastructure protection.

With nearly 30 years of public safety experience, Director Vedra is uniquely qualified to lead Ohio's homeland security and domestic preparedness efforts. He has played an important role in developing our state preparedness planning strategies during the past three years, and will continue to play an important role in the Division as he begins to lead our overall statewide homeland security efforts.

Director Vedra was a 25-year member of the fire service before retiring in 2003 as a Battalion Chief with the Columbus Division of Fire, an organization of 1600 personnel. In his fire service career, he was a certified Paramedic and Hazmat Technician. As an officer, he held positions in research and development, training, strategic planning, commanding Hazmat operations, and the Division's communication and dispatching center.

From 1999 - 2006, Director Vedra served as a member and Task Force Leader with Ohio Task Force 1 (OH-TF1), part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Urban Search and Rescue Response System. OH-TF1 is one of the 28 teams that make up the National Response System. As an OH-TF1 member, Director Vedra deployed with the unit to the World Trade Center for 9/11 response and recovery and to Santa Rosa County, Florida during Hurricane Ivan.

A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Vedra was selected as a 2005 Senior Fellow at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute.