John Paczkowski

As a Senior Managing Director, John is a strategic advisor, leadership coach, and mentor to the Government Solutions management team. In that capacity, he drives the sector’s business planning process, supports major high-value business development initiatives, and facilitates ongoing change management and continuous improvement efforts in business operations and service delivery.

As a Marine Corps officer, government agency official, and private sector executive, John has over 45 years of experience in management consulting, government operations, infrastructure protection, homeland security, risk management and resilience, emergency management, and disaster recovery.

A 30-year executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, John held various leadership positions in planning, policy and operations. He managed the agency’s operations center following the 9/11 attacks on its World Trade Center complex and in late 2001, was named Director, Emergency Management and Security. There, he was responsible for critical infrastructure protection and disaster readiness programs, to include being the architect for $2 billion in security-related capital investments.

Prior to joining Witt O’Brien’s in 2019, he led a major homeland security and national resilience consulting practice for nine years. As a Senior Vice President, his team delivered a range of emergency management, infrastructure protection, homeland security, mission assurance, and/or intelligence services to local, state, and federal agencies, the U.S. military, and the private sector.

He holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and MS in Engineering Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an MA in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, and an MA in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). He was an NPS Distinguished Fellow at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and a Senior Fellow at the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute. He is now a Fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration.