About
We create solutions. When it comes to emergency services, Fitch & Associates is the only organization that combines the depth of a national, full-time professional team with an extraordinary level of personal service and responsiveness to client needs.
The result? Exceptional value.
Let’s face a simple truth: These days, it’s easy to print a bunch of business cards, build a website and call yourself a consultant. But after more than three decades and thousands of client engagements, we’ve learned a few truths of our own.
At Fitch & Associates, we’re dedicated to one thing: Our clients’ success. We put that dedication to the test every time we answer the phone. Every time we get on a plane or shake a hand. Every time we sit down and just listen. And every single time we deliver a recommendation.
You see, we know that when we help organizations improve the quality of services, decrease response times or strengthen their financial structure, we’re helping them make a difference in people’s lives.
It’s why we come to work every day. And it’s incredibly rewarding.
Efficiency
Who We Serve
No organization or municipality is too big or too small to provide effective, efficient emergency services to its community. At Fitch & Associates, we have worked with fire departments in major metropolitan areas and local EMS services in rural Canada, busy county dispatch centers and regional air medical services. Whether you’re a city or county manager looking to improve local fire or EMS response, a hospital executive evaluating your organization’s ambulance or air medical service or a local chief assessing deployment and operational strategy, we can help you.
Meet Our Team
We bring together some of the most resourceful and innovative people in the industry in a collaborative, cost-efficient team approach. Our team has worked as CEOs, chiefs, directors, managers and clinicians, giving us a client’s-eye view of critical issues and real-world organizational dynamics.
The Firm's Partners
Core Consulting Team
Project Consultants
Additional Team Members
Gang Wang
Senior Consultant
Dr. Wang is an expert in analyzing fire department, emergency medical service (EMS) agency, and private ambulance service workload, deployment, and response time. He specializes in managing large-scale data sets, and applying advanced mathematical models to design the most efficient system to provide fire and EMS services. Dr. Wang holds a Ph.D. degree in industrial engineering from Wayne State University.
BJ Jungmann
Senior Consultant
BJ Jungmann brings over 16 years of Fire and EMS expertise with experience in career, combination and volunteer fire departments. He currently holds the position of Fire Chief for the City of Burnsville, Minnesota. BJ earned his Bachelor of Science from American Military University in Fire Science Management.
Chief Eric Nickel, EFO, CFC, CFO
Senior Consultant
Chief Eric Nickel has over 29 years of service as a professional firefighter. Originally educated to be a banker, he graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a degree in Business Administration, Finance. A fateful summer fighting forest fires radically changed his career path. He has worked for five fire departments, large and small, in Southern and Northern California.
Mike Burton
Senior Consultant
Mike Burton is a 41 veteran of the fire and EMS service and is currently the fire chief with the Tamarac, FL Fire Rescue Department, an ISO Class I department. Chief Burton holds a master’s degree from Grand Canyon University in Executive Fire Service Leadership, and a bachelor’s in Organizational Studies from Eckerd College.
Micheal Despain, M.A., EFO, CFO, MIFireE
Senior Consultant
Chief Despain brings over 37 years of fire/EMS experience in the public safety field, serving as fire chief for the City of Clovis (CA) and the City of Lincoln (NE). He has also served as interim fire chief for the cities of Fresno (CA), Rocklin (CA), Piedmont (CA), as well as a second time serving Lincoln (NE). Most recently he has been serving as a contract interim deputy chief for the City of Redmond (WA).
Micheal has served as a subject matter expert and consultant on fire and EMS deployment projects for the U.S. Fire Administration and Center for Public Safety Excellence, and has been part of the Fitch team since 2015. He has also served as a board member for the League of California Cities and California Fire Chiefs Association, developing policy and legislation for numerous state and national fire service issues.
Teresa R. Johnson, PhD
Senior Consultant
Dr. Johnson is the Director of the Office of Assessment and Evaluation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) Dr. Johnson is also an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences Informatics. Prior to joining JHUSOM, Dr. Johnson served as an Assistant Professor of Medical Education at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, where she taught statistics and research methods to first-and second-year undergraduate medical students.
Dr. Johnson completed her Ph.D. degree at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. During her graduate studies, she worked as a Sport Psychology Consultant for the FSU NCAA Division I women’s softball and men’s golf teams and taught undergraduate sections of Sport Psychology and Classroom Applications of Educational Psychology.
Chief Melanie Bevan, Ed.D.
Senior Consultant
Melanie Bevan became the Chief of the Bradenton Police Department in February of 2016. She served the St. Petersburg Police Department for 29 years, retiring at the rank of Assistant Chief. She holds a Doctor of Education degree in Leadership Education and has completed numerous professional specialty certifications including the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy and the Naval Postgraduate Center for Homeland Security and Defense, Homeland Security Executive Leaders Program. She also does contract investigative work for the office of the Commissioner for Major League Baseball.
Chuck Walker
Director of Information Services
Mr. Walker brings his expertise in air medical program operations, flight operations, and information technology to the Firm’s clients. His consulting projects have included evaluation and redesign of communications centers, process redesign for electronic and manual work flow, and design of automated systems to track and store statistical data, IT infrastructure design, development of key performance monitoring tools and reports, and procurement of aircraft and aviation management services.
Sheryl Swearengin, MBA, CPA
Director of Finance
Ms Swearengin has over 25 years’ experience with increasing levels of responsibilities with accounting, construction and retail firms. She has served as an staff accountant, tax manager and as chief financial officer. Ms. Swearengin has a BA in accounting and an MBA in addition to current licensure as a CPA in Missouri.
Sharon Conroy
Program Coordinator
Ms. Conroy has over 20 years administrative experience at increasing levels of responsibility. She serves as Administrative and Program Coordinator for Fitch & Associates. In that role, she supervises the Administrative staff and day-to-day office functions. Additionally, she coordinates the firm’s educational events including the annual Pinnacle EMS Leadership conference, the Ambulance Service Manager Program, the Communications Center Manager course, and Beyond the Street workshops.
Industry Partners
