Evanston firm helps communities recover from disasters

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Steve Hagerty of Evanston is president of Hagerty Consulting, which helps communities prepare for and recover from disasters.

Updated: February 20, 2012 9:02AM

Tucked into a second-floor office in downtown Evanston, Hagerty Consulting stands among the unsung heroes of Evanston businesses. The company plays a major role in disaster planning and recovery in the country.

Owner Steve Hagerty led Federal Emergency Management Agency recovery efforts in New York City after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Hagerty Consulting continues to lead efforts in New Orleans, years after Hurricane Katrina. And the company recently coordinated one of the largest catastrophic planning events in the country.

“We help communities prepare for and recover from disasters,” said company President Steve Hagerty of Evanston. “We work with huge engineering firms to establish bridges, roads and other infrastructure. We handle all the financial recovery costs.”

Reconstruction can take a long time. Hagerty’s company worked on behalf of FEMA in administering the $1.4 billion loan given to help New Orleans deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA hired Hagerty to figure out how to dole out the new loans as well as to help the appropriate public agencies prepare documents for the funding.

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Syracuse University, Hagerty accepted a position with Pricewaterhouse Cooper. While there, he developed the disaster practice and established close connections with FEMA.

Resident since ’99

In 1999, he and his wife moved to Evanston so she could pursue an advanced degree at Northwestern University. He continued to work with Pricewaterhouse Cooper, but as an independent consultant. After Sept. 11, 2001, Hagerty oversaw a recovery effort that efficiently and effectively managed the allocation of $7.4 billion in a program that was closed out in less than two years, first as a consultant. In 2002, he launched Hagerty Consulting.

Because his work is so cyclical and unpredictable — where will the next disaster strike? — he likes the central location Evanston provides.

“It’s a wonderful place to live and raise kids,” Hagerty said. “I’ve lived all over the world, and hands down, with the exception of the winters, it’s a great place to live and do business.”

One of the tasks his company often has to figure out is how to house people right after a disaster and then how to move them into permanent housing.

“If a disaster struck here, we’d be OK because we have a parcel of land. FEMA would drop off a trailer that we could put on our property,” he said. “For others, where do they go? There is no available housing left. We can’t just drop off trailers. Where would they put them?”

Faced with this actual challenge in Mississippi after Katrina, Hagerty’s team went to work.

“Our team developed a strategy to collaborate with state, local and nonprofits to get people into permanent facilities,” he said.

Many of the displaced residents had been put in temporary housing called Mississippi cottages. Hagerty found a way to develop solid foundations under the temporary cottages. As a result, about 3,000 people made the transition from temporary to permanent housing.

Hagerty also worked on a federal contract to develop alternative housing in anticipation of the next disaster.

“We assessed more than 60 different housing alternatives, and FEMA picked a half dozen to test,” Hagerty said.

Relishes his work

He said he gets a great deal of satisfaction from his job.

“Nothing hits home more than describing and being part of a team that gets a community back on its feet,” he said. “Look at 9/11, people wanted to help. We were there two years working on the recovery. It was the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on. I got a great sense of personal satisfaction from our work.”

Hagerty recently completed work on the largest planning event in the country, a project to be activated should a disastrous earthquake hit the Midwest along the New Madrid Seismic Zone fault line.

“If that went off today, thousands would die, bridges, roads and buildings would collapse,” he said, noting that the Midwest lacks the building codes that earthquake-prone areas such as California have. “The results would be catastrophic.”

As a result, the two-year project developed a plan to implement a response over the eight-state area that requires significant resources and collaboration. The plans were tested this year.

Hagerty Consulting is also working with the Washington, D.C., school district to develop better ways to track and monitor how money for special education is spent.