Austin Howe, MHS, is the Senior Director of Support Services for Kaiser Permanente of West Los Angeles Medical Center. His region encompasses 9 health centers and a large medical complex in one of the largest cities in the United States. He is responsible for directing and managing operational activities for departments in Operations Support which directs the functions of patient transportation, telecommunications, parking, and security departments. Austin has extensive experience and expertise in managing multi-site facilities within heath care. He has the ultimate responsibility for creating a safe, respectful, and secure environment for thousands of medical staff and a quarter-million patients annually.
Austin is also a private consultant for susceptible facilities in natural or potentially man-made disaster areas. Previously, he spent 10 years at Planned Parenthood serving as the Director of Business Continuity, Emergency Management and Security for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. His region encompassed the nine most southern counties in California and he was responsible for the security, emergency management, and continuity planning for 115 health care facilities.
His other prior experiences include working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the National Response and Coordination Center (NRCC). There he assisted with post-Katrina planning and Disaster Declarations from the President of the United States. Austin has also worked for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in Phoenix and Washington, D.C., leading efforts on executive protection and event security. He holds a Masters in Homeland Security and has spent time training with the Israeli military in counter-terrorism measures.
Austin has been teaching at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Extension in the areas of health care, business continuity, emergency management, security, and crisis communications since 2016.