“Making strong leaders that are comfortable with being uncomfortable as they grow themselves, as
           we grow with them will go a long way in developing a winning culture for everyone.”

 

Emergency Manager Mike Bamberger can’t remember one specific incident that pushed him toward the
military, but there were signs along the way pointing him in that direction. Bamberger grew up in Boy
Scouts of America, earning the highest rank of Eagle Scout, an experience he calls “a natural transition to
the military.” In high school, he took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, which he
performed well on. From there, he enlisted in the Army. 

Bamberger started basic training early – before he was even out of high school. He served in the
Reserves his senior year and went to advanced training to become an artillery mechanic. He attended
Moravian College (now Moravian University) in Bethlehem, PA with an ROTC scholarship where he
majored in chemistry and business management.

Bamberger served a total of eight years on active duty – one year in Alabama and seven years in Europe. He elected not
to stay in the Reserves and instead found a temporary job at Hewlett-Packard. Next, he became the
emergency manager for Benton County. He also worked for Samaritan Health Services in Corvallis and
then for the Department of Energy at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland, WA.

That’s when he heard about an open emergency management position at OSU.

“It just kind of pulled together all the past experiences – from the radiation site and working with
nuclear, to the medical, to the county and emergency management – even to the planning skills that I
picked up in the military,” he said.

When Bamberger began to receive early reports of a novel virus spreading in late 2019, he soon realized
that the severity of the situation far exceeded the Department of Public Safety's scope. Instead,
he assumed an advisory role and supported OSU leadership in developing an operational framework for
navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also in charge of responding to immediate needs on the
ground. For example, his department was charged with acquiring large amounts of necessary PPE
(personal protective equipment) and representing OSU leadership at the Covid-19 vaccination clinics
held at Reser Stadium.

Outside of his work for OSU, Bamberger also serves with a federal agency nestled under Health and
Human Services called the National Disaster Medical System. The NDMS sends medical personnel and
recovery teams to areas in crisis – Florida after a hurricane or Maui after the 2023 wildfires, for example.
Through his work for NDMS, Bamberger said he has able to learn and apply that knowledge to
emergency preparedness at OSU.

“It keeps me out there practicing my skills, learning a lot of knowledge to bring back to the university,
and we're able to roll it into planning,” he said. Being able to share those real-world experiences helps
make emergency planning feel relevant and concrete when he’s speaking to on-campus partners.

Bamberger said that the military instilled in him a respect and appreciation for good leadership and
planning because he has seen firsthand the dire consequences that can follow if those things fail.

“I’ve seen the direct consequences of poor leadership in the military. Our mission is to go because
everything else has failed,” he said. “And if we don't lead well, people will get hurt or killed. And it kind
of sticks with you.”

Seeing how quickly a situation can deteriorate under poor management has shaped how Bamberger
approaches his work today. He said that as a leader, his goal is to invest deeply in his role and the
communities he works with. Leadership that doesn’t shy away from growth and change, he said, is what
ultimately makes an organization successful.

“Making strong leaders that are comfortable with being uncomfortable as they grow themselves, as we
grow with them, will go a long way in developing a winning culture for everyone,” Bamberger said.