Presented by Jon Politis, MPA, NRP

Sponsored by Northeast Colorado RETAC

• • 📅 Date: April 15–16, 2026
  • 🕗 Time: 0900–1700
  • 📍 Location: East Point Building, 830 E Platte Ave, Fort Morgan, CO 80701

Leadership Bootcamp: Surviving and Thriving as an Organizational Leader

Supervision is hard. Organizational leadership is different.

Executive leaders in emergency services operate under constant constraint — staffing shortages, compressed budgets, public accountability, board dynamics, political pressures, and the responsibility to shape culture while maintaining operational reliability.

The Leadership Bootcamp is designed for chiefs, directors, managers, and emerging executive leaders who want practical tools to build durable teams, strengthen culture, retain talent, and navigate the political realities of emergency services leadership.

This program helps leaders:

• Build and sustain a positive organizational culture
• Recruit and retain high-performing personnel
• Lead change without eroding trust
• Navigate board and council relationships effectively
• Understand political dynamics and survive them
• Recognize and manage leadership ethical dilemmas

Built on the Supervisors Bootcamp

This course is a natural next step for leaders who have completed the Supervisors Bootcamp (March 25–26, 2026). While the Supervisors Bootcamp focuses on front-line leadership and day-to-day supervisory skills, the Leadership Bootcamp expands into organizational leadership — culture, strategy, politics, governance relationships, and managing sustained change.

What You’ll Learn

This 16-hour bootcamp addresses the realities of organizational leadership and the skills required to lead through complexity, change, and politics:

• Going for the Gold — The realities of leadership
• Building and Maintaining Positive Relationships and Teams
• Developing a Positive Organizational Culture
• Recruiting and Keeping the Very Best
• Getting Things Done — Managing change
• Walking the Political Tightrope — Working with boards/councils
• Leading and Surviving Organizational Change
• Understanding the Political Dynamics of Leadership
• Leadership Ethical Dilemmas
• Contemporary Issues in Emergency Services Leadership

Instructor

Jon Politis, MPA, NRP is a nationally respected emergency services leader and educator. Beginning in 1971, he has served in many capacities across EMS and fire service, including EMT, firefighter, ski patroller, paramedic, paramedic program director, state EMS official (VT and NY), EMS Chief, and Fire Chief.

He served on the Board of Directors of the National Registry of EMTs and the Committee on Accreditation for the EMS Professions, has been a co-investigator on original research, and has authored numerous articles and professional texts.

In 1989, he led the Town of Colonie, NY, through a major systems change by consolidating six rescue squads into a single municipal EMS department. He served as Chief of the Town of Colonie EMS Department from 1989 to 2010. During his tenure, Colonie EMS received multiple national and regional awards, including New York State EMS Service of the Year.

In retirement, he served as the interim director of a community ambulance service and led them through a consolidation effort with a neighboring agency. He has also served as Chief of his community volunteer fire department. Jon is a highly sought-after educator and has presented at local and national conferences across the United States and Canada.

Details

Registration & Contact

Reserve your seat today — space may be limited.

🔗 Register online: