New SJU Director of Life Safety hired
The Chief Facilities and Resilience Officer Russ Klein announced the hiring of Blain Schumacher was as the new Director of Life Safety last Monday.
On Monday, March 23, Blain Schumacher stepped into the role of the new Director of Life Safety at St. John’s University.
Schumacher brings with him years of experience in areas involving fire service, emergency protocols and
community safety.
Schumacher’s highly recognized career has led him to continue focusing on what matters most: community service.
Life Safety Services believes in the importance of providing a secure campus environment for everyone in the St. John’s community.
Besides attending to students, Life Safety provides services, including emergency responses, to all four branches of the St. John’s campus which includes the University, St. John’s Preparatory School, the Abbey and the Liturgical Press.
Life Safety offers a variety of services within the campus which include parking enforcement, emergency medical response, escort services and 24-hour campus patrol.
Russ Klein, Chief Facilities and Resilience Officer, helped welcome Schumacher into his new role.
“Blain is a servant leader who understands the importance of community engagement and building trust. That approach aligns well with the work we’re doing in Life Safety. We have a strong foundation in place, and Blain is stepping in to build on the work of the previous director while helping us continue to evolve. There’s a lot of positive momentum, and we’re excited about what’s ahead,” Klein said.
Klein explained that, although higher education safety presents unique dynamics, he thinks these newer elements will allow Schumacher to rise to the challenge.
Schumacher is originally from Baraboo, Wisconsin, beginning his career as a firefighter in the United States Air Force in 1986.
Upon completing seven and a half years of service, serving one tour in Desert Storm, Schumacher accepted a firefighting position with the Department of Defense.
By the time he retired in 2018, Schumacher completed 25 years as a civilian employee with 32 years of combined service.
As someone with 37 years of experience in fire service, Schumacher is a fully certified Fire Chief, Training Chief, Incident Commander, OSHA Health and Safety Officer, Arson Investigator, Hazardous Materials
(Haz-Mat) Technician and Incident Commander and an Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighter.
Schumacher held a place as a Commission on Fire Accreditation International Accreditation Manager, being a trainer and certifier for all levels of Haz-Mat and Incident Command.
Schumacher is a veteran of over 17,000 emergency calls in his career.
In respect to his years of expertise and service, Schumacher has received a variety of high-level awards.
These awards included four Air Force Inspector General Awards for Excellence, multiple Firefighter and Fire Officer of the Year awards, the Outstanding Civilian Career Service Award and Federal Employee of the Year (Technical Division) in 2001.
Outside of his fire career, Schumacher served as Director of Campus Safety for Wilson Hall, located in Sumter, South Carolina.
In this position, he performed all first responder duties involving emergency medical response, safety and security as well as training for extreme weather incidents.
By stepping in as the new Director of Life Safety, Schumacher has a variety of roles he will have to take on.
The Life Safety team primarily performs day-to-day tasks such as incident investigations, event safety screening, emergency medical services, ID cards and parking passes and event security operations.
Schumacher’s job is to ensure these areas of Life Safety are functioning effectively.
Due to his 37 years of experience, Schumacher believes his emergency response background is invaluable as his entire adult life has been centered around taking care of communities.
Schumacher found this opportunity through an Indeed job posting, saying how it caught his eye immediately.
Schumacher was ready to return to a role where he was helping a larger community after working as a safety and compliance manager for a large construction firm in Wisconsin.
After meeting and interviewing with several St. John’s professionals, Schumacher was sold on the job.
“My hope in my new role is to solidify life safety services as the team everyone can turn to when they need assistance. Community service is huge for me, so I plan on being involved in as many events as possible. I want the population of St. John’s University to know we are here to serve you, our customers. This is my plan to make a positive impact as the new life safety services director,” Schumacher said.
