David Topczynski Tapped to Lead Virginia Beach Office of Emergency Management

David Topczynski tapped to lead Virginia Beach Office of Emergency Management.

City Manager Patrick Duhaney has announced that David "Tops" Topczynski has been selected to serve as the City of Virginia Beach's new emergency management coordinator effective Feb. 9.

Topczynski has served as the interim coordinator since the departure of Danielle Progen in early December 2022. He is an experienced leader in the field of emergency management and fire service who brings extensive, firsthand experience managing response and recovery operations at multiple national or state declared disasters.

"Tops brings a wealth of experience and a reputation for collaborative leadership to his new role here in Virginia Beach," said Duhaney. "His extensive background in emergency management will be instrumental as we enhance this important program and develop key partnerships to ensure Virginia Beach is equipped to prepare for and respond to disasters."

Topczynski began assisting the Virginia Beach Office of Emergency Management in 2018 as a part-time member of the Incident Management Team and has fulfilled key roles planning Emergency Operations Center activations including Something in the Water and the May 31 Municipal Center tragedy. He ultimately joined the City full time as the deputy emergency management coordinator in June 2021.

Prior to joining the City of Virginia Beach, Topczynski served in the fire service for 14 years before joining the City of Portsmouth, where he served as the first civilian emergency manager tasked with growing the city's Office of Emergency Management while simultaneously managing the COVID-19 pandemic, severe weather incidents and civil unrest.

Topczynski is a co-chair of several regional and federal workgroups and holds a number of credentials and certifications, including being nationally credentialed as a planning section chief, situation unit leader and demobilization unit leader. He has also earned the prestigious Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) designation from the International Association of Emergency Managers.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in emergency management from Waldorf University.

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