July 30th Meeting Guest Speaker 

W. H. (Rickey) Ricks - Biography

Area Manager for Emergency Operations

Rickey Ricks, a life long resident of Orlando, is the Area Manager of Emergency Operations for

Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. He joined Disney

Security Division team in 2008 after a 31 year career with the Orange County (FL) Sheriffs

Office. Walt Disney World is the premiere vacation destination and largest recreational resort in

the world. It is located on 47 square miles of property, is North America's largest single site

employer with over 60,000 Cast Members and contains four theme parks; two water parks;

twenty-three themed hotels; a sports complex, baseball stadium, an Indy race car track and

numerous shopping, dining, entertainment and recreation venues.

The Emergency Operations Team consists of the Emergency Operations Center staff, the

Communications Center Managers and the Security Duty Managers for the property. In this role

Rickey is charged with oversight of the planning and preparations for natural and man made

disasters, development, training and exercising of emergency plans; the 60 Cast Members of the

Communications Center and response to incidents on property requiring interface with federal,

state and local first responders.

He retired from the Orange County Sheriffs Office as the Chief of the Community Relations

Division, which included Homeland Security, Crime Prevention and School Resource Officer

programs with 145 personnel and over 300 volunteers. Throughout his career he has served in a

number of positions including uniform patrol, intelligence, school resource officer, crime

prevention and Director of Homeland Security, overseeing $13 million in Urban Area Security

Initiative Grants.

Following the events of September 11,2001 he assisted in the development of Florida's Strategic

Plan for Domestic Security and with the formation of the Region 5 Domestic Security Task

Force. He has attended training at the invitation of Israel's Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem,

coordinated efforts of the Florida Sheriffs Association in the Hurricane devastated areas of

Mississippi and has been a conference speaker in Australia, Germany and France.

Rickey is a graduate of the F.B.I. National Academy and holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of

Science degree in criminal justice from the University of Central Florida. He is a past president

of the UCF Health & Public Affairs Alumni Chapter and was the recipient of the Distinguished

Alumni Award. He is a past president of the Florida Chapter and served as the 2005 National

Training Conference Chairman of the FBI National Academy Associates.

He is married to Sue, a retired Orlando Police Officer and has two adult children.

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