Stephen Combs
M.S., SC CEM, EPIO, PCP
SC, USStephen Combs helps people lead through pressure, communicate when information is incomplete, and build trust before it is urgently needed. Through Firebase Leadership, he turns real-world experience into practical lessons on trust, resilience, clarity, and purposeful leadership.
For Stephen Combs, leadership stopped being theoretical a long time ago.
For 12 years, he has served as a Public Information Officer across law enforcement, emergency management, and the fire service, working where leadership, communication, public trust, uncertainty, and public expectation collide. He has communicated through disasters, major incidents, rapidly changing events, and moments when people were looking to leaders for clarity before every answer was available.
Today, Stephen serves as Public Information Officer for the Bluffton Township Fire District in South Carolina, where he leads strategic, crisis, media, and community communications for a public safety organization serving nearly 250 square miles.
Those experiences reinforced a principle that reaches far beyond emergency response: people do not expect leaders to have every answer, but they do need leaders they can trust.
A Maxwell Leadership Certified Speaker, educator, researcher, author, and leadership practitioner, Stephen combines lessons from high-stakes communication and public service with deeply human insights about trust, resilience, purpose, and the responsibility leaders carry for the people who depend on them.
He is a graduate of FEMA's Master Public Information Officer Program, a credentialed Public Information Officer through the Center for Public Safety Excellence, a South Carolina Certified Emergency Manager, and holds a Master of Science in Emergency Management from Lander University.
For five years, Stephen served as an adjunct Public Information Officer instructor with the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, teaching the DHS/FEMA-funded MGT318 course nationally. He was later selected to help revise the course curriculum.
Stephen is also a published researcher and contributing author. He wrote Chapter 11, "Successfully Navigating Media for the Emergency Manager," in Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers, Second Edition, which was selected as the 2022 ASIS Security Industry Book of the Year.
Through Firebase Leadership, Stephen brings together the field, classroom, research, adversity, service, and leadership development. His presentations use stories and practical lessons to help people communicate with greater clarity, build trust, navigate uncertainty, lead with purpose, and prepare before the moment arrives.
He does not simply want audiences inspired for an hour. He wants them better prepared for the moment when someone else needs them to lead.
Forged in the fire. Now carry the flame.
For Stephen Combs, leadership stopped being theoretical a long time ago.
For 12 years, he has served as a Public Information Officer across law enforcement, emergency management, and the fire service, working where leadership, communication, public trust, uncertainty, and public expectation collide. He has communicated through disasters, major incidents, rapidly changing events, and moments when people were looking to leaders for clarity before every answer was available.
Today, Stephen serves as Public Information Officer for the Bluffton Township Fire District in South Carolina, where he leads strategic, crisis, media, and community communications for a public safety organization serving nearly 250 square miles.
Those experiences reinforced a principle that reaches far beyond emergency response: people do not expect leaders to have every answer, but they do need leaders they can trust.
A Maxwell Leadership Certified Speaker, educator, researcher, author, and leadership practitioner, Stephen combines lessons from high-stakes communication and public service with deeply human insights about trust, resilience, purpose, and the responsibility leaders carry for the people who depend on them.
He is a graduate of FEMA's Master Public Information Officer Program, a credentialed Public Information Officer through the Center for Public Safety Excellence, a South Carolina Certified Emergency Manager, and holds a Master of Science in Emergency Management from Lander University.
For five years, Stephen served as an adjunct Public Information Officer instructor with the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, teaching the DHS/FEMA-funded MGT318 course nationally. He was later selected to help revise the course curriculum.
Stephen is also a published researcher and contributing author. He wrote Chapter 11, "Successfully Navigating Media for the Emergency Manager," in Principles of Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Centers, Second Edition, which was selected as the 2022 ASIS Security Industry Book of the Year.
Through Firebase Leadership, Stephen brings together the field, classroom, research, adversity, service, and leadership development. His presentations use stories and practical lessons to help people communicate with greater clarity, build trust, navigate uncertainty, lead with purpose, and prepare before the moment arrives.
He does not simply want audiences inspired for an hour. He wants them better prepared for the moment when someone else needs them to lead.
Forged in the fire. Now carry the flame.
Forged in the Fire: Turning Adversity Into Purpose
Format: 45 to 60 minute keynote, adaptable from 30 to 90 minutes
Program Description
We do not get to choose every fire we walk through. We do get to choose what we carry out of it.
Trust Before the Crisis: Communicating When It Matters Most
Format: 45 to 60 minute keynote or 60 to 90 minute breakout/workshop
This program is perfect for:
Leaders and communicators responsible for building and maintaining trust with employees, customers,...
When the Plan Changes: Leading Through Uncertainty
ormat: 45 to 60 minute keynote or 60 to 90 minute breakout/workshop
This program is perfect for:
Leaders, managers, supervisors, and emerging leaders responsible for guiding others through uncertainty...
The Information Vacuum: If You Don't Tell Your Story, Someone Else Will
Format: 60 minute keynote or breakout, or 90 minute to 4 hour workshop
This program is perfect for:
Public Information Officers, communications professionals, executives, and organizational leaders...
When the Unexpected Happens: Crisis Communication for Meetings and Events
Format: 60-minute breakout or 90-minute to 4-hour workshop
This program is perfect for: Meeting and event professionals responsible for attendee safety, communication, or emergency planning, including association...
