Latest / The Wilmac Wire / John Provenzano | A New Era for NENA & 911 Advocacy
Transcript
- Emily McNulty: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome or welcome back to the Wilmac Wire. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Today's guest is someone that I've been wanting to get on the show since we met in Columbus this past summer, since I've heard him speak on the Nina National Conference stage. The CEO of Nina, John Provenzano. So Nina is a community that you've likely If you've listened to the podcast before, you've heard us talk about many times. So now you get to hear it straight from the CEO's mouth. so having John on here felt like a really big deal, and I was really pumped to have him on. Steve unfortunately was a unable to join for today's conversation. but don't worry, we hit on his favorite subject, Disney World. Ha ha ha. hope Steve laughs when he hears that in this intro. But appreciate John, so much sharing about his career journey from Capitol Hill to the different industries he hit on to now being at Nina, what that transition has been like, the collaborative community that he's been exposed to with 911. And we got into some of Nina's strategic priorities. And he was really pumped to share about the online educational opportunities that Nina is launching soon that are cost effective and on demand. So I encourage you to go check those out. Thank you so much to John. And the Nina team that we've really had the joy of getting to know a lot better over the past year. This is a great episode. I'll turn over to it now. He's a University of Florida grad, Go Gators, who went on to earn his MBA from Georgetown. He started his career on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant in the US Senate before spending 25 years across aerospace, aviation, public finance, and retail. He brings a deep background. and government relations and association management to one of the most important organizations in emergency communications. He took the helm at Nina, the National Emergency Number Association in July 2025. Welcome to the Will McGuire, John Provenzano. John, welcome to the podcast. We're so excited to have you. John Provenzano: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Emily McNulty: We were just chatting about how we originally met back in June, July in Columbus. So it's lovely to to be chatting with you again. but I I'm so pumped to have you here today. awesome, John Provenzano: Well, I'm excited to be here. Emily McNulty: awesome. We're gonna have a great conversation. So to kick things off, we always like to do an icebreaker that we call this or that. So I have three questions for you. Each question has kind of two options. You choose your preference and then explain a little bit why. So John Provenzano: Fair enough. Emily McNulty: the first one, I already told it sent to you before we started recording that I did get some context clues as to what I think you might might respond to this. But the first one is Florida Gators or Georgetown Hoyas. John Provenzano: gosh. Always Florida Gators. Yes. I love Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: Georgetown. I'm Jesuit educated, but Gator since birth. I was just at the Florida Texas game this weekend. Yeah. No, always the Gators. Emily McNulty: man, I was gonna ask if you were a a Florida sports fan. Yeah. John Provenzano: Yes, very much so. Yes. it's one of those things that gets in your blood and never leaves. Yes. Emily McNulty: Bleed and orange. okay. And so do you get to travel down to campus often or was this game a one off? Okay, cool. John Provenzano: I do. So I so I am based in DC and in Florida. I go back and forth. Whenever Congress is in session, I'm in DC. Emily McNulty: Okay. John Provenzano: and yes, I go to all all the home games and I've also at Emily McNulty: Love that. John Provenzano: that point in life where I have we have a freshman, sophomore and junior in high school, all girls, and we started the college search. So we've been doing some road trips associated with football games this year as well. Emily McNulty: Yeah. my gosh, that's so much fun. I I absolutely love that. I I played basketball in college, so love supporting college athletes and that sort of thing. And I can only imagine the the environment being down to Florida can is like so John Provenzano: It's a lot of fun. Emily McNulty: I can imagine. all right, next one, a little bit of a a deeper cut, but when we were originally going back and forth trying to schedule this, you had mentioned that you and your family were going to Disney. So I have to ask Magic Kingdom or Epcot. John Provenzano: This time we did Magic Kingdom one day and Epcot one day, no Park Hopper, I believe. My wife Emily McNulty: Okay. No partner. Yeah. John Provenzano: is the the Disney aficionado, but yeah, Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: my my girls wanted to ride Guardians of the Galaxy, which is their favorite. And then Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: you know, they're still young enough that they like the Magic Kingdom for all that it provides. Emily McNulty: Heck yeah. Do you have a preference between the two parks, Magic Kingdom or Apcot? Or the other ones? Hollywood Studios? John Provenzano: you know, so I grew up in Florida and went to Disney when I was a little kid and I remember I think it was only Magic Kingdom at that point 'cause I'm old. And I think I remember how big it seemed. And now it's like, well Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: no, it's like a five minute walk from one side to the other. But it just it seemed so Emily McNulty: Right. John Provenzano: massive as a as a young kid. I always kind of gravitate back towards the Magic Kingdom. Emily McNulty: Yeah. understandable. I I wish Steve was on today's podcast, but he couldn't make it. But him and his he has three young girls, four, three, and one. John Provenzano: wow. Emily McNulty: and they were just down in Disney like last week. so yesterday when he came back in the office, I said, How you doing? And he said he's still recovering. With little kids, especially. Yeah, John Provenzano: Yeah. Yeah. Gotta recover from the vacation, no doubt. Yes. Emily McNulty: recovering from vacation. All right, John. And last one for you, a little bit more career oriented with. this this icebreaker question, but advocating on Capitol Hill or speaking on a conference stage? John Provenzano: I would say earlier in my career was definitely advocating on Capitol Hill. I would Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: say later in my career I'd you know, probably I do more of the latter than the former. I'm not sure I Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: prefer one or the other, but I would sorry I'd do the second more than the first. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. I didn't say I was Emily McNulty: with a challenge, but yeah, if I had to choose, yeah, yeah, for sure. John Provenzano: good at either one of them. I just said I did a lot. That was a Emily McNulty: I love it. Well, thank you, John, for for sharing and humoring me while we went through our icebreaker. hopefully our audience got to know you a little bit better because of that. I know I did. okay, so we're gonna start, John, in going into our first theme on on your career journey. So you studied political science, like we talked about, at the University of Florida before getting your MBA at Georgetown. So what I guess piqued your interest in pursuing politics originally? John Provenzano: So it's a story I tell often. When I was thirteen years old, I went to a event with my dad in Tampa. It was a political event. And I met the then governor of Florida. And I remember him shaking my hand. And obviously I was thirteen, I was like by far the least important person in the room. And I remember him shaking shaking my hand and then looking me in the eye and talking to me for what seemed like five minutes. It was probably forty five seconds, but it seemed like five minutes. And I thought, man, that was a really cool guy. I liked him a lot. It would be really cool to get an opportunity to work with him or someone like him in the future. And that really kind of gave me the political science bug. yeah, I did undergraduate and graduate school in political science at Florida and then just never forgot that experience. It always kind of drove me. Emily McNulty: Yeah, that's that's really cool. And I do feel like those those types of things can be really informative and how that person approaches you and engages with you, especially like you said as a 13-year-old, how important that made you feel. So that's really cool. I I like that. and so obviously you you went to Florida, assuming because you're you said you're a Gators fan. It's in your blood now. Yeah, through and through. John Provenzano: Through and through. Yes, absolutely. Yes. Emily McNulty: so after college though, you started your career on Capitol Hill. How did you end up there? So obviously you were in Florida, ended up in D C though. John Provenzano: So I told my parents that I really wanted to move to DC and they were like, we will buy you a plane ticket, but you've got to find a job. I said, okay, no problem. So I flew up and I literally spent three days walking the halls of the House and Senate and met with every office in the Florida delegation. And I was, you know, my career is is checkered with being really fortunate. and I walked into an office and met with a woman named Kathy Nagel. Who liked me for some reason and hired me to open mail part-time in the mail room. And I gleefully accepted. as my parents said, they had a child with benefits that had, you know, actually had benefits from his job. So he was very excited about, they were very excited about that. it turns out, as luck would have it, that that was also a former governor, then senator Bob Graham's office. And I started out opening mail in his mailroom after a few weeks. I ran into him in the hallway. those offices are two stories and they have back back door upstairs. And I I used to work upstairs. And he on senators have what's called a body guy or I guess a body girl, depending if you de who it is. and they basically travel with them wherever they go. And his had just left and he knew I had gone to Florida, he'd at least heard of me in the office. And Said, hey, it's my 40th reunion at the University of Florida this weekend. I need someone to travel with me. Would you mind coming with me? And I was Emily McNulty: No way. John Provenzano: like, Absolutely. so I did that. And then I basically traveled with him for the next six years. he was in the Senate through nine eleven, then he ran for president. I won the presidential campaign with him. It was a wonderful experience. I think back to I think back to being thirteen and meeting him. And realizing what an impact he had in my life, he and Adele, his wife, Mrs. Graham, welcomed me into their family. they had four daughters as well. and it was one of the probably most meaningful relationships I've had in my life. He was he and Mrs. Graham were at our wedding, and it's just been wonderful. I met my wife in his office. It's just probably the most important, impactful relationship I've had. Yeah. Emily McNulty: my gosh. Yeah, and what a full full circle moment too. And that that's crazy that it was just a I mean, it wasn't necessarily a chance encounter, but an encounter like that to have that flourish. John Provenzano: Yeah. Like I said, I'm very fortunate. Emily McNulty: Yeah. my gosh, that is so cool. man, so many questions that have come out of that. So so six years, where was like, I guess, how far did you travel? Did you travel to any places that stood out as like something that stood out? Yeah. John Provenzano: I've been to probably, you know, like the Johnny Cash song. I've been everywhere. I've been to everywhere I've been everywhere in Florida, I can tell you that. we used to drive around the state all the time. it was great. I got to see all kinds of places that I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to go to otherwise. and then when he ran for president, we traveled around the country frequently. It was it's, you know, those are it was a great job when I was twenty six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight years old. I mean, Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: it's not something you want to do when you're fifty two, but it was it was wonderful and you know just being in you know Des Moines, Iowa having two for one chili dogs for dinner with the senator is kind of a unique experience. It's he was a great, great, great guy and very much appreciated Emily McNulty: my gosh. Yeah. John Provenzano: it. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Wow, that's that's very cool. And we'll kind of get into kind of some of your your takeaways and those types of positions and how you brought them to Nina. but I also want to hit on the fact that you've you've spent time in in multiple industries. I call them out aerospace, aviation, public finance, and more recently in in retail. so did all of those experiences f focus on public affairs as well? John Provenzano: Yeah. I was a lobbyist for a very long time. and you know, we have a great lobbying team at Nina. Jonathan Glad leads that effort for us. And I have really made a conscious effort to let Jonathan do his job. I mean, I'm sure Jonathan doesn't want me leaning over his shoulder all the time. He does a great job at it. but up until that point, I've always had boots on the ground lobbying as Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: as part of my role. And I enjoyed it. mean, I've I very much enjoy that that experience. you know, I I'm also intellectually curious. So I was really fortunate to work in a bunch of industries where I got to do stuff besides just what you would think an aviation lobbyist would do. For instance, when I worked for trade associations and aviation, I did a lot of work with NASA on NASA aeronautics funding. And then I went to work for Delta Airlines. And dealt about an oil refinery. So I became a petroleum lobbyist. It was always kind of like learning some new offshoot of what I was there to do. And I really valued that. I mean, I I like to get up and learn every day. And, you know, now I'm at Nina and I'm learning a new industry and it's it's been fantastic. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna ask because I mean, like aerospace and aviation, I guess you can see the potentially some crossover like you called out with then public finance and retail too. D were they vastly different or were there some through lines that just like naturally progress for your career? John Provenzano: Lo look, I think there are always different issues that you have to learn without question. But how you go about lobbying is kind of always the same. you know, get your facts straight, be able to make your points in a brief fashion so that you can communicate what you're trying to get across. I'm even before I went to business school, I was always kind of like a quant quant guy. I wanted to have all my numbers and spreadsheets. I think having those numbers, having the documents to back up your argument, argument is something that's really important. And it's something I always kind of strive for. So I d so while, you know, there are always different issues based on where you're working and what you're working on, how you go about doing the job, especially on the GR side of that, is I think pretty consistent. Emily McNulty: you obviously establish those best practices and then like you said a continuous learner coachability like being able to take those in and take each one and make it better. That's yeah, very cool. okay so let me ask two we've talked about the different industries your time on Capitol Hill what how did the Nina opportunity come come about and what drew you to it? John Provenzano: Look, I was I have had the opportunity throughout my career to both person like personally in my free time and then professionally to try and give back to the community to do good for the community. I was I went to Georgetown, I w you know, I'm a was educated by the Jesuits to some extent, and they were very much on giving back to the community, which is a wonderful message and it's something we try and communicate to our daughters. I was looking for an opportunity that would allow me to do that. And again, incredibly fortunate to find an opportunity where I can help represent 26,000 members who are guiding people through the worst moments of their entire lives, probably. you know, I see having toured PSAPs, having talked to folks at our conferences, working closely with our board of directors. I see The fact that that call doesn't end when you hang up, right? You take some of that with you for the next few minutes, few hours, a few days, a few weeks. For me to be able to play a role in helping our members is really kind of exactly what I was looking for and exactly what I was hoping to do. There are so many challenges we have in our industry right now. If you want to talk about macro, about next generation 911, if you want to talk about less macro but not micro, it's you know reclassification of our members. You know, they're certainly not clerical pure personnel. I think we've got a lot of work we can do to benefit them on a day-to-day basis. And the Nina team, you know, we're small, there's 15 of us, but we are punching above our weight and the work that they do every day is really impressive. And I think we do it always with our members in mind. And that's what we're trying to do. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that is powerful. And very similarly, Wilmac has has worked with PSAPs for over thirty years now. And and more recently we started to develop our own solution in the space. And just o over the past year since launching it, to like you said, get into the nine one one centers to interview people on the podcast like Roxy Van Gundy and Melanie Jones, people that I'm sure you're very familiar with. to hear them talk about kind of what they face every day in the different I guess priorities are very much so challenging and multifaceted priorities that are happening within in that 911 community. It it feels very powerful to be a be a small part of of that. and like you said, in what I've been educated on a lot throughout this experience is the the reclassification effort for exactly for example, like how they're not looked at as the same as cops, fire, that sort of thing, and don't access the same resources. And you talk to a normal person on the street and they're like, What? That doesn't make any sense. that sort of advocacy is is really important. So I completely, completely understand that story. That's that's very powerful. and I'm excited to dig excited to dig into a little bit about what you're doing, Anina. so let's actually go into kind of the transition. So you've been there now a little over a year, a year and a half or so. John Provenzano: Yeah. A little over here. Yeah. Emily McNulty: succeeding Brian Fonse, who'd been there for seventeen years. He'd been there for a substantial amount of time. What was that transition like? John Provenzano: Well, I I gotta tell you, if you ever want a transition partner, find Brian Funz. He was Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: absolutely wonderful. I think Brian, you know, really helped rescue and grow this organization. And obviously when Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: you come in and you stay somewhere 17 years, you've got a real attachment to it. Brian through the interview process was great. And then as soon as I got the job was fantastic, and one spent hours with me talking about all the different things I kind of needed to be aware of. He was, at my at my request, willing to stay on as a consultant through the end of 2025. And again, was just it was helpful to have someone there that was around that had seen things. And, you know, so often you go into this, you g even if it's in the same industry, you go into a new job and you're presented with decisions that seem pretty cut and dry. But if you don't know all the stuff that's behind the scenes and why things are happening in a certain way, you can really misstep. I think he really helped provide that clarity for me and provide that background for me. You know, I would really be remiss just to highlight Brian though. I I would say that everybody on the board who was on the hiring process were fantastic. You mentioned Melanie who was my president when I started, Roxy is our president now. Leanne Mogoski is our president last year, our entire board, our entire staff, our membership, just other folks that have been around for a while. Everyone has been welcoming. I find that to be something that is really rewarding about this community is that people want to help one another. Large Peace apps want to help small piece maps, PC apps, small Emily McNulty: Right. Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: piece apps want to help people in need, whatever it may be. And I really found that in my first year, just kind of feeling my way through the organization. we all have A very similar goal in mind, which is to make this organization the best it possibly can be. And I think like any organization from time to time, we have different ways of going about doing it. But at every opportunity, the staff, the board, the members, we've always been willing to hear each other out. They've always been willing to provide me with the advice I needed. And then we make a decision and we go. And it's so, you know, your question, what about transition? This is from my perspective, as as good a transitioner as I could have hoped for. And I feel nothing but support from our membership. Emily McNulty: Yeah, that's that's wonderful. And and you called out the community aspect of nine one one. And I mean we operate in other markets like you've worked in other industries and it definitely the nine one one is a a a lot less competitive and more community focused. How can we help each other? How are we working to the greater good of our our communities? John Provenzano: Absolutely. Yep. Emily McNulty: so that that had to be a really cool experience. And and let me ask too, so You really don't have any experience working in a nine one one center. How has it been kind of learning the industry? I it sounds like Brian helped quite a bit and the other the rest of the team did, but how what was that like? John Provenzano: Yeah, I mean, look, I would say that it's not just Brian and our and our team members and our board. It's like every time I walk around one of our shows and it's like, tell me how this works, Emily McNulty: Mm. John Provenzano: tell me how this works, going out to a, you know, a different vendor display. seeing the technology that's involved and, you know, going from maybe like the most simplistic thing of like I picked up the phone and answered the call to I got 17 screens in front of me, each of, you know, showing a different thing. I've got live video, whatever it may be. It is far, far, far more technologically advanced than I would have anticipated walking in the door. But we believe in message discipline, Anina. So I'm gonna I'm gonna pivot a little bit to reclassification because it's that same complexity that we think drives the need for reclassification. Again, this is not, you know, taking a call, transferring it to the right person. This is helping someone, coaching them through CPR. Walking in through a hostage, whatever it may be, whatever terrible scenario. I mean, no one calls nine one one because everything's going great. Emily McNulty: Right. John Provenzano: whatever situation is there, I think it just further solidifies the argument for treating our members as they deserve to be treated, which is public safety personnel. Emily McNulty: Right. Yeah, that that is true. The the nine one one world and just the complexity of each p PSAP and how each of them is a little bit different. They have their own unique processes and how they address that and how technology can mold to that. It's it's not John Provenzano: I think the first Emily McNulty: simple. John Provenzano: the the first thing I I learned when I got here is if you've seen one PSAP, you've seen one PSAP. So I I think that's entirely true. Yeah. Emily McNulty: You see one piece F Yep, I've heard that quite a few times. And I guess in a similar vein, what surprised you most about the nine one one community when in your first few months, or even now still? John Provenzano: I'll be honest with you. it it's the welcomeness. everyone is just kind of like, we're so happy you're here. Let me know how I can be helpful. I've appreciated the fact that even when there's disagreements, they're very like, okay, we disagree on this. Let's figure out how we work through this, or we just don't work on this together, or whatever it may be. It's just a very open and collaborative environment whenever we can possibly find it. I think that Our team does a good job of fostering that, but you gotta have a dance partner to be collaborative and I think others in the industry feel the same way. Emily McNulty: Yeah, yeah, very cool. okay, let me ask too, John. So I had the pleasure of attending my first NINA national conference this this past summer. And at that conference, you unveiled a new strategic plan and launched the the NINA Action Council. so what can you explain more to our listeners about what those initiatives are? John Provenzano: Sure. so I started in July of twenty five, in August of twenty-five, the board, the staff and I all went out and did four days together for a retreat. And we needed to build a new strategic plan to guide us for the next three years. And I think, you know, first and foremost, when you start doing that is we've all got to get aligned as to where we want to go. and I think that's what largely we did in those three or four days. it started our new mantra of Together We. Like we can do anything together, but we gotta do it together. We can't do it individually. So we spent those three or four days kind of outlining what we were going to talk about, and we eventually narrowed it down to three pillars that we're gonna focus on for 26, 27, and 28. the first is operational excellence, and that is how do we run an efficient organization? we ask our members to pay dues every year, we ask our corporate partners to sponsor events, to do other things with us. How are we taking those funds in? We're a C3, so we're just trying to push those funds back out. We want to spend the money we're bringing in. But how do we do that as efficiently as we possibly can? How are we hiring the right staff? How do we have the right bandwidth? How are we helping our members where they need to be helped? That's number one. Number two is standards and education. we have industry leading standards. We're very proud of that. We try and put those standards into place to make the PSAP world a little bit better each and every day. Education. Very, very proud of our educational offerings. I will tell you that a lot of the education we do right now is either instructor-led online, which means you got to be at a computer at a specific time to take a class, or in person. We think those are great opportunities. Those are great learning opportunities. However, we think that for those entry-level classes, when you're just getting into the industry, when you're trying to learn new stuff, there are ways that we can meet our members where they are. when they want to be there rather than you have to come to this specific place to take a specific class. So I'm very excited over the next, I think, a few months, we'll we'll introduce a number of online, on-demand classes that people can take at three in the morning or noon, whenever they have a break, to try and get through those those classes. I think that's really important to us. And it helps provide that education that then allows people to develop throughout their career in the 911 industry. And then finally it's public affairs. And that is our communications and our lobbying and our regulatory affairs efforts. You know, we need to be advocates for our members at the FCC, in the administration, on Capitol Hill. And how we do that has to take in both the GR side of that, the government relations side and the communication side. All of those things need to work together. and I think if we do that, we can provide real value to our members. And then you mentioned the Action Council. look, it it's it's the unpleasant truth that you need to be able to have your voice heard in the nation's capital if you want to have some impact. And the Action Council was the first step toward the Nina Action Council PAC, which will allow us to raise money, provide not really not huge sums of money, but political donations to people on both sides of the aisle who support. nine one one and our members. And we're excited about that. We're just getting running on that. But look forward to where that grows in the year in the years ahead. Emily McNulty: Yeah, very cool. All all very cool efforts. And and like you said, it sounds like that that original meeting, that that vision building session was was very helpful in in doing so. And like you said, very collaborative. and let me let me ask, so you being partially in in in DC, have you had to go on Capitol Hill to talk to people about the nine one one saves act and that sort of stuff yet? John Provenzano: We have done it as part of our 911 goes to Washington which is in February, and encourage Emily McNulty: right. Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: everyone to to come to DC and and and take part of that. We have four or five hundred people you know, go to the hill and advocate for last year it was reclassification and funding. I'm I'm guessing that's gonna be a similar focus this year, unless we can get reclassification over the line during the lame duck session. to answer your specific question, I'll go back to my initial answer was Jonathan's a great lobbyist. Emily McNulty: Yeah, yeah, yes. John Provenzano: And I try and let Jonathan do his job. When Jonathan needs me, I'm up there. I think I've gone up two or three times, but Emily McNulty: Cool. John Provenzano: day in, day out, it's Jonathan. Emily McNulty: Love it. Awesome. Jonathan, good guy. all right, John, let me ask too. So you called out that Nina represents over 26,000 members, a very substantial base across the US and and beyond. So how do you think about serving such a diverse membership? John Provenzano: one word, value. Emily McNulty: Really? John Provenzano: we when I I'm glad you mentioned 26,000. When I started in July of 2025, we had 25,000. So we are growing. And Emily McNulty: okay. Progress. Yeah. John Provenzano: absolutely. And I'm super proud of Brie Robinson, who runs our membership department, for doing that. But you know, growth only happens when you're providing your members value. You know, we just started on October 1st, our 2027 membership dues year. And if You receive that invoice from us saying, Hey, it's time to pay your dues for the next year. And you have to spend two minutes thinking about, do I want to do this again? Was it really worth it? Like we've failed, right? This should be an instantaneous decision. This should be, best conference I've gone to, did their webinar, Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: did their lunch and learn, taking some education courses online now. It should be an automatic decision of yes, absolutely. This is the best investment of X dollars I'm making in the year ahead. It's going to help me in my career. It's going to help my PSAP, whatever it may be. So we need to ensure that people not only are getting value for what they are putting in, but that they are seeing the value for what they are putting into the organization. I think education is, you know, front of mind there. I think government relations, regulatory affairs, also high on that list. We just need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to take that money from folks. People are giving us their money. We need to make sure that they feel like they're getting a fair shake for that. Emily McNulty: And I I mean, speaking from Will Max experience, like not only have we gotten access to such a tremendous collaborative community, like you said, but the opportunity to have a say in standards building or learn further as to what's going on in PSAPs and get that education. It easy, easy button click for for for a lot of people, I'm sure. John Provenzano: I'm glad to hear Emily McNulty: yes, yeah. So we'll keep encouraging that for sure. For any listeners who aren't a Nina member, go check it out. You should be. Please John Provenzano: Please join. Yes. Emily McNulty: join. okay, John. And last question. We we talked about this a little bit when we were discussing your career journey, but your government relations background. How have you felt like it's helped, hindered, done a good job in terms of your this role in Nina and stepping into that? John Provenzano: I'll apologize in advance. When you start your life on Capitol Hill, you speak in what we call elevator speeches, which is like if Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: you get on the elevator with someone, you have to get your entire point out before the next floor. So Emily McNulty: Get it quick. Yeah. John Provenzano: I tend to speak in really kind of like sharp, you know, sentences and Emily McNulty: yeah. John Provenzano: and and move on to the next thing. that's, you know, that's the superficial piece. I would say from a day-to-day understanding, it really comes down to understanding the rhythm. yeah, I don't know if you watched Oppenheimer, but there's a a scene where Niels Bohr asks and asks Oppenheimer if he can hear the music, right? You don't have to you don't have to be able to do the math, you need to hear the music. there's a rhythm of Capitol Hill. There's a way things happen in the House and Senate. And what is helpful for me is again, Jonathan Gillot, our VP of government relations, Matt Sangren, who does a lot of our our contract work for us on the GR side. The three of us can have conversations about what's going on on Capitol Hill. But that background from, you know, a long time ago now still is there. Like that's still you understand what the rhythm is like. Is this the right time for that? Is someone how is someone saying what they're saying to us? Is that a way to kind of say, sure, I'll do it, but not really? Or is that, yes, I'm really invested into that? I think those are really helpful experiences that help me, along with Matt and Jonathan's expertise, help me kind of triage. what's really important versus what can wait a day or two. And I just that's not experience you can get without living it. So I think that's really important. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. The rhythm I I like that. Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer, another great movie. Good call. and and John, okay, that goes into something, I guess, a a similar vein. So you mentioned a few of the different sort of priorities that that you guys have been talking about at Nina, the 911 Saves Act, obviously, with telem communicator reclassification, NG nine one funding. how do you focus your time and attention across those different challenges? John Provenzano: Very good GR team. that that's number Emily McNulty: Ha ha ha. John Provenzano: one. look, I think we have been working on the SAFES Act for a long time Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: and certainly incredibly grateful for the Senate passing it unanimously. But, you know, I made the same joke at our annual conference this year. This is, you know, like the Bon Jovi of accomplishments. We're halfway there. We have, we have, we've got to get it through the House. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: we've been working with the Speaker's Office for quite a while now. We've been working with Representative Torres's office. For quite a while now to try and get it on the floor. We believe if it gets to the floor, it will pass. Simple, period. It will pass. it's can we get to a vote? Emily McNulty: Right. Right. John Provenzano: time is short. The elections, we're recording this on Tuesday, it's two weeks from today. They'll come back Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: for a you know, a sprint lame duck session with Thanksgiving and Christmas in in in the mix. So time is not gonna be easy to find for a floor vote on this. We need to get it to the floor. We need our members to reach out to their members of Congress and ask for it to get to the floor. We think. It is past time to recognize our members for the public to be the public safety personnel that they are. Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: and we're very, very close, but we got a long way to go. if you could be both of those things at the same time. Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: in terms of funding. You know, I think for a long time industry, air quotes, industry waited for this like, you know, bucket of money to fall from the heavens of like, here's $13 billion, go build your system. Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: I don't I don't think that's realistic to expect. we have really changed our messaging to we would like Congress to provide us with one to two to three billion dollars per year over several years to fund the next gen system. And and there's some reasons for that. First of all, I haven't talked to anybody that if I wrote them a $13 billion check, think we could spend it in the first year anyways. So it's kind of like more money than you're gonna need it initially. But Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: secondly, I think once you get that buy-in, then you can start to feel where the system's going and what it needs to be and where the where the ending point is. I think that's really, really important. we've got to get past this idea that we seem to get hung up on. From time to time about finding like the next gen system is gonna cost 11,743,833,000. Like no one knows, like literally no Emily McNulty: Yeah, exact numbers. Right. John Provenzano: one knows. We are not going to Walmart to buy a toaster, right? We are Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: building a next generation 911 system. We have some estimates, and the estimates are all kind of in the same ballpark, but we've got to get moving, right? Waiting Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Right. John Provenzano: just makes the system more expensive. We've got to get moving and start funding this research or funding this development. And that's what we're trying to lean on Congress to. to do. Let's allocate some money, let's appropriate some money for this purpose and let's get moving. We all know we need to do it. I think there's universal approval for doing it, but we've got to get started. Emily McNulty: Right. Right. Gotta get the ball moving, for sure. For sure. And like you said, a lot of different priorities, but like you said, you have a good GR team. So that that helps for sure. Love John Provenzano: It helps. Emily McNulty: to hear it. Love to hear it. Love to hear the collaboration. and John, I I have to ask too, so AI is starting to show up in n it's in nine one one conversations pretty much at every level. How is Nina thinking about it? John Provenzano: Well look, you know, I've I've seen the articles. I've seen the articles of AI's taking over. I think it was the New Orleans PSAP, you know, whatever. Obviously incorrect. look, AI is here. I think it's very easy to get caught up in the AI hysteria. But AI can do a lot of really cool stuff for the 911 space if we deploy it correctly. we still need our trained Public safety personnel are first first responders, the telecommunicators to answer those calls and handle those calls. But can AI do simultaneous instant translation? Yeah. Can AI handle non-emergency calls to free up those lines for our telecommunicators? Yeah. So it's really easy to kind of stick our head in the sand and say, I hope it goes away. It's not. I think it's more beneficial if we look at it and say, okay, AI's coming. How can we use it to best serve our members and the public? And we don't think that's just we're gonna hand off public safety telecommunications to AI. We're not gonna do that. We're always gonna have our members in charge, but there are roles that AI can play that I think can be incredibly beneficial to us. Emily McNulty: Yeah, a hundred percent. And I understand the tentativeness around it because we've spoken with quite a few 911 leaders who have talked about the reality of implementing it and how heavy of a lift that is, and then the public implications, how your community is responding to it. so it completely makes sense. But I I agree with your sentiment that it is here. We should keep an open mind as to how it can help us and then obviously be strategic in how we implement it. John Provenzano: Absolutely. Emily McNulty: so, so love I like I said, had to ask it. I had to ask it. We've got John Provenzano: Yeah, of course. Emily McNulty: technologies in our name. Well, Max. okay, John, I have a just two more questions for you before we start to wrap up. The first one being where do you want to see Nina in in five years, ten years in the future? John Provenzano: I think Nina is identified to some extent as a standards organization. And that is true, and we're Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: proud of that. I'm gonna take a turn on that though and say I want us to set the standard for this industry. I want us to and I'm not, you know, my staff's gonna gonna watch this and I don't want them to freak out. They're not gonna freak out because I've told them all this before, but you know, we wanna be the best educational offerings at the best prices. We wanna meet Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: our members. when and where is convenient for them, education. We want to do industry-leading government affairs and communications. Bar none. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: We want to be out in front of that. We want to build the standards that are going to help our centers operate better each and every day. We want to provide value to our members. And we want to be a big tent. We want everyone in this industry to know they have a home at Nina. And if they need a piece of information, if they need an expert, if they need a volunteer that we're the first place they turn. I think Brian, I think all of the folks it came to Nina before me have helped position us to be there. And now we need to take it and run. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, I love it. Okay. And last question, a little less on Nina, but more on you, John, and your mindset and your habits. So the the through line in this podcast, we talk with a lot of people, and we like to call them drivers. They're people who are pushing things forward in their respective industries and their fields. So I guess what is a mindset or a habit that you've carried with you throughout your career that you feel like has helped contribute to that driver mentality? John Provenzano: You know, I always go back to something I said a long time ago, and it's probably the appropriate answer for the question. I want to be perfect. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. John Provenzano: And as I tell everybody, I'll be 53 on Saturday, and I am O for 52 years and 361 days, or whatever that is. But I'll wake up tomorrow morning and I'll try and be perfect again. And I'll think back about, you know what? I could have given Emily a better answer on this question or that question, or I could have handled this interaction better, or if I had spent 30 more seconds on that email, I could have gotten the tone right. it's the desire to try and be perfect the next day. Emily McNulty: Yeah. John Provenzano: It's I I think earlier in my career, I really beat myself up about not being perfect. And I think as I've gotten older, it's kind of the attempt and the drive to be perfect that gets you where you need to go. I don't you know, it's funny, I don't hold anyone else to that perfection standard, just myself, but I I think it does drive me to try and make us the best we can be every day. Emily McNulty: Yeah, yeah. I I'm very similar. I consider myself a perfectionist and I always dig deep into okay, what is that one thing I could have done better? because I I live by mantra. If it's easy every day, you're not getting better. And our goal every day should be to get better. so I appreciate you sharing that. Like I said, I d something new that we've been starting to ask our guests. So I appreciate you sharing. John Provenzano: Absolutely. Emily McNulty: okay, John, as we start to wrap up. are there any initiatives or programs that Nina that we didn't talk about in today's conversation that you'd like our audience to be aware of? John Provenzano: I really would hope that if you're starting your career, if you're thinking about getting engaged in Nina, please do so. There are tremendous volunteer opportunities that we have. But I'm very excited. I mentioned it a couple of times. I'm very excited about our online on-demand education. They're going to be very reasonably priced. It's an opportunity to for you to get the visibility and education you need to grow in the industry. And I hope you will. come back and see us in the next few weeks and months as we start to roll that out. I think it'll be a game changer for us and for many of our members. Emily McNulty: Yeah, just like we were talking about, an opportunity to get better and to improve yourself. So definitely check out those online on-demand learning opportunities from Nina. All right, John. if for our audience, if you would like to connect with John or Nina or see what they're doing, first of all, you can find John on LinkedIn at John Provenzano. You can also email him at J Probenzano at Nina.org. For people looking to learn more about Nina and what they're doing, you can find more information on their website, nina.org. That's n-e-n-a.org. And you can also find them on social media on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube. John, thanks so much for joining me on the Will MacWire today. I truly appreciate your time. Loved the conversation. John Provenzano: Thank you, Emily. Appreciate