Mel Maier named to succeed Derek Poarch as APCO executive director

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) recently announced the appointment of APCO CTO and public-safety veteran Mel Maier as its new executive director, succeeding current executive director and CEO Derek Poarch, according to the organization.

Maier and Poarch will work together “over the next several months to ensure a smooth transition” in APCO’s executive-director and CEO positions. Maier currently is APCO’s executive director, while Poarch—who announced in January his plans to depart APCO in those positions—will continue to serve as CEO. When Poarch departs, Maier will become both executive director and CEO, according to the APCO press release.

“I am thrilled to be able to promote our next executive director from within the organization and beyond excited to welcome Mel as our new executive director.” APCO International President Angela Batey said in a prepared statement. “Having had the opportunity to work with him over the last 16 months, and to see his passion for public safety, dedication to the APCO mission and core values, I have no doubt that Mel will bring the same ethics, energy and innovative ideas to this new role as he has to his entire career.”

Maier worked as a law-enforcement officer for the Oakland County (Mich.) Sheriff’s Office, where he served as the captain and chief of public-safety communications prior to joining APCO in 2022, according to the APCO press release.

In addition to serving as APCO’s chief technology officer (CTO), Maier is the chair and a founding member of the Next Generation 911 Coalition, a group of public-safety organization that includes APCO and has been advocating for federal funding of next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments throughout the U.S. In a text to IWCE’s Urgent Communications, Maier expressed a desire to continue serving as chair of the coalition.

Maier previously served as vice chair of the FirstNet Authority’s Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) and as chair of the Funding and Sustainment Committee at SAFECOM, according to the APCO press release.

“I am privileged to have been a part of APCO International both as a member and as part of its professional staff, and I am humbled by the opportunity to serve our membership and elected leadership in this new role,” Maier said in a prepared statement. “I am a passionate advocate for public-safety communications, and I will work tirelessly on behalf of our membership.

“I want to thank Derek [Poarch] for his leadership and dedication to APCO, as he has built an exceptionally talented team that is positioned to ensure our members are prepared for the future demands and challenges in our unique environment.”

Batey echoed this sentiment in thanking Poarch for his efforts during the past 12 years.

“I am eternally grateful for Derek’s thoughtful planning of his departure and his commitment to always doing what is right for APCO,” Batey said in a prepared statement. “By providing such significant notice of his departure, Derek allowed us to enter into the search for his successor with the freedom to take a very deliberate approach to the process.

“Most of all, I am extremely proud and thankful for the work that Derek and his team have done during his tenure not only to grow APCO in monumental and unprecedented ways, but also to take a careful, but aggressive pursuit of initiatives that improve public safety across the board, and to establish a culture of excellence that allowed us to promote an internal candidate. His tenacious insistence on following APCO’s core values has inspired me personally, and the Executive Committee as a whole, to make sure we made the right choice for the association, our members and our unparalleled staff.”

Poarch was appointed executive director of APCO in 2011—two years after serving as the first chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. He expressed optimism about the future of APCO under Maier’s leadership.

“I am so proud of the culture of excellence that the staff of APCO has developed and embraced over the last 11 years that has led to truly remarkable accomplishments, and I am thrilled for Mel and his wife Karen as they undertake this next professional journey,” Poarch said in a prepared statement. “I have total confidence that APCO is being left in most capable hands and believe it won’t miss a beat with Mel as its next executive leader.”