Ventura County appoints new Director of Office of Emergency Services

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. -- The Ventura County Sheriff's Office announced the new Office of Emergency Director on Thursday.

Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub announced the appointment of Patrick Maynard as the new Director of the Office of Emergency Services.

Maynard will take over this position from the previous Director, Kevin McGowan.

Maynard has been the acting director of OES since the summer of 2019.

Maynard had begun his career in 2011 working as the alert and warning coordinator in the Office of Emergency Services.

For the past seven years, Patrick has overseen the operations, training, and finance sections of OES.

He has taken the helm during a critical time when one of the greatest challenges confronts Ventura County residents: the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Sheriff's Office says Maynard has extensive experience managing the county’s response and recovery efforts to many disasters including fires, mudslides, oil spills and the Borderline mass shooting.

Ventura County CEO Mike Powers says he's thrilled at the appointment of Maynard as the new director.

In a statement, Powers said:

“I have had the pleasure of working closely with Patrick during our last few incredibly challenging years, and I have found him to be bright, strategic, collaborative and extremely hard-working - everything you want in an emergency manager and leader. With the partnerships he has established across our community and his ‘whatever-it takes-to-get-it done’ approach, we are fortunate to have him in this crucial role during this unprecedented health crisis.”

Mike Powers, CEO of Ventura County