Department of Public Safety

Favre to be Recognized by UCM as Outstanding Recent Alumnus

St. Louis Fire Department Captain Gregg Favre will be honored as the 2014 Outstanding Recent Alumnus during undergraduate commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m., May 10 in the Multipurpose Building at the University of Central Missouri. The 2008 UCM graduate is being recognized for his work protecting more than one million people as a firefighter and medic for nearly 15 years.

"My education at UCM provided the foundation for my life of service and has allowed me to connect and work with all peoples, from the poor on the street of St. Louis, to billionaire investment bankers on Wall Street, to the First Lady of the United States at the White House," Favre said. "Receiving this recognition from my alma mater is a tremendous honor."

Favre was born and raised in St. Louis City, where he attended Christian Brothers College High School, an all-male college preparatory school. He attended UCM for his undergraduate degree, double majoring in crisis and disaster management and criminal justice.

In his current role as a command staff officer, he provides critical, high level counsel to the fire chief of a 1,000-member department that protects a daytime population of  more than one million people. He serves as principal lead operational planner for the department, with responsibilities that include near-term and long-term research and development of strategic operations. He is responsible for cultivation of both intra-governmental relationships and the department's national profile, managing initiatives across the offices of Special Operations, Emergency Management & Homeland Security, Special Details, and Public Affairs.

Prior to his promotion to captain and assignment to the fire chief's staff, Favre served as the emergency management coordinator where he implemented comprehensive response, sustainability and continuity policies for the department's more than 1,000 members, 36 facilities and hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment and resources. He also developed and maintained comprehensive management plans for more than 3 million people in the St. Louis area.

Favre began his career working from firehouses in neighborhoods throughout the city. After several years learning the craft of firefighting, he was assigned to one of St. Louis' two elite special operation rescue units, where he responded to fires and complex rescue incidents in some of the busiest fire battalions in the nation.

A dedicated public servant, Favre has received numerous citations and commendations for his professional endeavors. He has been awarded the Archbishop John L. May Award from the St. Louis Archdiocese for "dedication to social justice," the St. Louis Fire Department Distinguished Service Medal for a rescue that required "the risk of serious or grave injury," and the Police and Firemen's Association Commendation medal for "actions above and beyond the call of duty." 

In 2011, after nearly 10 years of watching other firefighters report for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Favre took a leave of absence to work with returning veterans. He was appointed as chief of staff at The Mission Continues, a nonprofit organization awarding community service fellowships to post-9/11 veterans.

Favre's primary responsibilities at The Mission Continues included the coordination and direction of executive staff and organizational strategy. As chief of staff to the CEO, he served as the primary point of contact for events and negotiations with external partners, brokering events and contracts with The White House and the Office of the First Lady, Goldman Sachs, Paramount Studios and ABC/ESPN/Disney.

An accomplished author and public speaker, Favre has been featured on both live and prerecorded pieces for NBC, CBS, FOX, NPR and ABC. His award-winning writing and research has been featured in a variety of outlets, including testimony before the United States Congress, the LA Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Favre has published more than a dozen articles on public safety administration and response policies, which have provided training to more than one million first responders. In 2010, his writing was awarded the "Gold Award" at the Hermes Creative Awards, an international competition for creative professionals.

Inspired by the instruction he received at UCM, Favre has continued to pursue "an education for service." In 2008 he was accepted to the George Washington University School of Medicine where he earned his master's degree. He is currently finishing his graduate diploma in politics and policy from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom. He has held faculty positions at the University of Maryland, University College and Kaplan University.

An athlete and adventurer, Favre also is a competitive CrossFitter, outdoorsman and martial arts practitioner. He has climbed, hiked and camped in several mountain ranges across the country. Together with his team of firefighters, he is a two-time qualifier in the world finals of the Firefighter Combat Challenge, an obstacle course race that ESPN has dubbed "the toughest two minutes in sports." Favre lives in St. Louis City with his wife, Kristin, a 2003 UCM graduate, and their two dogs.

The UCM Alumni Association was formed in 1871, the same year that the University of Central Missouri was founded in Warrensburg, Mo., as Normal School No. 2. The association has changed through the years, but its mission remains constant: to build loyalty and support among alumni, current students and university constituents. The University of Central Missouri currently enrolls more than 12,800 students, including some 2,000 from the St. Louis area. The university's efforts to help reduce the cost of a college education recently included extending in-state rates and fees to students in eight states bordering Missouri, including Illinois.

The Outstanding Recent Alumni Award is presented by the UCM Alumni Association to honor an alumnus who has graduated within the past 10 years. This individual must have achieved career distinction as evidenced by peer recommendations and letters of support; demonstrate integrity, stature, ability and prominence, as well as instill pride in their fellow UCM classmates, faculty and students. Through deed and action, the alumnus must reflect and recognize the importance of their education and bring honor to UCM and demonstrate leadership and service to professional organizations and the community.

Reprinted from the ucmo.edu website.