Glenn M. Cannon

Glenn M. Cannon was appointed by Governor Tom Corbett as the director of Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency on January 18, 2011.

PEMA coordinates state agency response, including the Office of the State Fire Commissioner, to support county and local governments in the areas of civil defense, disaster preparedness, planning, and response to and recovery from man-made or natural disasters.

Cannon previously served as the senior vice president in the Pittsburgh office of Hillard Heintze LLC, Strategic Security Advisors, where he provided consulting related to homeland security and emergency and disaster management and communications.

Before that, Cannon served as an assistant administrator in the Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he was in charge of Disaster Operations and was responsible for, among other things, the development and execution of interagency plans and procedures in response to Presidential disaster and emergency declarations.

Cannon has also served as the county manager and chief operating officer for Allegheny County, where he was responsible for nearly 8,000 employees, a $1 billion budget, and service for 1.4 million residents. While in this capacity Cannon streamlined 41 departments into six, saved $218 million to the operating budget in his first year and successfully negotiated the county’s labor agreements with 18 different unions. 

Before that, Cannon served as the executive director of Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and director of the Department of Public Safety for the City of Pittsburgh. 

Cannon received his bachelor’s degree in education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, his master’s degree in public management from Carnegie Mellon University and his Juris Doctorate from the Duquesne University School of Law.