The Wilmac Wire

In 1987, a fire at a London Underground station exposed a serious gap: police and fire crews had no reliable radio communication once they went underground. Duncan Swan, a young engineer at Philips at the time, spent the next two years helping fix it, building radio communications into all 123 stations.

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell welcome their first UK-based guest of Season 3, Duncan,...

Ten days after 9/11, Joe Grube spent a week sifting through the wreckage in New York City, sorting debris for anything that could help identify what was lost. It's one chapter in a 24-year public safety career that took him from dispatcher to captain to 911 coordinator, and eventually into the private sector at Wilmac and now Motorola Solutions.

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell sit down wi...

After graduating from Kenyon College with a political science degree, Alex LaPorte spent his time coaching tennis and chasing down startups, determined to learn a business from the ground up. That search eventually led him to Wilmac, where he's now VP of Implementation and Customer Success. 

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell sit down with Alex less than a month into his tenure, covering...

We're taking a short Labor Day break, so we're re-airing one of our favorite conversations from earlier this season: Thomas Laird from back in February.

Tom Laird was fired over the phone while driving to scout a high school basketball game — let go by the private equity firm that had just bought his family's call center and promised nothing would change. He had a pregnant wife, no plan B, and a handful of former employees wil...

This week, we're turning the spotlight inward and catching up as we wrap up our summer. In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell trade the usual guest interview for a solo season catch-up, covering the new hires joining Wilmac this fall, early traction for Archie (Wilmac's first native AI product) with banks and trading floors, and why they brought in a former investment banker to help shape the p...

D. Jeremy DeMar grew up watching fire trucks roll past the movie theater where he worked, one street over from a firehouse in Webster, New York. Nearly three decades later, he's a nationally recognized 911 futurist who built his career just down the road at Monroe County ECD — the same 911 center that sits about five minutes from Wilmac's own headquarter office in Rochester, NY.

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily ...

A dispatcher once posted in a 911 Facebook group that she was ready to quit the industry for good, until she heard Dru Clarke speak at a conference. She's still in the field today because of it. That's the kind of impact Dru's built a second career around, on top of his day job running one of the largest 911 centers in the country.

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell sit down with Dru Clarke &...

Wilmac just wrapped its first-ever booth at APCO 2026, and by every account it's the biggest public safety event the team's ever set foot in — a Silver Sponsor badge, a Telecommunicator of the Year award presentation, and a floor packed with more 911 professionals than they've seen in one room in a long time.

In this special live episode of The Wilmac Wire, host Emily McNulty brings listeners onto the APCO 2026 floor in San An...

Joe Gianni's mentor once told him: "If you were a ditch digger, you'd be the best damn ditch digger there ever was." That's the philosophy Joe has spent almost 40 years turning into a business — Motivational Intelligence, or MQ, a framework now used by 40% of the Fortune 500 across 95 countries.

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell sit down with Joe Gianni — CEO of 2logical and a me...

Kevin Surace has a rule: use AI five times an hour. Not five times a day, five times an HOUR, whether he's building a spreadsheet, drafting a keynote deck, or writing a Broadway musical. He says 99% of people he talks to are nowhere close, and that one of their competitors already is.

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell welcome back Kevin Surace — AI pioneer, inventor of the modern virtu...

Adam Timm spent over ten years at LAPD earning a nickname he didn't know about until years later: "Angry Adam." A near-firing forced him into a six-week mindfulness class — and what he learned became a program that cut sick time at his center by 45%, and eventually a company, three books, and a career telling 911 leaders the thing they don't want to hear: the best CAD system, consoles, or AI transcription tool won't fix a bro...

In this special live episode of The Wilmac Wire, host Emily McNulty takes listeners to the floor of NENA 2026 in Columbus, Ohio, for a series of conversations recorded live from the Wilmac booth. Featuring leaders, innovators, and advocates from across the 911 community, the episode captures the energy, collaboration, and momentum of one of the industry's biggest events.

Emily catches up with both returning podcast guests and new vo...

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell revisit their conversation with Monroe County Executive Adam Bello, highlighting the leadership, collaboration, and community investment that continue to shape Rochester and Monroe County.

Adam reflects on his journey into public service, from an internship in Washington, D.C. during the events of September 11 to serving as Irondequoit Town Supervisor, Monro...

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell revisit one of Season 3's most impactful conversations with Roxanne "Roxy" Van Gundy, Director of Lyon County Emergency Communications Center and newly inaugurated President of NENA, in celebration of her leadership and contributions to the 911 community.

With more than 20 years in public safety, Roxy shares her journey from dispatcher to 911 center director...

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell take a break from guest interviews for a mid-year conversation reflecting on Wilmac’s momentum, the evolution of the podcast, and the technology trends shaping the second half of 2026.

The discussion begins by looking back on Season 3, which has already surpassed last year’s total episode count halfway through the year. Emily and Steve share what...

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell sit down with Mark "Fletch" Fletcher, Founder and Principal Consultant at Fletch 911 Consulting, for a wide-ranging conversation on emergency communications, Next Generation 911, technology modernization, and the legislation that continues to shape the industry.

With more than 40 years of experience spanning public safety and telecommunications, Fletch share...

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell welcome back Wilmac’s VP of Engineering, Bob Pease, for another Behind the Build conversation focused on product innovation, agentic AI, and what’s happening across Wilmac in the second half of 2026.

The discussion begins with an update on Wilmac Continuity WFM and the rapid evolution of Mac, Wilmac’s AI workforce management agent. Bob shar...

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell sit down with Melanie Jones, Executive Director of Guilford Metro 911 and Immediate Past President of NENA, for a conversation on leadership, emergency communications, and the future of 911.

With nearly four decades in public safety, Melanie shares her journey from deputy sheriff to leading one of North Carolina’s largest consolidated 911 centers. Alon...

In this episode of The Wilmac Wire, hosts Emily McNulty and Steve McDonnell welcome back Matt Hurlbutt, President and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE), for a conversation on economic development, regional growth, and why Rochester’s story deserves more attention.

Matt reflects on his nearly 20-year journey at GRE, from joining the organization in a business development role to leading regional economic growth efforts ...