Renne Public Management Group (RPMG) is pleased to announce the addition of Dave Winnacker to its team as a Consultant. With over 21 years of distinguished fire service experience, including seven years as Fire Chief of the Moraga-Orinda Fire District, Dave brings extensive experience in wildfire risk management, emergency operations and strategic planning. 

“Dave’s background in fire service leadership and wildfire risk management adds significant value to our consulting practice,” said RPMG Executive Director Nelson Fialho. “His deep understanding of emergency management will be invaluable to our clients, especially as wildfire prevention remains a priority across California.” 

Dave’s career includes positions as the California State Director for the Western Fire Chiefs Association and leadership of the California Fire Chiefs Association Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Task Force. He has contributed to state-level wildfire mitigation initiatives, serving on the California AB9 Wildfire Mitigation Committee and the AB642 Risk Modeling Advisory Workgroup. 

In addition to his roles in fire services, Dave co-founded XyloPlan Risk and served as a co-founding advisor to ZoneHaven, an evacuation software company. At Stanford University, he is a Hoover Institution Veteran Fellow working on the intersection of wildfire and insurance availability and pricing. He has also served in the U.S. Marine Corps on active duty and the reserves for over 28 years. 

Dave’s new role with RPMG represents the culmination of a longtime collaboration with Renne Public Law Group (RPLG) Founding Partner Jon Holtzman, who serves as District Counsel to the Moraga-Orinda Fire District. Dave and Jon co-wrote “Using Big Data to Reduce Catastrophic Impacts of Wildfire: How Local Government Can Help Shape Solutions,” which appeared in the September 2020 issue of Western City Magazine, and co-presented on the same topic at the League of California Cities (Cal Cities) 2020 Annual Conference along with Charlie Crocker, Founder and CEO of ZoneHaven, and Tim Woodbury, Director of State and Local Government Affairs at Splunk. Dave also collaborated with Jon during a presentation for RPLG’s Public Law Fellowship Program, “Government Innovation: A Case Study in Wildfire Management.” Last December, he, RPLG Partner Rubin E. Cruse, Jr. and La Verne Fire Chief Chris Nigg presented at the Cal Cities Fire Chiefs Leadership Seminar in Napa on the topic, “Don’t Shoot the Messenger: Delivering Difficult Wildfire Prevention Messages to Your Community.” 

“I’m excited to join RPMG, where I can continue serving public agencies in a new capacity,” Dave said. “I look forward to contributing to RPMG’s mission of providing effective guidance to public sector clients across California.” 

RPMG has a proven track record of success assisting clients with facilitated performance evaluations, labor negotiations, human resource services, workplace investigations, compensation studies, strategic planning, facilitation and conflict resolution, training, coaching, and professional development, and elected and appointed board governance training. Visit rennepublicmanagement.com to learn more about how our team can be of service.