About the Speaker
John Price
John Price is Director Civil Defence Emergency Management and Deputy Chief Executive, Emergency Management, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). He joined NEMA in March 2023 from the New Zealand Police, where he was District Commander for Canterbury.
John was made an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 2020 and became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 2021.
In February 2011 he was the acting Canterbury District Commander and Operations Commander for Operation Earthquake. He managed the Command and Control, Rescue and Search Phases of the 22 February Christchurch Earthquake response, as well as all major subsequent earthquakes and aftershocks. In March 2011 he was appointed the Kapiti-Mana Area Commander and in 2012 as Superintendent took on the role of National Manager of training and development for NZ Police and the Commander of the Royal NZ Police College where he led the review and development of training and education for Police. He returned to Canterbury as District Commander in 2015 and led the response to the North Canterbury/Kaikoura earthquake in 2016, the 2017 Port Hills fires and the 15 March 2019 Terrorist Attack on two Christchurch mosques.
When not at NEMA, John enjoys mountain bike riding and loves to spending time with family and friends.
