ABOUT FORWARD STATE
Practical experience for complex operating environments.
Forward State Advisory helps organisations strengthen preparedness, build capability, support effective response and move into recovery with greater clarity and coordination.
PRINCIPAL
Jud Howland
The practice is led by Jud Howland and draws on more than 20 years of experience across emergency management, incident management, recovery, security, humanitarian operations, training and complex field environments.
FORWARD STATE IN PRACTICE
Built around the realities of how organisations actually operate.
Forward State brings together strategic thinking and practical operational experience. The focus is not simply on producing plans or frameworks, but on making sure organisations have clear arrangements, capable people and workable systems when conditions become complex.
The work draws on experience across government, health, higher education, emergency management, humanitarian operations, protective security and major incidents — with an emphasis on translating strategy into practical decisions, coordination and performance.
Practical
Advice, plans and capability development should be usable in the environments where people actually need to make decisions and act.
Operational
Forward State draws on direct experience in incident management, field operations, recovery, training and multi-agency coordination.
Adaptable
The same underlying disciplines apply across government, health, universities, infrastructure, major events, security and other complex operating environments.
BIOGRAPHY
Jud Howland is the Principal of Forward State Advisory, with more than 20 years of experience across emergency management, incident management, recovery, security, humanitarian operations, training and complex operational environments.
His work has moved between strategy and operations throughout his career. In the United States, Jud has held senior incident-management roles including Operations Section Chief, Deputy Incident Commander and Logistics Section Chief, supporting public-health emergencies, severe weather, wildfire recovery and hurricane operations. His assignments have included alternate care site operations in Austin, Texas; long-term wildfire recovery with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services; and recovery logistics following Hurricane Ian in Florida.
Internationally, Jud has led humanitarian and security operations in complex environments across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. His experience includes post-earthquake operations in Nepal, refugee-response operations in Greece, regional security leadership, humanitarian field activity in northern Iraq and the design and delivery of hostile-environment and scenario-based training.
Earlier in his career, Jud worked across the U.S. national-security environment, including roles supporting the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the U.S. Department of Defense and nuclear-security programs.
Since relocating to Australia, he has worked across Victorian local government, health and higher education, supporting emergency planning, incident-management capability, exercises, assurance and organisational learning.
Across these settings, Jud’s approach is consistent: make arrangements clearer, help people understand their roles, test how systems work in practice and turn lessons into practical improvement.
INTERNATIONAL REACH
Jud’s professional, training and field experience has included work across Australia, the United States and international settings spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. His assignments have ranged from classroom and simulation delivery to humanitarian response, regional security, disaster recovery and field operations.
Australia · United States · Canada · Philippines · Nepal · Greece · Turkey · Croatia · Romania · Latvia · Lithuania · Czech Republic · Poland · Ukraine · Iraq · Jordan · Lebanon · Israel / West Bank · Egypt · Kenya · Niger · Mozambique