In recognition of his efforts to modernize the California Fire Chiefs Association, Southern Marin Fire District Chief Christian Tubbs has been inducted into the Association’s Hall of Fame.
The Center for Homeland Defense and Security alum just capped off a three-year term in executive leadership with the Association, including a year each as President-elect, President, and Immediate Past President during which he led legislative planning efforts and worked on several key initiatives from a reorganization including the creation of a 501c3 Foundation and creation of a 501c6 Training and Consulting Arm to the implementation of a new Technology and Connectivity section. Tubbs also led the effort to create the Association’s Hall of Fame in 2023.
Tubbs (Master’s Program cohort 1703/1704, Executive Leaders Program cohort 1302) said his service in Association leadership was an opportunity to “have an impact on the fire service beyond my own fire agency,” and he will continue to serve as the Association’s representative to the California Office of Emergency Services’ Homeland Security Advisory Committee and on the FireScope Board of Directors. He is also a Director At Large with the Fire Districts Association of California.
While the 46-year veteran firefighter has a long history of both leadership and educational achievement, he said his CHDS education has made an indelible impact on his career.
Tubbs, who was born in 1960 at the former Fort Ord, CA, military base while his father—a U.S. Navy Officer named Kenneth Alvin Tubbs—was attending the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, where CHDS is located, said he first learned about the Center when he was serving as Mercer Island, WA, Fire Chief and attended ELP. He said that experience was so “incredibly rewarding” that he applied for the Master’s Program and was accepted after he had accepted his current job with Southern Marin Fire in Sausalito, CA, a decade ago in part to be closer to his grandchildren.
Christian Tubbs’ thesis
Conditions of Democratic Erosion: Has U.S. Democracy Reached a Tipping Point?
CHDS has been beneficial both personally and professionally, he said, for a number of reasons including the opportunity to enhance his critical thinking skills and conduct research and write a “really solid” thesis, as well as forming relationships with cohort mates that endure to this day.
“When you go through the program you build a network,” Tubbs said, describing his Master’s cohort as “very close.”
“We still talk weekly on WhatsApp, and it’s a real force multiplier to be able to bounce ideas off them, to cross-pollinate.”
In fact, Tubbs said that his CHDS Master’s thesis, “Conditions of Democratic Erosion: Has U.S. Democracy Reached a Tipping Point?,” has been cited several times by CHDS Senior Lecturer Dr. Cristiana Matei, which he called “humbling.”
In addition, Tubbs said he attends the annual Alumni Exchange Continuing Education Workshop (APEX) every year, which he said is “bittersweet because I miss CHDS.”
“People who attend CHDS say they enjoy it so much they almost wish it didn’t end; APEX gives us a chance to revisit that experience.”
In addition to CHDS, Tubbs has attended and holds advanced degrees and certifications from prestigious institutions, including Executive Certificates of Public Policy and Public Leadership from Harvard University, an Executive Certificate on Building a Diverse Workforce from Cornell University, and a Master of Science in Executive Leadership from Grand Canyon University, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Fire Service Administration from Western Oregon University. He has earned numerous commendations for leadership and service.
