IFSI Staff


james keiken

Director

(217) 300-4275

Email james

Bio:

Jim Keiken became the Director of the Illinois fire Service Institute in July 2021. As Director, Chief Keiken has established and is moving forward on a strategic vision for IFSI that includes; creating quality leadership development and decision-making training & education curriculum for the fire service, enhancing and expanding practical hands-on training, expanding life safety research, expanding on-line educational deliveries, and growing the Institutes partnerships, reach and reputation nationally and internationally.

Jim began as a volunteer EMT in Lodi, WI and was part of a rural, small town EMS service. In 1980, he was hired by the Janesville, WI fire Department and spent the next ten years there. He worked first as a firefighter then as a firefighter/paramedic. In 1990, Jim was hired by the Madison, WI fire Department and assigned to Old Station #8 initially as a firefighter then reassigned to fire Station #6 as part of the Hazardous Material team and was activated shortly thereafter as a paramedic at the same time he was a paramedic instructor and lead instructor for Rockford Memorial Hospital. After four years at Rockford Memorial, Jim became the EMS coordinator for Beloit Memorial Hospital in Beloit, WI.

In 1996, Jim moved to the departments training division and worked there both as a training officer and as a fire lieutenant. In training, he worked with and later was, the lead instructor for recruit training. When not running academies, Jim oversaw department EMT continuing education as well as most other department training. In 2002, Jim was promoted to Division fire Chief responsible for grants, planning, and technology and west side fire stations. In 2004, Jim was promoted to Assistant Chief responsible for Personnel, Planning and training. He was in this position for the next eight years working with a department, which reached 389 commissioned and non-commissioned personnel. Jim became the second in command of the department in 2006 and worked closely with the Chief on all department issues and growth. In 2012, Jim was reassigned to the Assistant fire Chief for Operations and Administration and oversaw emergency operations for 12 stations and 398 personnel until his retirement on June 2, 2013.

Since 2010, he has also served as a Health Technician/Paramedic for the Wisconsin-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, which is part of the National Disaster Medical System and was deployed to Hurricane Sandy in 2012. In all, Chief Keiken has more than 35 years of experience in firefighting and emergency medical services.

Chief Keiken has completed the Executive fire officer program from the National fire Academy and has achieved Chief fire officer Designation from the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE ). He is a graduate of the Internationals Associations fire Chiefs fire Service Executive Development Institute (FSEDI). He is also a member of Institution of fire Engineers. He has a Bachelor of Science in fire Science Management from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale and Masters of Science in Management from Cardinal Stritch University.