Department celebrates 24th graduating class of the FDNY Officers Management Institute

The FDNY and the FDNY Foundation celebrated the 24th class of the FDNY Officers Management Institute (FOMI) during a graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 7, 2026, in the Commissioner Robert O. Lowery Auditorium, at FDNY Headquarters in Brooklyn.

Established in 2002, FOMI was developed based on a recommendation in the McKinsey Report that was completed in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001. Funded by the FDNY Foundation, FOMI aims to make the FDNY more resilient and stronger by giving high-ranking officers and executive staff a solid foundation in management principles and leadership strategy.

More than 380 members have graduated from the program during its 24 years.

"Always value your time at FOMI and remember the things that you learned. I can't say enough about how it shaped me-certainly professionally, but the things I learned I also apply to my personal life, not just to the job," said First Deputy Commissioner Daniel Flynn, who graduated from FOMI in 2017.

Chief of Department John Esposito said: "I cannot say enough great things about FOMI. We know that it's time away from the family, but it's to make you better, it's to make the Department better, and to allow us to provide better service to the people of New York City."

Deputy Assistant Chief James Canty, the class speaker for the 2026 graduating class, said it's important for the graduates to apply what they learned throughout the program to better the Department.

"What I'd like you to do is use what you learned-use the strategy, use the communications, use the willingness to listen to a perspective that is not your own, because that, more than anything else, is what the last six months have taught us," Chief Canty said. "Take what Columbia gave us, take what the FDNY Foundation made possible, take what our classmates from every bureau showed us, and bring it back to the Department. Bring it back to your firehouse, bring it back to your station, bring it back to your office or your bureau. Make this a Department a better place to work."

The program is offered through Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and includes instruction from educators at Columbia, NYU, Wharton and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as business leaders from major corporations.