About Command Presence Consulting
Our Mission:
To prepare firefighters and fire officers to lead with confidence, make sound decisions, perform under pressure, and continue developing throughout their careers.
What We Focus On
Fire Officer Leadership Development
Firefighter Promotional Preparation
Incident Command & Tactical Decision-Making
One-on-One Leadership & Promotional Coaching
Personnel Management & Accountability
Labor-Management Relations
Professional Development
Prepare to Lead. Prepare to Promote.
Whether you're preparing for your first promotional process, developing as a current fire officer, or working toward the next level of leadership, Command Presence Consulting provides practical training and development designed for the realities of the fire service.
Command Presence Consulting isn’t for everyone and that’s the point!
We exist for fire service professionals who refuse to blend in, who take ownership of their career, and who are willing to put in the work to lead from the front.
This isn’t theory and this isn’t check-the-box training.
This is preparation for the moment your name is called, your decision matters, and your leadership is on display.
We build fire officers who are ready. Ready to promote, ready to lead, and ready to perform under pressure. Every course, every lesson, every interaction is designed to elevate your mindset, sharpen your edge, and demand a higher standard.
You don’t rise to the occasion. You fall to your level of preparation.
Our goal is to help you raise your level of preparation before the moment arrives.
Built From Real Fire Service Experience
Command Presence Consulting was created to provide firefighters and fire officers with practical leadership development, promotional preparation, and professional development grounded in real fire service experience.
CPC's training focuses on the challenges officers actually face, leading crews, making decisions under pressure, managing personnel, communicating expectations, preparing for promotional processes, and developing the judgment required to lead effectively.
Our approach combines fire service experience, leadership development, incident command principles, promotional preparation, realistic scenarios, and structured coaching to help current and aspiring officers become more prepared for the responsibilities ahead.
The Experience Behind the Training
Command Presence Consulting's training is developed from extensive fire service leadership, operational, instructional, and organizational experience.
That experience includes company and command-level leadership, incident command, special operations, personnel management, training development, labor-management relations, promotional processes, and organizational improvement.
CPC was built around a simple principle: professional development should prepare fire service leaders for the decisions and responsibilities they will actually face, not simply help them complete another course.
- Battalion Chief Stephen Gonnella — Founder, Command Presence Consulting
He brings 20 years of fire service experience and more than 26 years of leadership, management, and labor-management relations experience to Command Presence Consulting.
His experience includes company and command-level leadership, incident command, personnel management, special operations, training development, labor-management relations, and organizational improvement. CPC was created to translate that experience into practical leadership development and promotional preparation for current and aspiring fire officers.