meet ceo & founder gary oldham
Gary’s dual experience career encompasses public & private sectors
public safety
Practitioner
public safety
leadership
private sector
leadership
accelerant4 ceo
& founder
Multi-Disciplinary
Public Safety Practitioner
Gary built a successful, decades-long career in public safety, beginning as the youngest street police officer in California history. He went on to serve agencies as a police officer, chief fire officer, EMT, 911 center director, and emergency manager. During his agency career, he led multiple technology projects and initiatives at multiple agencies.
He led the Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS) in San Diego County, helped develop the California Fire and Rescue Master Mutual Aid System and the Incident Command System (ICS), and became a nationally known wildland fire management expert.
Global Private Sector
Technology Leader and Innovator
Private sector companies took notice of Gary’s agency technology leadership, and an international technology firm recruited him. He would ultimately go on to senior and executive level roles at multiple companies. At each, he advanced innovation and evolved existing offerings to better serve each company’s public safety customers—while also exceeding revenue goals and other metrics.
In 2018, Gary beat out a field of more than 36,000 other applicants to be selected by Apple to develop from scratch and lead Apple’s worldwide public safety strategy. In just six years, he took Apple from a nearly non-existent public safety market share to 70% market dominance globally and redefined the meaning of “mobility” worldwide.
accelerant4
CEO and founder
After Gary left Apple in 2024, he founded accelerant4 to champion public safety technologies for agencies, companies, and technology investors to bring organizations greater success. As it has been from the beginning of his career, Gary’s passion is to improve the lives of first responders, making their work safer, more efficient, more effective, and more responsive to the communities they serve.
Some of the media outlets who’ve sought Gary’s expertise and for whom he’s given interviews
