Christopher L.

About Christopher L.

I am an emergency manager with 18+ years of Federal experience between FEMA and the U.S. Coast Guard. I have spent my professional career committed to environmental and social justice. As Deputy Director of FEMA\'s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, I was tasked with addressing Government Accountability Office findings and reimagining the delivery of emergency management programs and activities to people with disabilities through a data-driven approach to operational planning resulting in a new operational model and curriculum to retrain emergency managers nationwide to include a 60-person deployable incident management workforce dedicated to disability integration field operations at FEMA. This new operational model saw early registration for individual assistance by disaster survivors with disabilities more than double while also shortening the time it took top receive federal assistance by an average of three days. As a crisis manager, I was personally selected by the FEMA chief of staff to stand up the agency\'s Office of Professional Responsibility after findings that FEMA senior leaders had abused their positions for personal and professional gain. Over the course of four years, I developed an organization and staffing plan resulting in White House and Congressional approval for a 39-person office with a budget of $10 million; drafted all foundational policy documents; and oversaw federal contracts to bring the office online. Prior to jointing FEMA in 2016, I spent seven years as a senior leader in the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Public Affairs where I established the military\'s first social media policy and doctrine, co-authored the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff\'s Direction to the Joint Force on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) as a member of Gen. Dempsey\'s Operational Planning Team on SAPR, and served as director of strategic communication for the Unified Area Command during the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill ensuring the Federal government response was timely, relevant and transparent to impacted communities. In 2004, I accepted a political appointment and served as speechwriter to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt where I handled rapid response to high-profile Congressional and media inquiries and authored EPA\'s National Incident Response Communication Plan in response to investigative finds related to post-9/11 handling of health and environmental concerns by the Federal government.

Experience

1. Deputy Director, Office of Disability Integration and Coordination

   Fema

   Jan 2023 — Present · Washington, DC, US

Education

• U.S. Naval War College

  National Security and Strategic Studies

  2011 — 2014

• University of Connecticut

  BS, Political Science

  1994 — 1996