Michelle Beasley

About Michelle Beasley

The Intersection Is Where Recovery Actually HappensMost disaster recovery operates in silos: federal grants over here, private insurance over there, climate tech somewhere else. I work where those worlds collide—and that\'s where communities can actually move fast. As a Federal Disaster Recovery Officer for Region 9, I\'ve co-led recovery operations for 55 Presidential disasters serving 40 million people. The projects, programs and companies I have scaled required designing systems that empower local action without creating new bottlenecks.How I Do It DifferentlyI work at emerging intersections. Right now, that means R&D on parametric insurance and climate tech integration:How do we design triggers and payout velocity to create disaster liquidity when speed matters most?How do we integrate climate technologies—sensing networks, risk modeling, microgrids, water telemetry—into preparedness and mitigation frameworks?What does microinsurance look like for wildfire, drought, heat, and water shortfalls at the community level?I braid resources others see as separate. My work depends on creative integration: combining public dollars (HMGP, CDBG-DR) with private capital (parametric insurance, catastrophe bonds, CDFIs, green banks) and technical assistance (universities, USACE, EMAC, pro-bono partners) into unified plans. Critical infrastructure, mitigation, health, and housing projects don\'t stall when you stop treating funding sources as mutually exclusive.I build self-service infrastructure for recovery. I design dashboards (Tableau/ArcGIS) that show communities their funding options, surface grant opportunities, and let jurisdictions self-match unmet needs to resources: federal, private, and in-kind, without waiting on meetings or approvals.What This Looks Like in Practice includes recent work such as:Maui DR-4724 recovery transitionsCritical infrastructure and resilience for Guam (energy, water, transportation, cybersecurity)COVID-19 recovery across Region 9Multiple disasters: floods, wildfires, typhoonsI have directed multi-disciplinary teams of geo data analysts, community planners, capacity builders, public health emergency managers, and recovery coordinators. Managing $70M+ implementations. Coordinating 70-person teams across agencies.But the real measure isn\'t what I deliver, it\'s what communities can do themselves after I\'m gone.Decisions stay in local hands. Money moves faster now. And the capacity remains behind, building locally-led resilience for the next event. That\'s the intersection that matters.

Experience

1. Federal Disaster Recovery Officer, Region 9

   Fema

   Oct 2020 — Present

   As a Federal Disaster Recovery Officer for Recovery in Region 9, I have proven my ability to lead, and plan coordinated inter-agency recovery efforts for national and multi-regional crisis events in service to a geo-spatial range of 40 million people. Co-led interagency recovery operations for 55 President-declared disasters, supervising a multi-disciplinary team including geo data analysts, community planners, capacity builders, public health emergency managers, and recovery coordinators focused on long-term recovery and resilience missions. Trusted advisor and co-lead of the inter-agency recovery coordination group to increase climate resilience through critical infrastructure initiatives for Guam, focusing on sectors such as energy, water, transportation, and cybersecurity.

Education

• University of Montana

  Master of Science, Environmental Studies focused on Conflict, Water & Stakeholder Management

• University of California, Santa Cruz

  Bachelor of Arts (BA), Environmental Studies

Skills

• Leadership
• Grant Writing
• Intercultural Relations
• Emerging Trends
• Swahili
• Emerging Technologies
• Web Site Production
• Organizational Learning
• Organizational Development
• Spanish-Speaking
• New Venture Development
• Strategic Planning
• World Travel
• Program Management
• Experiential Learning
• Curriculum Development
• Event Planning
• Customer Service
• Project Management
• Stakeholder Management
• Cultural Anthropology
• Emergency Planning
• Logistics Management
• Facilitation
• Corporate Communications
• Environmental Science
• Public Speaking
• Training Delivery
• Business Process Improvement
• Consulting
• Proposal Writing
• Epic Systems
• Learning Measurement
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Content Development
• Lifestyle Coaching
• Stakeholder Mapping
• Initiator
• Training