Karen E. Armes
Deputy Regional Administrator, FEMA Region IX
Karen E. Armes serves as Deputy Regional Administrator of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Region IX. Appointed to this position in December 2000, she is responsible for operational aspects for all disaster response and recovery, mitigation and preparedness activities throughout the region that has offices in Oakland, Calif., and Honolulu, Hawaii. She oversees federal emergency management policies and programs in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, as well as the territories of American Samoa and Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Ms. Armes has also served as Acting Regional Administrator from January 2000 to December 2002 and again from March 2004 until October 2006. Previously Ms. Armes held the post of director of the Administration and Resources Planning Division. She joined FEMA in 1995 as branch chief of Administrative Program Services.
Before joining FEMA, Ms. Armes completed a 12-year assignment in the civilian sector of the U.S. Department of the Navy in the San Francisco Bay Area and other locations. In 1994, she was appointed as the director of the Business Management Office for the Defense Information System Agency. Prior to this position, she served with the Navy Finance Center where she began as a financial management trainee, continued as a budget analyst with the Navy Regional Data Automation Center, and completed her tenure there as director of the Management Support Division.
Ms. Armes graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in recreation administration from Radford University, Virginia. She went on to complete post-graduate courses in business administration at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Last Modified: Monday, 02-Feb-2009 13:31:44 EST