Today, we are welcoming nine new members and reappointing one member to the FEMA National Advisory Council (NAC). Mandated by Congress in the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, the mission of the NAC is to ensure effective and ongoing coordination of federal preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation for natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.  The NAC is comprised of state, tribal and local governments, private sector, and non-governmental partners who advise and provide me recommendations on a variety of aspects within emergency management.

In the past few years, I have worked with council members to further emergency management’s approach to support citizens and first responders, focusing on topics such as integrating access and functional needs as part of our base planning efforts, considering the unique needs of children in disaster response operations, and engaging the whole community in the development and implementation of Presidential Policy Directive – 8 (PPD 8) deliverables. These new members highlight our continued desire to have a council that represents a cross section of all members of the emergency management team.

Jim Featherstone, General Manager, Emergency Management Department, City of Los Angeles, has been reappointed as the Chairperson and Teresa Scott, Director of Public Works, City of Gainesville, Florida is the new Vice Chair for the NAC.

I’d like to welcome our new members and I look forward to working with them during their tenure with the NAC.  

• Ms. Anne Kronenberg, Executive Director, San Francisco Department of Emergency Management
• Dr. Sarita Chung, Director and Attending Physician, Disaster Preparedness Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston
• Senator Joseph Bolkcom, Assistant Majority Leader, State Senator, Iowa State Senate
• Mr. Ken Miyagishima, Mayor, City of Las Cruces, New Mexico
• Mr. Thomas Powers, Vice President, Corporate Security and Safety, Iron Mountain
• Mr. Robert Maloney, Director of Office of Emergency Management, Baltimore City, Maryland
• Mr. Joseph Nimmich, Director, Maritime Surveillance and Security, Raytheon Homeland Security
• Lieutenant General Guy Swan, Vice President of Education and Executive Director, Institute of Land Warfare at the Association of the US Army
• Mr. Pat Earl Santos, Deputy Director, Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), Louisiana

Additional information on the NAC, including a list of current members, can be found at www.fema.gov/national-advisory-council.