Deana Platt serves as the Director of the Office of the FEMA National Advisory Council. The National Advisory Council advises the Administrator on all aspects of emergency management to ensure effective and ongoing coordination of Federal preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation for natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other manmade disasters with state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit and private sector input.
From 2012-2016, Platt worked in a number of capacities in FEMA’s Recovery Directorate. As Senior Policy Advisor, she provided expert policy, program, and strategic advice to senior FEMA officials. She worked closely with New York State and New York City during and following Hurricane Sandy to develop innovative solutions to complex issues and served as a principal advisor implementing the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act pilot program. In 2014, she served as Acting Public Assistance Branch Chief in Region 2. During her tenure in Recovery, she also led policy initiatives to require conformity with hazard-resistant building standards and encourage mitigation measures that maximized risk reduction and increased resiliency.
From 2008 to 2012, she served as Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the Architect of the Capitol, providing technical and subject matter expertise on emergency preparedness, continuity, and security issues affecting the U.S. Capitol, House and Senate Office Buildings, and the Library of Congress. Platt began her Federal service in 1998, and worked as a program and policy specialist within FEMA’s Public Assistance and Infrastructure Divisions.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University and a Master of Arts degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.