Stephanie Tennyson was named FEMA’s career Deputy Director for External Affairs in January 2013. In this capacity, Ms. Tennyson works with the Director to oversee and manage the Agency’s outreach, engagement, and communications, to include Public Affairs, including Digital Engagement, Congressional Affairs, Strategic Communications, Intergovernmental Affairs, and Private Sector engagement. Ms. Tennyson also manages FEMA’s external affairs disaster coordination function under the National Response Framework, Emergency Support Function (ESF) 15 – External Affairs.
Prior to joining FEMA, Ms. Tennyson served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from March 2008 until January 2013. In this capacity, she served as the principal deputy liaison between the Secretary, Deputy Secretary and intergovernmental stakeholders, and was a key DHS liaison to the Nation’s more than 500,000 elected and appointed officials, including governors, state Homeland Security Advisors and State Emergency Management Directors, mayors, county executives, state legislators, leadership of the 567 federally-recognized Native American and Native Alaskan tribes, and the national associations representing these officials. As the Deputy, she worked with the Assistant Secretary on information and intelligence sharing initiatives as well as directly managing IGA’s collaboration with FEMA, the Council of Governors, the Secretary’s Military Advisor, and the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Tennyson worked at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies–a not-for-profit national security, terrorism, and science and technology research institute—for eleven years in several positions. Prior to leaving Institute, Ms. Tennyson served in a management capacity as the Director of Communications and Government Relations. From May 2004 to April 2006, on loan from the Institute under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA), Ms. Tennyson served as the first Manager of External Affairs in the Under Secretary’s office at DHS’s S&T Directorate, creating this new office for the Directorate. She was responsible for outreach to the Directorate’s various stakeholders on the Directorate’s ongoing research programs and initiatives. She also advised the Assistant Secretary on a range of S&T policy issues and oversaw the Directorate's Congressional reporting process.
Ms. Tennyson was appointed to the Federal Senior Executive Service in January 2013. She is currently participating in the Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Post Graduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security. She currently serves on the Board of the Emergency and Disaster Management Master’s Program at Georgetown University.