Who's in Charge of FEMA Today?

Just in case you have not kept up with the transition plan that was put in place for FEMA, the answer to the question above is Nancy Ward.

Nancy L. Ward began serving as Acting Administrator for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on January 21, 2009.

Prior to this detail, she was appointed Regional Administrator of Region IX FEMA in October 2006. Prior to this, she served as the Administrator of FEMA's Response and Recovery Division in Region IX from 2000 forward and was responsible for coordinating FEMA mitigation, preparedness and disaster response and recovery activities in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.Previously, she worked two details at FEMA headquarters as the Deputy Director of the Recovery Directorate during FEMA's response and recovery operations for the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. Also, she served in various senior management positions in more than 20 disasters, most recently during the March and April 2006 severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides in California, and the earthquake in Hawaii. Ms. Ward has received awards for special accomplishments at FEMA, including the 2007 Award for Excellence for her leadership during the California wildfires.

Before joining FEMA, Ms. Ward was Chief of the Disaster Assistance Branch and Deputy State Coordinating Officer for the California Office of Emergency Services. She administered the state's Natural Disaster Assistance Act program assistance provisions, which provide disaster assistance funding to local governments for state-level emergencies and disasters. She provided guidance and technical support to other state and local agencies in the planning, development and implementation of program policies and procedures for disaster recovery activities. She also was a Program Administrator for another California state agency.