The article starts out with a good story about a new governor being told to pay attention to and be involved with the quality of the emergency management program in his state. I'm not so sure that a successful response to a big tornado was influenced by a new governor who was in the position for only three months, but it could have been.
For me, the most important thing a governor can do is select the right person to be the emergency management director for his or her state. The other recommendation I have is to put the emergency management function directly under the governor. They are going to "own" the quality of any disaster response in their state and having it under another of his agency's only takes it further away from the center of authority and his ability to influence the quality of the program.
Lastly, then there is the issue of putting some priority behind the functioning of the program. Emergency management will likely not be the number one priority for a state, but a lack of emphasis and funding by the governor will reveal itself when disasters do strike.
