Hi, I'm Bob Fenton. I will be serving as FEMA’s Acting Administrator until the next Administrator is confirmed by the United States Senate.
Historically, the average arrival time for a new FEMA Administrator is mid-May. But no matter when that occurs, our mission hasn’t changed. We—as a team—will continue to serve the American people. We will continue to declare disasters, manage grants, provide flood insurance, and assist individuals and communities. While we will be going through some change over the months ahead, if we continue to focus on our mission and those we serve, the rest will take care of itself.
For those of you who don’t know me, let me tell you a little about myself. I’ve been working in emergency management for most of my career and came to FEMA more than 20 years ago. My first job was in Region IX focusing on all hazards disaster planning and disaster response and recovery operations. Over the years, I deployed with many of you to support operations in almost 100 disaster declarations, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks at Ground Zero, the four Florida Hurricanes of 2004, Southern California Wildfires, Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, and Hurricane Sandy. In 2009, I came to Washington, DC to serve as the Assistant Administrator for Response and later the Deputy Associate Administrator for Response and Recovery. However, as a 5th generation San Franciscan, I jumped at the chance to return home as the Region IX Administrator two years ago.
Like many of you, I love our mission and I’m excited to work at FEMA every day. In my 20 years we’ve had great success, and some difficult challenges. But I’m proud of the strides we have taken together to develop into an agency that is strong, and capable of delivering on all aspects of our mission. There are a lot of great things happening across the agency, but we can always continue to improve—and I’m excited to support the new Administration in continuing to make FEMA a successful agency.
While serving as Acting Administrator I look forward to keeping us on that path towards success and laying the foundation for our new leadership team. I’ll be counting on all of you to join me in continuing to lean forward in delivering our mission and ensuring that we are ready for a catastrophic event. It’s not always easy working for a no-fail agency. But together—if we remain focused on the mission and those we serve—we will ensure a smooth and orderly transition to the new administration.