James K. Joseph
Administrator - FEMA Region V
(IL, IN, MI, MN, OH WI)
James K. Joseph
was appointed by the President and began his service with FEMA as Regional
Administrator on November 12, 2017 and was sworn in to Federal service by
Administrator Brock Long in Washington, DC.
As the Regional
Administrator, Joseph is responsible for the agency's response, recovery,
preparedness, mitigation, grant, and mission support programs across the
six-state region. He oversees a staff of nearly 200 employees, and an annual
budget of nearly $1.4 billion.
Joseph has over
15 years of senior leadership experience in both the private and public
sectors. Prior to accepting his FEMA appointment, Mr. Joseph was a member of
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner's cabinet where he served in two capacities:
Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), and Deputy State
Homeland Security Advisor. In these roles, Joseph oversaw Illinois' disaster
preparedness and response,
nuclear safety and homeland security programs.
Prior to that, Joseph served as
the Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for
DuPage County, Ill. (Illinois'
second largest county) where he oversaw three county departments.
Joseph also founded his own
company called Center for Security Intelligence, where he provided consulting
services in security operations, workplace violence prevention and emergency
management to both government and corporate clients.
Prior to
owning his own business, Joseph was the Vice President of Security and Fraud
Risk for HSBC - North America, the world's third largest bank. There, he
managed physical security and investigation operations, including creating and
implementing security protocols for North American operations serving nearly
70,000 employees, in addition to global security policies utilized in over 70
countries.
Joseph has served
on numerous national organizations,
including: Co-Chairman of the
National Homeland Security Consortium, Executive Board of the National Emergency Management Association, and the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security State
and Local Intelligence Executive Council. He has served in municipal government
as well,
both as Chairman of the Board of Fire and Police
Commissioners, and the Chairman Pro-Tem of the Planning
and Zoning Commission in Carol Stream,
Ill.