Deanne Bennett Criswell is an American emergency management officer who has served as the administrator of the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...

since April 2021. Criswell is the first woman to lead FEMA. She was previously the commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Office.

Education

Criswell attended elementary school in Free Soil, Michigan and was graduated in 1984 from Catholic Central High School in

Manistee, Michigan Manistee ( ') is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in southwestern Manistee County, it is part of the northwestern Lower Peninsula. Manistee is the county seat of Manistee County, and its population was 6,259 at the 2020 census. Th ...

. She then earned a Bachelor of Science in technology education from Colorado State University, a Master of Public Administration from the

University of Colorado Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a public research university in Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. History University of Colorado System Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado creat ...

, and a Master of Science in

homeland security Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...

from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Career

Criswell served as a member of the Colorado Air National Guard with the 140th Wing and was deployed to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. She also worked as a firefighter for 21 years. Criswell managed the Office of Emergency Management for the city of

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties, Colorado, United States. The city's population was 386,261 at the 2020 United States Census with 336,035 residing in Arapahoe County, 47,720 residing in ...

. She later worked in the

during the

Barack Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

before becoming the commissioner of the

New York City Emergency Management New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) (formerly the New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM)) was originally formed in 1996 as part of the Mayor's Office under Rudolph W. Giuliani. By a vote of city residents in 2001 it became an ...

department in 2019. Her nomination to be the next FEMA administrator was submitted to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on February 22, 2021. She was confirmed on April 22, 2021, by voice vote, and was sworn in by

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

Secretary

Alejandro Mayorkas Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas (born November 24, 1959) is a Cuban-American government official and attorney who has been serving as the seventh United States Secretary of Homeland Security since February 2, 2021. During the Obama administration, ...

on April 26, 2021. Criswell reintroduced the FEMA flag on April 12, 2022 for public display.

References

External links

* , - Living people Biden administration personnel Colorado State University alumni Commissioners in New York City Federal Emergency Management Agency officials Naval Postgraduate School alumni New York City Emergency Management People from Aurora, Colorado University of Colorado Denver alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-poli-bio-stub