Getting businesses, big and small, back into a community and keeping them viable after disaster is an issue that affects the local landscape. As we take part in National Preparedness Month this September, host Karl Matzke, a Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus and volunteer first responder, has a conversation with FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. Prior to FEMA, Fugate also worked in emergency management at the local and state level and brings insight to his role at FEMA. He points to resources for corporations and small to medium-sized businesses to prepare and protect themselves from the impact of disaster. For a community to maintain a healthy recovery, Fugate asserts that private and public groups must work collaboratively to help stabilize an environment after disaster.
Craig Fugate began serving in the position of Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in May 2009. Prior to joining FEMA, Fugate served as Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM). In that role since 2001, he managed 138 full-time staff and a budget of $745 million. His agency coordinated disaster response, recovery, preparedness and mitigation efforts with each of the state's 67 counties and local governments.
Fugate began his emergency management career as a volunteer firefighter, Emergency Paramedic, and finally as a Lieutenant with the Alachua County Fire Rescue. Eventually, he moved from exclusive fire rescue operations to serving as the Emergency Manager for Alachua County in Gainesville, Florida. He spent a decade in that role until May 1997 when he was appointed Bureau Chief for Preparedness and Response for FDEM. Within FDEM, his role as Chief of the State Emergency Response Team (SERT) kept him busy during 1998. That year, the SERT team was active for more than 200 days as a result of numerous floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and Hurricane George.
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This free podcast is from our Disaster Response series.
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