Andrew Velasquez

Last updated
Andrew Velasquez III
Andrew Velasquez III.jpg
Former Regional Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region V
In office
2010 January 20, 2017
President Barack Obama
Personal details
Born (1968-07-26) July 26, 1968 (age 51)
Chicago, IL
Alma mater Illinois State University
Saint Xavier University
Naval Postgraduate School

Andrew Velasquez III is the former Regional Administrator for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Region V. He coordinated preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation activities for the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Prior to his appointment as Region V administrator he served as Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Executive Director of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communication. [1]

Federal Emergency Management Agency United States disaster response agency, part of Department of Homeland Security

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the president that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset—for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.

Contents

Early life and education

Velasquez was born and raised in Chicago's West Humboldt Park neighborhood and is a strong believer in mentoring youth and aspiring Emergency Managers.

Humboldt Park, Chicago Community area in Chicago

Humboldt Park, one of 77 designated community areas, is on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The Humboldt Park neighborhood is known for its dynamic social and ethnic demographic change over the years. The Puerto Rican community has identified strongly with the area since the 1970s; Humboldt Park is also the name of a 207-acre (0.8 km²) park adjacent to the community area.

The son of Mexican and Puerto Rican parents he attended Lane Technical High School on Chicago's north side. After graduation, Velasquez served six years in the U.S. Army Reserve. Shortly after enlisting in the Army Reserve, he attended Illinois State University to pursue a bachelor's degree in Criminal justice, which he received in 1993. During his time at Illinois State, he was elected to student government, serving as director of Human Rights and Advocacy, as well as president of the Criminal Justice Association.

Lane Technical College Prep High School Public secondary magnet school in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Lane Technical College Preparatory High School is a public 4-year selective enrollment magnet high school located in the Roscoe Village neighborhood on the north side of Chicago, United States. It is a part of the Chicago Public Schools district. Lane is one of the oldest schools in the city and has an enrollment of over four thousand students, making it the largest high school in Chicago. Lane is a selective-enrollment-based school in which students must take a test and pass a certain benchmark in order to be offered admission. Lane is one of eleven selective enrollment schools in Chicago. It is a diverse school with many of its students coming from different ethnicities and economic backgrounds. In 2019, Lane Tech was rated the #3 public high school in Illinois and #69 in the nation.

Illinois State University public university in Normal, Illinois

Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of the top ten largest producers of teachers in the US according to the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. The university's athletic teams are members of the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference and are known as the "Redbirds," in reference to the state bird, the cardinal.

After receiving his undergraduate degree, he stayed on at Illinois State University and completed a Master of Science in Criminal Justice in 1994. He is a member of the Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity and is still actively involved. [2] In 2010, he was inducted into the Illinois State University Alumni Hall of Fame. [4]

Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity

Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc. (ΣΛΒ) is a historically Latino based fraternity in the United States, established with multicultural membership. Founded in 1986 at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa the primary purpose of Sigma Lambda Beta is to promote Latino culture based upon the values of fairness, opportunity and equality. The four key principles that serve as pillars to this purpose are Brotherhood, Scholarship, Community Service, and Cultural Awareness.

He received a Masters of Business Administration from St. Xavier University and profiled as an Alumni Achiever in 2010. He also completed the Naval Post Graduate School's Executive Leadership program in both Homeland Defense and Radiological Emergency Preparedness and was featured in the school's publication for his appointment to FEMA. [1] [3]

Saint Xavier University four-year, coeducational institution of higher learning located on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States

Saint Xavier University (SXU) is a private Roman Catholic university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1846 by the Sisters of Mercy, the university currently enrolls 3,896 students.

City of Chicago

Velasquez began his career with the City of Chicago working with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) for over 10 years, most recently as the Director of the Identification and Records Services Division, overseeing the criminal identification of arrested persons, latent fingerprint processing, criminal warrants, offender extradition and subpoena processing

After his tenure with the CPD, he moved over to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) where he assumed responsibility as Managing Deputy for 911 Operations. Mayor Richard M. Daley subsequently appointed Velasquez to lead Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications as its Executive Director, a cabinet-level appointment, overseeing emergency management, homeland security, preparedness, response, traffic management and 911 emergency dispatch operations.

Richard M. Daley Illinois politician

Richard Michael Daley is an American politician who served as the 54th Mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term. At 22 years, he was the longest-serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his father, Richard J. Daley.

While at the OEMC, Velasquez oversaw many modernization projects including the implementation of a mobile disaster command center, closed circuit camera installation in the Central Business District and the move into the new state of the art City Incident Center.

His leadership helped make Chicago a nationwide model for a unified approach emergency preparedness, homeland security and 911 emergency communications. [1] [4]

Velasquez was profiled in Crain's Chicago Business as "Chicago's Go-To Emergency Relief Man" and for "Preparing Chicago for the Worst." [5]

Director Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA)

From 2007 to 2010 Velasquez was named by the Blagojevich and Quinn Administrations to serve in their cabinets both as Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and as Homeland Security Advisor. In these positions, Velasquez oversaw Illinois' disaster preparedness, response, nuclear safety and homeland security programs. As the IEMA Director, he oversaw the response and recovery efforts for numerous large-scale disasters and served as the state coordinating officer and Governor's authorized representative for nine presidentially declared disasters, including major floods, tornados, ice storms and a campus shooting event. [1]

FEMA Region V Administrator

President Barack Obama appointed him in 2010 as FEMA Administrator for Region V. In addition to directing the delivery of federal disaster assistance for numerous presidential declared disasters and emergencies, Velasquez implemented a number of key initiatives. These initiatives focused on enhancing the region's readiness posture with an emphasis on leveraging technology and data for analysis and decision support to improve response and recovery operations, individual and community preparedness and planning for all types of threats and hazards. [1]

Velasquez initiated and exercised leadership over the development of a comprehensive operational plan to address the effects of an Improvised Nuclear Device detonation in a large metropolitan area. This integrated planning effort included FEMA Region V, the States of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, the City of Chicago and surrounding counties and various private sector entities. Velasquez has also served a key role in FEMA's support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Civil Emergency Planning Committee events. [6]

As a keynote speaker for the NATO 2012 High Visibility Event seminar in Brussels, Velasquez presented an overview of U.S. planning efforts in support of NATO's 2012 Chicago summit and participated in a facilitated discussion on high visibility incident scenarios. This seminar assisted allied and partner nations in consideration of their planning factors for events such as the EuroVision Song contest, Sochi Winter Olympics and future Olympic bids.

In 2015, Velasquez provided the keynote address to the NATO Civil Protection Group seminar on Catastrophic Emergency Planning in Finland. His keynote address highlighted FEMA Region V's catastrophic earthquake and nuclear incident planning efforts and catastrophic planning in improving overall emergency operations. Velasquez has also supported the U.S. Mission to NATO in outreach to NATO's partner nations. [7]

Velasquez also served as the Acting Region IV Administrator for a 6-month period supporting the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. He was charged with the critical responsibility of ensuring effective readiness in preparation for the 2014 Hurricane Season. [8]

Other notable works

Velasquez is a member of the University of Chicago faculty where he teaches courses on risk management and technology strategy and information systems. He continues to serve as a lecturer at the University of Chicago on a variety of homeland security topics and has been published in several notable academic journals including the Harvard University Crisis Response Journal. [1]

He has been inducted into the Illinois State University Alumni Hall of Fame and has been profiled in the St. Xavier and ISU alumni magazines. [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "About the Agency: Leadership – Andrew Velasquez". Federal Emergency Management Agency.
  2. Denham, Ryan (April 28, 2009). "When disaster strikes be careful". Illinois State University.
  3. ELP Grad Named to FEMA Post
  4. Chicago's OEMC: A Unified Approach to First Response BY JAMES CARELESS ON MAY 1, 2007, http://www.emsworld.com/article/10321909/chicagos-oemc-a-unified-approach-to-first-response
  5. Crain's November 07, 2005 Chicago's Go-To Emergency Relief Man, http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20051107/NEWS01/200018421/chicagos-go-to-emergency-relief-man
  6. Civil emergency planning A key security task of the Alliance Last updated: 08 Apr. 2015, http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49158.htm
  7. Civil Protection Forum 2015: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2015-06-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "About the Agency: Leadership – Andrew Velasquez". FEMA.
  9. "2010 CAST Hall of Fame Inductees". ISU.edu.