Donald Trump taps Jeffrey Byard, another former Alabama official, to lead FEMA

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Jeff Byard
[Photo courtesy of AEMA Facebook]

Following the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director Brock Long, who previously served as Director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA), President Donald Trump announced he will nominate another former Alabama official to head the federal agency.

Trump will nominate Jeffrey Byard, who first joined  FEMA in Sept. 2017 during the agency’s response efforts to Hurricanes Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida, when he was appointed as the Associate Administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery (ORR).

Byard had previously served as Executive Operations Officer at AEMA.

During his tenure with there, Byard was responsible for the creation and implementation of the Alabama field response structure, which resulted in a more effective and efficient response and recovery model. He also served as the Deputy State Coordinating Officer for the nation’s first large scale host state evacuation event during Hurricane Gustav. From 2006-2007, he served as the Director of Alabama’s Transitional Recovery Office where he led and coordinated the timely delivery of FEMA’s disaster recovery and assistance support to state and local governments.