As a former FEMA employee and official at James Lee Witt Associates who now serves as director of disaster services for a leading hunger relief charity, Patrick Crawford has worn a number of hats in the emergency management world.
Since entering the field in 1994, Crawford has held positions ranging from disaster specialist in FEMA’s Region IX (Oakland, Calif.) and Congressional Relations Officer for Appropriations at FEMA headquarters to director of the Midwest region for James Lee Witt Associates, a crisis and emergency management consulting firm. Crawford joined Feeding America in 2007.
“I feel fortunate to have had an opportunity to work on emergency management and disaster relief from a variety of perspectives — from the government sector, the private sector and now the nonprofit world — and also had the opportunity to work with officials at all levels of government — local, state and federal,” Crawford said. “I think it gives me a more holistic approach to some of the issues we all work on in common.”
In a recent interview with CQ Homeland Security, Crawford discussed topics ranging from the state of disaster preparedness and response in the country to the role of food banks in disasters and whether FEMA should remain part of the Homeland Security Department.