Say Hello to “J” Stakenburg, Director of the Office of Emergency Management
Jeffrey Stakenburg, formerly Emergency Manager at the Federal Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was appointed Director of the Office of Emergency Management in July 2016. Mr. Stakenburg is responsible for coordinating NYCHA’s preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation efforts to minimize disruptions to the Authority’s operations and services in the event of a large-scale emergency, including natural disasters, acts of terrorism and infrastructure failures. In addition, Mr. Stakenburg provides leadership and guidance for the revision, development, implementation and maintenance of NYCHA’s emergency response strategies and plans.
Mr. Stakenburg—who simply goes by “J”—brings 15 years of experience in the field of emergency and disaster management. Most recently, he worked for FEMA, where he supported 14 presidentially-declared disasters, led highly technical damage assessment and recovery teams, and was selected as one of the subject matter experts tasked with reengineering how FEMA administers its public assistance grant program. As a result of those efforts, J and his team received FEMA’s 2015 Administrator’s Award for Innovation.
Prior to FEMA, J was Chief of Emergency Operations for Lee County, Florida, where his experiences included coordinating public safety responses to wildfires, several natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, tropical storms), aviation accidents, the H1N1 Pandemic and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Release.
An accomplished instructor of adults, J also taught middle and high school English, history, and government in his native Bay Area, California, coached high school basketball, and worked for the City of Oakland as an advisor to the Mayor. In his spare time, he likes to explore historic architecture and study local history. In addition to California, J has lived in Texas, Florida, and most recently, New Orleans, but is now excited to call Brooklyn home.
