For more than two decades, Tim Manning has worked on both the front lines and in the senior most levels of homeland security, crisis and emergency management, and resilience at the state, local, federal, and international levels. Manning is a former deputy administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); the governor of New Mexico’s homeland security advisor; firefighter-EMT (serving in both urban and rural departments and the wildland interface); rescue mountaineer; and geologist. He is currently serving as a senior advisor to the Pacific Disaster Center, on the faculty of the Disaster and Emergency Management program at Georgetown University, and is president and CEO of Berglind-Manning l.c., an international resilience, security, and strategic policy consulting firm.
Tim served through the entirety of the Barack Obama administration as the deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Protection and National Preparedness, having been confirmed by the US Senate in the spring of 2009. While at FEMA, working with partners at all levels of government, the private sector, and community organizations across the country, Manning was responsible for the federal government’s efforts toward building capabilities to prevent, respond, and recover from disasters and terrorist and cyber-attacks at home and building a whole-of-society based resilience. Manning was responsible for the establishment and design of numerous national programs and presidential directives; overseeing the efforts of thousands of staff, the provision of over twenty billion dollars in grants and assistance, and the education and training of millions of America’s first responders and homeland security professionals. He helped coordinate the response to countless emergencies and disasters throughout the United States and worked with partners around the globe, representing the United States as head of delegation in over thirty bilateral and multilateral engagements, including eight annual ministerial Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forums, NATO senior committee plenaries, and the United Nations World Disaster Forum in Sendai, Japan.
Prior to joining FEMA, Mr. Manning served as the cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and homeland security advisor to Governor Bill Richardson. Tim originally joined the New Mexico State government civil service following a decade as a consulting geologist, climbing through the ranks to later lead the agency. He has served on regional and national policy boards and committees across the homeland security and emergency management spectrum, including chairman of the Emergency Management Accreditation Program, co-chair of the National Homeland Security Consortium, chairman of both the Response and Homeland Security committees of the National Emergency Management Association, and chair of the Intelligence Committee of the National Governors Association’s Homeland Security Advisors Council.
Mr. Manning earned a Master of Letters with distinction in Terrorism and Political Violence from the University of St. Andrews, a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Eastern Illinois University, and is a graduate of the Center for Homeland Defense and Security Executive Leaders Program at the Naval Postgraduate School.