The former chief of emergency management for the State of Iowa is reportedly among the finalists for the job of FEMA director.
Ellen Gordon served as the state’s emergency management director for Governors Branstad and Vilsack. After the September 11th attacks, then-Governor Vilsack named her Homeland Security advisor, too.
Gordon is the past president of the National Emergency Management Association and well regarded in her field. She’s currently associate director of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security in Monterey, California. Gordon still lives in Iowa, and commutes to California and other consulting jobs around the country.
President Obama has not made public his choice for the job of Federal Emergency Management Agency director, but Obama aides have told news outlets Gordon is being considered, along with the man who currently heads Florida’s emergency management agency.