Craig Fugate: From SF to DC
January 19, 2016
This story is part of SF's "50 Years to First" campaign, highlighting 50 special SF alumni and friends during our 50th-anniversary celebration. To share your story, visit https://www.sfcollege.edu/50/submit.php.
Craig Fugate: From SF to DC
In May 2009, President Barack Obama appointed former Santa Fe College student Craig Fugate to Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Craig earned a Vocational Certificate from SF's Paramedic program in 1983 and went on to Florida State Fire College.After working as a paramedic and a fire department lieutenant, Craig served 10 years as Alachua County's emergency management chief, and then served as Bureau Chief for Preparedness and Response for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) from 1997-2001, and then as Director of FDEM until 2009.
In 2004, Craig managed the largest federal disaster response in Florida history when four major hurricanes impacted the state that year. Under his leadership, FDEM became the first statewide emergency management program in the nation to receive full accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program.
At FEMA, Craig has instituted a "whole community" approach to emergency management, emphasizing and improving collaboration with all levels of government and external partners, including voluntary agencies, faith based organizations and the private sector.
