Robert Pesapane is currently the Director of the Public Assistance Division U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) where he oversees FEMA's largest grant program, provides funding for emergency assistance to save lives and protect property and assists with funding for permanently restoring community infrastructure affected by a federally declared incident. Mr. Pesapane is the Director of the Recovery Division for the (FEMA) Region 9 office in Oakland, CA. As the Director of Recovery, Mr. Pesapane supervises the implementation of FEMA’s Public and Individual Assistance Programs, including overseeing multi-million recovery grant programs for public infrastructure, disaster survivor temporary housing, debris removal operations, and federal assistance to disaster survivors.
Mr. Pesapane joined Region 9 in December 2016 as the Director of National Preparedness and the Federal Preparedness Coordinator where he led the delivery of training, exercises, continuity of operations, planning and analysis technical assistance, radiological emergency preparedness, hazardous materials preparedness, and individual and community preparedness in support of state, territorial, tribal, and local stakeholders. Mr. Pesapane is currently serving as the Deputy Federal Coordinating Officer directing operations for the COVID-19 Pandemic Response. Over the last year, Mr. Pesapane lead the establishment of the first in the nation federally supported Community Vaccination Centers as well as mobile vaccination outreach in partnership with community and faith-based organizations.
In addition, Mr. Pesapane has worked in the FEMA Region 1 and 3 National Preparedness Divisions as well as FEMA Headquarters within the Response Directorate Planning Division. Mr. Pesapane began his career as a regional planner for the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency where he was responsible for all-hazard emergency planning. He was later promoted to R.I. homeland security exercise officer and was responsible for ensuring that the state’s homeland security strategy was properly exercised across all first-responder disciplines.
Mr. Pesapane holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from Salve Regina University as well as master’s degree in International Relations.